Can I bargain with the Mayor?

The municipality of Gaza is one of the largest in the Gaza Strip . This town took a new step to address the eight-year-long Israeli siege that greatly affected the work of all service sectors. The municipality’s civil servants found a solution to overcome the lack of municipals cars: bicycles. The project welcomed by Gazans and environmental institutions. First, transportation has been an ongoing problem for years, prompting engineers to consider alternatives. Those presented the idea to provide a bicycle for each of the fifty inspectors at the town hall as an interim solution. This project was approved and implemented in September 2014 by local authority. Each bicycle has a unique serial number and bears the Gaza municipality’s logo. They were all painted orange to distinguish them from other bicycles in the city.  Now, citizens are happy to see the inspectors make their rounds in their neighborhoods. They please with the continuous attention by the inspectors in ensuri...

Madrid’s street sweepers and public park and garden workers have begun an indefinite strike. Around 6,000 employees have joined the walk-out after private companies, contracted by Madrid’s city hall planned to slash salaries by up to 40 percent and lay off more than 1,100 people. Angel Jornosa, one of the workers whose job is under threat said: “They are going to kick us out with a shameful severance pay. There are people who have worked 28, 30 years.” City hall worker, Guillermo added: “We think it’s enough, this has to end once and for all. Health, education, the city, public services in general have all gone to hell.” Unions are calling on the city council – run by ex Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar’s wife Ana Botella – to intervene and stop the job cuts. LiveLeak.com - Spain: six thousand rubbish collectors go on strike in Madrid Elsewhere there was more news of job losses. The Valencian Government closed down public television and radio broadcaster RTVV. The compan...

The original idea behind town twinning was to help the people of Europe to know and understand each other better. A twinning link is normally defined as a friendship agreement involving co-operation between two communities in different countries.   Twinning provides the opportunity to find out more about the daily lives of citizens in other European countries, to talk to them and exchange experiences, and to develop joint projects on issues of common interest, such as local integration, the environment, economic development, and cultural differences. The Town twinning movement has developed after the Second World War, in parallel to the progress made by the European integration process. One of the major developments was the establishment of new town twinning links between EU Member States and countries from Central or Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, anticipating and preparing their integration in the European Union.   First, town twinning relies upo...