Boulevard Isabel Soares

The Next Stage

2010-02-07T11:27:00.005Z

As we approach the 200 signature level, the response from the public has begun to slow down a bit. This was to be expected, and I'm well pleased with the results so far. Using the newspapers and through the direct appeal of the poster campaign, the number of signatures gained is roughly 10% of the daily users of the EN264.

Now we want more. Our target is still 650 signatures. To help us gain that number our latest weapon is the humble business card.

The message the card conveys is fairly self-explanatory. Once you have signed the petition as requested by the card, pass the card on to friends, family members and colleagues - and ask them to sign as well.

A PDF file of the card image is available by clicking HERE.

Print a page, cut them up and pass them around. These just may be our trump cards!

Adding Insult To Injury

2010-01-26T19:46:00.009Z

The timing couldn't be better. Everywhere you look today for news, in print, on line, on TV - it's the same story.

Estradas de Portugal (EP), the QUANGO-ish organisation responsible for the country's roads, and in particular the EN264 between Algoz and Messines, has declared an 80 million euro profit for their operations in 2009.

EIGHTY MILLION EUROS!

When I said it seemed like EP was being paid by the hole (BIS post, A Pat On The Back, 17 January), I probably wasn't far wrong.

What a slap in the face for the drivers of the two thousand vehicles a day that use this road.

Now is not the time to be annoyed. Now is the time to get ANGRY! Here's 10 things you can do while you're MAD!

No 1. If you haven't already done so, sign the petition. If you have, but someone in you house hasn't, get them to sign the petition. If there are more than one of you in the house, EACH sign the petition in your own name. Numbers impress.

No 2. Send an email to Isobel Soares expressing your disgust. This road is in her county. The eddress of her office is gabinete.presidente@cm-silves.pt

No 3. File a complaint with Estradas de Portugal, http://www.estradasdeportugal.pt/index.php/form-estrada-livre

No 4. Contact the local press. Both The Algarve Resident and Get Real Weekly have run articles or letters about the state of the EN264.

No 5. Display the poster available from this blog. Put posters in your cars, in your home windows, in your places of employment. Put them on the roadside where other disgruntled motorists can see them.

No 6. Ask everyone you know to sign the petition, and ask them to contact everyone they know, requesting they do the same.

No 7. If you had the right to vote in the Silves election, contact the person you voted for and express your disgust at the state of this road. Even losing political parties have influence. Remember, in total there were a lot more people who voted against the incumbent than voted for her.

No 8. Follow the campaign on Twitter, @ www.twitter.com/en264petition

No 9. Take photographs of the damage to the EN264 Algoz - Messines road and send them to photos@en264.info

No 10. Check back here regularly. We are trying to get accurate translations of the relevant authority websites and forms, suitable to act as guides for non-Portuguese speakers.

Confusion Reigns

2010-01-25T10:13:00.003Z

Yes, I have read the frequently referred to November 11 2009 press release issued by Estradas de Portugal about the planned remedial action to be taken about the EN264 Algoz - Messines road. I read it before I launched the petition. But I still launched the petition. Why?

Because I'm skeptical. And skepticism seems called for in respect of the EN264. Regardless of what EP has said, I would like to quote Isabel Soares, in a statement issued to and printed in The Algarve Resident in response to our appeal.

“We [Silves Câmara] cannot carry out the work. It is up to EP, which had planned it for their 2009 budget, but still nothing has been done.”

OK, a good start.

She continued, “This situation has been dragging for around 12 years and I have done much to bring it to EP’s attention."

Super. Let's look a bit closer at those comments.

Mrs Soares says that Estradas de Portugal had it allocated in the 2009 budget. Surely she should know. But nothing happened. So why should we expect it to be any different in 2010? Because EP said so on November 11th? Their track record in delivering on their promises is not actually what one might call impressive.

If, as Mrs Soares states, she has "done much to bring it to EP's attention", then I would hope that she views this campaign as a beneficial extension of her authority. She has the political contacts to ensure that Estradas de Portugal and the government minister/department responsible for the existence of Estradas de Portugal receive the message loudly and clearly. We have a growing body of discontent backing us, across all nationalities.

