Mondello / Press Release n.8  3 May 2005

XX Edition World Festival On The Beach
Palermo Mondello 11-22 May 2005

MORE PEOPLE IN MONDELLO THAN IN POLITEAMA SQUARE.  A CONFERENCE BY THE MAYOR DIEGO CAMMARATA ON A PUBLIC EVENT IN PALERMO’S SUBURBS HIGHLIGHTING SOME INTERVENTIONS THAT INTEREST THE EVENT BUT ARE NEEDED ALL YEAR ROUND

Yesterday in Palermo’s Council Headquarters Villa Niscemi a conference was held on the XX edition of the World Festival on the Beach, which will be held in Mondello in a busy urban area.  An area which won’t affect any public access, and won’t be causing any upheaval in entering the various sports events and musical entertainment.
Mayor Diego Cammarata was joined by many directors from Palermo’s city council and traffic warden inspectors in bringing together the co-ordination of the up coming event. The main theme of the meeting was to discuss the event that for the 20th year running will be held in a location that will in some way make changes to the traffic in creating a pedestrianized zone along Regina Elena road, but without causing any disruption to the local residents and non in passing through Mondello, every year alternitive solutions are proposed in making the area in Valdesi and the sea front functional for holding the event and for the period after.
The fact that Mondello has an important role in the region didn’t escape the participants at the meeting, Mondello attracts a huge amount of visitors every year and the number of visitors keeps on growing.  This is thanks to its natural beauty and its colours that is has to offer, and also thanks to the local authorities that through the years have improved the area.
Mondello, apart from the beauty that speaks for itself has another strong point in having a city like Palermo just 7km away which has a strong historic and cultural background making this place even richer.  The attention that Mondello has during the festival should go even further throughout the whole year by restyling it in a way that can be put at use even more by residents and tourists.
Thanks to the work carried out on Mondello’s sewrage system the sea water is a lot cleaner than before, the walk along the sea front stands out with its paths and flower beds tidied up, there are a lot more waste bins along the path than before and the view onto the beach is better than ever.   A few improvements made for those who every day throughout the year come to Mondello, during the weekend the amount of people here is a lot more than those in Politeama Square which is a well looked after square in the centre of Palermo, therefore making it clear that Mondello should have the same attention given to it as the city centre.
A few simple examples of a better organized area that would make Mondello more liveable during the event and after would be an intense cleaning service particulary on the the beach, with attached services of security from the traffic wardens, examples that would be appreciated by all.  The councils technical directors who attended the meeting were in favour of these improvements.
The World Festival on the Beach isn’t only about an international windsurfing competition, beach volley or jazz music, but is about a high standard event brought together by its increasing growth and where the developments of the area are benefited by the whole community.