On Tuesday, KTLN joined 18 other members of the public to listen to the October Belediye Board meeting.

The formal agenda was quite limited, so to make this article more interesting, we are also going to bring you up to date on some other Belediye matters, which we have been discussing with officials over recent weeks.

We hope you find something that is of interest, in this month's KTLN report.

Change of personnel
The first item on the agenda was to formally accept Board member, Hasan Erkek's request to relinquish some additional 'encumen' duties, at the Belediye.  These are some extra responsibilities above and beyond normal Board member duties.  This was agreed.

Later in the meeting, there was an agenda item to find a replacement officer.  The vote resulted in Arif Ernez picking up these duties.

Dotting the Is and crossing the Ts
The second item on the agenda was to give the Mayor the official power (yetki), to request Belediye staff to work, outside their normal working hours.  These are normally emergency situations, such as burst water pipes, where urgent action is required.  

In the past, workmen have turned out when asked, however someone must have read the rule book and advised the Mayor that technically, he must have this 'yetki', to ask them to come out in emergencies.  So the Board voted to provide him with this power.  This was all about the Belediye following due procedure.

New science school for Kalkan
The following agenda item brought some excellent news for the children of Kalkan, and the surrounding areas. 

A local businessman, Turan Yılmaz, has agreed to fund the building of a secondary school in Kalkan, specialising in the sciences.  His family runs the local petrol station.

This wonderful philanthropic gesture, requires the local authorities to find some land, where the school can be built.  Discussions have already been held with the Ministry of Education and also the Kaymakam of Kaş.

The Belediye voted to give their formal permission to go ahead with this school, and they have also identified a 30,000 m² piece of land in Kalamar, where the school will be built.  It will be somewhere below the main D400 road that comes along the mountain towards Kalkan.

New staff
The next agenda item was to approve the recruitment of an additional manager to deal with administrative duties in the Belediye.

Likya Festival 2012
A local businessman brought news of an initiative to bring some culture to Kalkan, with theatre shows next summer, under the banner of the Likya Festival.

In the past, the Yeşilköy theatre group has put on plays, however, the plan is to widen the group, and include people from Patara, Kalkan and further afield. 

This larger group will be able to put plays on in different towns, (including Kalkan), and its size should enable it to be considered for official funding from the Ministry of Culture & Tourism.  Kalkan Belediye will work closely with this group, to bring entertainment to Kalkan in 2012.

Other Belediye related matters
Here are some other news snippets that were not specifically discussed at the meeting, but which do have a link to the Belediye.

Republic Day 2011
Saturday 29th October is Republic Day in Turkey.  Kalkan will once again be celebrating. 

Whilst precise details have still to be worked out, we are quite sure that there will be celebrations and displays by local school children - possibly at the school amphitheatre, or maybe in the market place.

There will also be some kind of party down at the harbour, and it is likely to be similar to what was seen in 2010.  So if you are in Kalkan, make sure you join in the celebrations.

Building season
The tourist season officially ends on 31st October, which means that the building season starts on 1st November.  Things may get a little noisy. 

Construction work is permitted between 8am and 8pm.  If you find that you are disturbed by noise outside these hours, you can report details to the Belediye.

Bus shelters and a local bus service
Here and there you can find the old blue, metal bus shelters, in and around Kalkan.  The Belediye recently entered an agreement with a company to provide 15 modern, replacement bus shelters.  One such shelter can be seen close to the Belediye - see photo below. 

However, some local people have recently complained that they are not in keeping with the aesthetic heritage of Kalkan - especially the illuminated adverts that will be on the sides of the shelters.

The Belediye has a dilema, in that there appears to be a commercial agreement in place to take these shelters, but recent complaints are making them think again.

The irony here is that people are spending time thinking about bus shelters, when we don't have that much of a local bus service.  The only route currently working is from Kalamar to the town centre.  This is less than we had in 2010. 

For the background to the current situation, please read this earlier KTLN article: Where is Kalkan's local dolmuş (minibus) service?

So what can we expect in the future?  From our discussions with local people, we can not currently find any cause for optimism.  Why not?  It is all down to local vested interests.  There are three distinct groups involved - the KTT minibus organisation, the Kalkan Koop (co-operative) minibus organisation, and Kalkan taxis.  You could say four, if you count the Belediye.  

We say 'distinct groups' but in fact, the membership of the KTT, Kalkan Koop and taxi drivers has significant overlaps, which makes the situation extremely complex.  But the bottom line is that between them, they can't or won't agree a way forward, that will see a proper local minibus service across Kalkan and the surrounding areas.  

This is a tricky one for the Belediye, because whilst they do want to see a better service introduced, they prefer to encourage the parties to come to an agreement themselves, rather than coming down hard and forcing a solution on to them.   

In the meantime, it's business as usual for the taxi drivers, and the people in Kalamar have the privilege of having the only bus service in town - limited though it may be, to certain times of the day.  

Emergency ambulance service (112)
The Belediye has confirmed what we reported in an earlier news article, that an emergency ambulance service should be up and running in Kalkan by the end of October.  There is a meeting later this week with Health Ministry officials to finalise matters.  Let's hope all is on track.

Predictions for 2012
As you know, here at KTLN, we are not ones for gossip!  (Well, we don't publish it on the web site, at any rate).

We like to stick to the facts as much as we can, and we normally steer clear of speculation.  However, we are going to stick our neck out here on a few things that we think will happen next year in Kalkan, based upon information received from reliable, local sources.

Firstly, we think there is a strong likelihood that motorists will be paying for parking in Kalkan town.  Frankly, we are surprised that car parking charges are not already here, but our hunch is that we will see it in 2012.  Any charges are likely to be small.

Secondly, we hope and expect that the Belediye will be building more local roads this winter.  The long awaited dual carriageway, down from the traffic lights, towards Ziraat Bank is said to be on the 'to do list'. 

Sadly, we do not believe that a footbridge from Kızıltaş, over the D400, to town, will get priority this winter.  That is definitely on the back burner.

Finally, not too long ago, there was some speculation that a big supermarket, (e.g. Migros), would come to Kalkan this year.  It didn't.  However, we do believe that there is a strong possibility that one of the supermarket chains will arrive in 2012.

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