Using her position in conjunction with our petition, can EP continue to roll one year's promise into the following year, ad infinitum?

Crimes Against Tourists. And Residents.

2010-01-21T12:30:00.005Z

Reprinted from Algarvean Daze

Assault and battery, extortion, break-ins, theft, highway robbery and murder. Just a few of the crimes commited against motorists using the EN264 road between Algoz and Sao Bartolomeu de Messines in the concelho (county) of Silves, in the Algarve.

Anyone using the road between Algoz and Messines knows how their vehicles have been assaulted by the unmaintained roadway, how their cars have been battered into a state often requiring expensive remedial maintenance. Visitors hiring cars know about the way that car-rental companies extort money to hedge their position against the many irreparably damaged tyres that festoon cars which have had the mis-fortune to use this 'road'.

Broken suspensions are frequent, stealing away from car owners the longevity of service that they expect when purchasing a new vehicle. The cost of this is not borne by the council or the state. The real cost of using this public road is paid by the motorists, the residents, the visitors, the taxpayers.

Will it take death on this road, a municipal homicide, to cause the local government officials to act on behalf of the people who elected them to serve?

Support the action against these crimes - WWW.EN264.INFO

A Pat On The Back

2010-01-17T20:38:00.004Z

It doesn't really matter if it's because of the endeavours of our crusade, or in spite of them. The bottom line is that for whatever reason, someone decided that after weeks of municipal neglect, the time had come to reduce the size of some of the holes that make up Boulevard Isabel Soares, the EN 264.

While I did not personally see the work in progress, guests of ours did. Traveling through Algoz, they watched as workers shoveled tarmac from a truck into the cavities, then compressed and secured the black stuff firmly in place with a combination of the heels of their shoes and the backs of their shovels.

Having driven along the fruit of their labours a day or two later, the conclusion that I drew was that the contractors were paid by the hole. Diminutive dimples had been filled, while some abysmal abysses were as lethal as ever. Much of the tarmac, so lovingly stomped into place only days before had already been dislodged by the minuscule daily volume of only two thousand vehicles. However, on a positive note, the new tarmac is/was darker than the road around, so provides a visual indication of impending vehicular damage.

If you have a hole one meter by 85 centimeters by 15 centimeters deep, and you fill it 73% full, what are you left with? A hole.

Two Million Damaged Tyres

2010-01-12T08:48:00.006Z

According to Estradas de Portugal (EP) the volume of traffic on the EN 264 is less than 2000 vehicles daily. How much less is anybody's guess. 27 is less than 2000. So is 1999. Nevertheless, an insignificant number, unworthy of intervention by Estradas de Portugal or by local government...

If we assume that the number is closer to 2000 than to zero, for example 1750, that equates to around 50,000 per average month. So, since the re-election of the incumbent government in Silves in early October, approximately 150,000 vehicles have driven along the 11km stretch of unmaintained potholes. My guess would be that none of these journeys were enjoyable.

By the time that EP has tendered for the repair of the road, assuming this occurs by the end of the first quarter as promised, another 150,000 vehicles will have traversed this stretch of the EN 264. Then how many more quarters until work commences? If it's only one trimester, ie work starts by the 1st of July, yet another 150,000 vehicles will have further destroyed the road surface.

From my perspective, this puts the best case scenario at close to a half million journeys - and potentially two million damaged tyres - between the time of the re-election of Isabel Soares' government and the possible commencement of roadworks. Is this really acceptable?

Six Hundred and Fifty

2010-01-08T00:05:00.005Z

How many is enough? Good question. In the case of our petition, our carefully calculated initial target has now been set at 650. Of course, we would prefer 1650, or 2650. Or 6500. But keeping our feet firmly on the ever shifting ground that is the EN 264, We'll start with 650.

Why 650? Politics. Politicians put a lot of faith in numbers, in votes, in margins. So as not to disappoint Mrs Soares, we have used numbers that she and her party can relate to.

Referring to votes cast in the recent elections, Mrs Soares' government went into power on the strength of 6,751 votes, compared to the runner-up with 5,453 votes. The difference between the two frontrunners is 1,298 votes. Had half of that number, 649, cast their vote for the second-place party instead of Mrs Soares' party, the election would have been deadlocked.

