Parish Council President Acknowledges Public Concern at Regional Forum
Celso Bettencourt, president of the Câmara de Lobos Parish Council, spoke openly during the Jornadas Madeira conference about the visible presence of drug users in the lower part of the city. At the event held at the Madeira Press Museum today, he said that the problem must be addressed through a coordinated approach involving different institutions.
“It’s a reality, we won’t hide it. It’s not exclusive to Câmara de Lobos. It has to be worked on through a network, there are no easy solutions. These are people who are there,” Bettencourt said.
“We’re Not Going to Cover the Sun with a Sieve”
Bettencourt stressed the importance of not minimizing the problem. He supported earlier remarks by Sónia Pereira, who had argued that the city center needs both care and a better public image. “We have to work as a network, just as Sónia Pereira said, in a way that can improve and clean up the image of the city center,” he added.
It causes disruption. We will have to look at the issue of drug addiction. It is a scourge that will continue, it’s here to stay, and it adapts to the substances and what is available to these people
Celso Bettencourt, President of the Parish Council of Câmara de Lobos, Jornal da Madeira
He continued:
We’re not going to cover the sun with a sieve. There are many drug addicts. The next executive will have to work on this. I’m a candidate, and I say this against myself
Lack of Sanitation is Also a Concern
In addition to the addiction problem, Bettencourt also brought up the need to improve basic sanitation. “It’s something very important that isn’t visible. We have been working, in partnership with ARM (Águas e Resíduos da Madeira, S.A.,) In our case, whenever we work on the roads, we include that matter (Sanitation), with ARM” he said.
A Complex Set of Urban Issues
The discussion revealed that Câmara de Lobos is dealing with multiple urban challenges at once:
public drug use
lack of sanitation infrastructure
a need for broader coordination across services.
Bettencourt’s public remarks show a willingness to address the problems. Let’s see what will follow.
Source: Jornal da Madeira
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