Meanwhile, Back On The Green

I wrote a post back in January about the creation of a golf practice centre in an area of Madrid where local residents had expected to have a public park. At the time I questioned how such a project could be classified by the regional government as being of "general interest", a classification which allowed the project to proceed more easily. Well at the end of last week we got a better idea of those whose interest is best served by the conversion of this open space into an area reserved for golf enthusiasts. It turns out that the administrator of the company given management rights over the centre has close business connections with a brother and brother-in-law of the vice president of the regional government, Ignacio González. Not only is González deputy to the pauper president Esperanza Aguirre, he is also in charge of the public water company who own the land on which the golf centre was constructed. I am not suggesting that there was anything irregular in the way this issue was handled, I just thought it reasonable to point out the connection.....in the general interest of course.