Penedès News in English

Penedès is diversity – just compare the carnival of Sitges with that of neighbouring Vilanova i la Geltrú. But it is also unity – four comarques (Alt Penedès, Anoia, Baix Penedès and Garraf) west of Barcelona which historically belonged to one and the same administrative unit – a vegueria. Here is a summary of local news from this area, for the period February 16-23, 2010, starting with Penedès as a whole, and then split by comarca.

Penedès

Seven Penedès municipalities are preparing to on Sunday, February 28, hold non-official referenda on the independence of Catalonia: Gelida, Cabanyes and Sant Quintí de Mediona (Alt Penedès), el Vendrell and Llorenç del Penedès (Baix Penedès) and Carme and La Llacuna (Anoia). Catalan media is expected to focus on el Vendrell, the biggest town to participate in this round. Some 400 people participated in the main joint meeting organised by the platform El Vendrell Decideix. (3de8) (Avui) (Avui)

Areas in Alt Penedès and Anoia have been shortlisted by the Generalitat among eight priority zones for wind energy development. (LaVanguardia) (Avui)

The Comarca Councils of Garraf and Anoia have joined the web compartir-habitatge.net; a service for young people who seek someone with whom they can share a flat. (Avui)

Garraf

Humorist and artist Fernando Krahn, born in Chile but since many years resident of Sitges, has passed away at the age of 75. (LaVanguardia)

The cold, rainy weather lead to a lower influx of visitors at the carnival of Sitges, but a new initiative with live music made the parades (rues) more spectacular than before. (DdV)

Two presumed ETA terrorist who were captured by the Catalan police Mossos d’Esquadra, had been in Sitges celebrating the carnival before they started to flee. (elPunt)

The stands in the market hall of Sitges will hand out textile bags to its regular customers in order to reduce the use of plastic bags. (VD)

The construction works of the third and final part of the Rambla de Garraf (from the Varo building to the school Bel Air) have started in Sant Pere de Ribes and are expected to be finalized before Christmas. (VD) (elPunt)

A new telecommunications mast will be erected in Can Pere de la Plana to improve the reception of digital TV (TDT) in Sant Pere de Ribes. (elPunt)

A group of 25 youngsters, 15-17 years old, took the meringue throwing (merengada) of Vilanova i la Geltrú as an excuse to vandalise several commercial establishment and private homes. (DdV)

The Joan Oliva library of Vilanova will dedicate one of its rooms to criminal fiction (la novel·la negra). (elPunt)

Vilanova again has a problem with burning waste containers. (elPunt)

Alt Penedès

The referendum platform Gelida Decideix protests that it gets a less favourable treatment by the town council than other social entities. (3de8)

In Vilafranca del Penedès, 300 people – among them mayor Pere Regull – manifested their anger with ADIF (the Spanish railway track administration) for not taking enough measures against noise and vibrations from the AVE. ADIF, on the other hand, claims that it complies with the law and accuses the Vilafranca town council for not paying its share of the costs for improvements made. (3de8) (3de8)

Baix Penedès

There has been a fire with a lot of smoke in a waste recycling industry in Arboç, but no humans were hurt. (LaVanguardia) (3de8)

The government of Calafell has agreed to make changes to its municipal zoning plan, but the protests against it still continue, above all in Segur. (elPunt)

An inhabitant of el Vendrell risks up to ten years in prison for having fired a shot in the leg of a man who owed in money. (elPunt)

Anoia

A train breakdown on the FCG line Llobregat-Anoia resulted in a 35 minute delay for the 250 passengers on board. (LaVanguardia)

The municipal zoning plan (POUM) of Igualada continues to stir up emotions and will most likely not be voted through, since the local Entesa (PSC) government does not have the support of ERC. (AD)

The Catalan government will invest in five kilometres of pipeline to transport residual water from Piera to a treatment plant. (Avui)

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My objective with these summaries is to, in English, present news which might be of interest to expats living in anyone of the municipalities covered, but I do not claim that local news from, for example, Vilanova, automatically are of interest to the inhabitants of the other towns of Penedès.

The idea behind the format is to present all items as extended headlines, with a focus onwhat, who and where. Readers who want more facts, like the hows and whys, will have to follow the link to the source articles. The answers to when will be the time period stated in the opening paragraph.

The main sources are AnoiaDiari·cat, Avui, Penedès Digital, El Punt, El 3 de Vuit,LaVanguardia and Vilanova Digital.

L’Extra - the only news service which treats the Penedès as a united entity – and our local newspaper Diari de Vilanova, serve as inspiration, but are usually not presented as sources since their digital formats either are incomplete or do not allow you to link to individual articles.

The signature EW signals that I am personally the source of information. Any opinions expressed are my own. Earlier editions can be found under the blog label Penedès News.

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