The economy is booming, now what about our quality of life?

What makes for a decent quality of life? Obviously, money would be at the top of everyone’s list and it would be naive if not dishonest to pretend otherwise. Without money you cannot live decently and scrounging for every cent will make you miserable and understandably bitter.

But once you have attained all your creature comforts in your own home and lifestyle, there must come a point when you look around you and think, why isn’t the way the rest of the country looks a reflection of this booming economy we keep hearing about? I’m not speaking about the obvious signs which those who only think in terms of cold, hard cash will tell you about. Obviously, the relaxation of Planning Authority permits and the new legislation allowing high-rise development means that the property market has shot through the roof. There is constant construction and development, new shops and restaurants are sprouting up everywhere you look and it is clear that a lot of investment is taking place. So far, so booming.

This development frenzy, however, has come at a high cost. I saw a recent photo of the Sliema skyline filled with cranes. For every crane you have to factor in noise pollution, disturbance of people’s sleep, not to mention the mounds of construction waste. What good is a designer home and a sleek car if you cannot get any rest because of the cacophony of noise and every day feels like you are going to battle as you navigate your vehicle through a jungle of debris and snarled traffic to get out of your neighbourhood?

Now, let’s talk some rubbish. Literally. Mounds and mounds of it. Piles of it everywhere you look, stinking, rotting and sweltering in the summer sun, waiting to be collected. We are lucky to have a daily refuse collection service which is free (whereas in several countries this has to be paid for by residents and is only once a week).Yet we cannot seem to keep up with the sheer volume of waste generated by a population which has been consumed by over-consumption. Add to the mix the influx of tourists and, on top of that, the foreign nationals who have come to live here, and we have reached a rubbish problem of gargantuan proportions especially in areas such as Sliema and St Julian’s which are bursting at the seams at this time of year with the flow of people who descend on it like locusts, leaving a trail of garbage in their wake.

From what I have learned, the problem for towns such as Sliema boils down to a lack of adequate funds from central government to the local council. Apparently, it is given the same amount of funds as some quiet, sleepy small village such as Safi is. Now, this, to me is inexplicable. How can a country which purports to be booming, which is raking in the dough from foreign nationals only too eager to hand over their dosh in exchange for a passport and a residency permit, and from others who are flocking to live here while buying and renting property, injecting even more money into the country… how can it be that the government has no money to give to a tourist resort such as Sliema to collect its garbage as often as necessary and to keep the streets spotless every single day? Someone explain this to me as I’m flummoxed.

Granted, the residents have to do their bit as well. Separation of waste cuts down drastically on bulk, and if you take out rubbish on allocated days for organic waste and recycled waste respectively, I see no reason why it should accumulate. It’s free, let me stress. So is the collection of bulky refuse items. On the other hand, apartment blocks definitely require large wheelie bins where everyone can place their black bags, rather than throwing them haphazardly on the pavement as a kind of fun obstacle course for pedestrians.

And, whereas in the past I used to advocate for heftier fines for littering and dumping, nowadays I think the most fitting punishment for those who dump their garbage on the side of the road is to force them to do community work, collecting the rubbish for a certain number of days in the heat. Orange jumpsuit is optional.The same goes for that gang of teenagers who were throwing furniture out the window of the former Holiday Inn. A whole month’s worth of garbage collection might just make them re-think their behaviour.

These are the things which stress us out, seeing this kind of vandalism go unchecked and unsocial behaviour run riot.We are told the police are stretched very thin, and I can very well believe this, between the many traffic accidents daily, to the reports of crime which range from petty crime to more serious offences such as domestic violence. I don’t think anyone would begrudge a substantial increase in funding from our taxes for more human resources to boost law enforcement.

I’m not suggesting this should be a police state, but a regular police presence is always a deterrent. After all, it is the maintaining of law and order which differentiates a civilized country from one where the law of the jungle rules, and might is right reigns. Ultimately, no matter how much of a boom we have in our economy, it will be worthless if our quality of life spirals downwards into one where people are a constant bundle of aggression and rage as we claw at each other out of sheer frustration.