So, our target is 650. Six Hundred and Fifty signatures, representing all that would have been necessary to oust the incumbent party from power. One vote more, one signature more.

Obviously, our signatures do not equate to votes. The symbolism can not, however, be denied. Ignore the will of the people Mrs Soares, the needs of the people, at your peril. You and your government may not be directly responsible for how Estradas de Portugal functions. But it is your job to intervene on behalf of those who elected you, with whatever agency is relevant.

I'm certain you'll agree. The peasants are revolting.

Why Don't I Believe It?

2010-01-06T00:05:00.004Z

Call me a sceptic. I've been called worse. But there's something about the 11 November 2009 statement issued by Estradas de Portugal (EP) about the restoration of the EN264 Algoz - Messines road that just does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Estradas de Portugal? OK, an official entity, who claims that their mission is...to provide in the public interest, the financing, maintenance, operation, improvement and enlargement of pathways that make up the National Road Network...and to conceive, design, construct, finance, maintain, operate, improve and expand the roads that fall within the development and expansion of this network. Duh. The word QUANGO springs to mind...

Nevertheless, EP has said in their press release that during the first quarter of 2010 they will tender for improvements to the EN 264 Algoz - Messines Road. Right. Nothing about a commencement date, just a bit of let's phone around and get a few quotes. I suppose it's a beginning, unless, for example, they don't like the quotes?

But this sounds positive, doesn't it? The first required step? Yes, except for that sentence in their press release that informs us that EP has been making 'regular conservation interventions to ensure good traffic conditions and safety'. Oops. Credibility gap as big as the holes on the EN 264.

If this past performance of EP is an indicator of their future endeavours, we are all in very deep doo-doo. And I know a number of very deep holes where it can be stored.

Poster Campaign Commences

2010-01-04T20:30:00.000Z

Two PDF files - a single sheet poster and a four sheet joinable poster - are now available for downloading. This is now the critical time when we need to make the public aware that someone is attempting to stir up interest sufficient to cause change to happen. A good start at this would be for posters to be displayed in car and home windows, and larger posters in shop and restaurant windows in Algoz and Messines. Once enough people become knowledgeable of the campaign, the snowball effect will take over and the signatures on the petition will grow exponentially.

Join the fight! Be a poster poster!

Your Assistance Required

2010-01-03T11:37:00.001Z

Absolutely, your help and assistance is required - and appreciated - to directly gain as many signatures on the petition to repair the EN 264 as we can (emails to friends, word of mouth, posters, duress etc), but that's not what this particular appeal is about.

I'm not a cunning linguist. I only speak two versions of English (English english and American english) and a smattering of Portuguese. But I want to provide the information on the Boulevard Isabel Soares webpage in multiple, accurately translated, languages. That kind of leaves out Google Translator and Babelfish...

If you are cerebrally placed to be able to translate the text of www.boulevardisabelsoares.info into Portuguese, German, Dutch, Spanish...you get the idea...I will add these translations to the website. We need to gain the widest possible audience for this appeal as is possible.

Your translations may be posted here as comments, or you may email them to me at translation@boulevardisabelsoares.info

With your help we can do just that. Many thanks.

Online Petition Now Live

2010-01-02T13:18:00.000Z

The online petition website aimed at bringing the plight of users of the EN 264 to Isabel Soares is now active.

Please go to the Restoration of the EN 264 between Algoz and Messines site and support the petition.

Enough Is Enough

2010-01-01T15:39:00.000Z

This blog has been necessitated by the lack of action taken by the the local authorities in maintaining the EN 264 road between Algoz and Messines.

This blog, along with a dedicated website and online petition, will be used to garner sufficient support to hopefully encourage the President of the Silves Câmara, Isabel Soares, to wake up, smell the coffee, and then to act upon the discontent which is rife among the residents and constituents she was elected to serve.

More information will be forthcoming. If, however, you have suffered a journey along the EN 264 and wish to comment in advance of the petition site going live, make a comment here. Random comments may be included in the www.boulevardisabelsoares.info website.

Please use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to spread the word of this campaign. The more people that can be made aware of the dangerous condition that the Silves Câmara has allowed to flourish, under the stewardship of Isobel Soares, the sooner we may get results.