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Thursday, May 22, 2008
morerosado
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I've been engrossed in reading this for ages. The truth about Orihuela Costa - 'jewel' of Spain's Costa Blanca
It doesn't make good reading to anyone considering that area, does it ? 
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22 May 2008 8:50 AM
Fly380
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I would like to know where they got the information that Tecnologia Urbanistica has gone bankrupt. They still appear to be trading.
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22 May 2008 9:34 AM
Acapulco
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Wow , that web site seems designed to put people off moving to Spain. 
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22 May 2008 12:35 PM
morerosado
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Hi Fly, it said it from the CB News. However, it's not been reported in there in the past fortnight as I looked, but the article was written May 8th !
If it is true then it would have been widely reported, wouldn't it ? Georgia will know but he's said nothing.
I DO wish people, who write these things, would post a direct link, don't you ? 
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22 May 2008 2:35 PM
Fly380
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Well our urbanisation is in talks with TU at this time trying to sort out deeds, electric, water, Cert of Hab etc. Amazing how rumours spread. I think we would be the first to know on our urb. Torrevieja F.C. are still wearing their shirts. They do seem to have cut the workforce to the bones as I don't think they are building at the moment. They evidently have huge assetts in land which the courts keep forcing them to sell to pay off debts and bank mortgages. Fingers crossed all the urbs will eventually get hab certs and everyone gets their deeds.
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22 May 2008 2:45 PM
morerosado
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Obviously I hope everything works out well for you, Fly. You've been through so much, like many on these forums.
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22 May 2008 6:11 PM
Fly380
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Thanks Morerosado.
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22 May 2008 9:11 PM
bobaol
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I often wonder why people seem to take great pleasure in posting blogs/sites/comments like these and usually have the word "Truth" somewhere in the title.
OK, I don't know too much about Orihuela Costa except that I use the beaches (La Zenia, Campoamor, and others) go shopping there (Brico House, Playa Flamenca market and Mercadona etc). Although I think the area is very overdeveloped, isn't this what holiday makers want? The place is full of bars, cafes, entertainment areas etc which are magnets to the people who only go there for a couple of weeks. As someone who goes more and more often, and for longer and longer, I am looking for a more residential area to spend my time. But if I were on holiday for just a short time, I would be very unhappy if I had to travel miles to get a bit of entertainment or a drink, which is what I would be doing virtually every night instead of just occasionally when living there.
I, personally, have never had any problem there. Never been mugged, broken into, forced off the road or any other nefarious act committed against me. The bit about tourists being attacked and robbed whilst leaving Murcia or Alicante airports is reported as being the norm, which is outright guff!
Yes, there has been corruption and a, shall we say, lax interpretation of the rules used by builders and town halls. TU has been banned from trading until they sort out the problems they have with paying off land mortgages etc and providing deeds for properties already sold. They have not gone bankrupt and are currently paying off monies they owe as ordered by the courts. As one of the people affected by them, I have every reason to be as angry as the "truth" people but this has now been resolved by court order and, according to one set of solicitors, they have 75 appointments with the notary to sign the deeds off for affected buyers over the next 5 weeks or so. Obviously, other solicitors will have the same workload. Once TU have paid off their debts, I am sure they will start building again but I hope people take heed of what has gone on in the past. However, not bankrupt just stopped trading for the time being.
Villamartin often appears as the hell hole of crime. I have a place not far from the area and, as mentioned before, asked people at our AGM who had been affected. A total of 3 break-ins in the last 6 years on a development of around 200 units doesn't seem excessive. We have that every month in my village in the UK. Maybe Villamartin itself is in a different position, I wouldn't know as I try to avoid the drunks and smelly plaza area (5 years ago I thought this place was wonderful, it appears to have gone downhill in a rather spectacular manner). However, I only get this impression from people writing to forums and papers who seem to take great pleasure in mentioning this over and over again.
I have never had a problem in Torrevieja itself but have heard horrendous stories. Again, as mentioned before, mainly by rumour. One woman I spoke to hasn;t set foot in Torrevieja for 5 years because she called it "Crime City". How she would know if she hadn't been there for 5 years I don't know.
The police presence in the area is always very high. This is very comforting as I see more police on the streets in the area than I have ever seen in UK, even in the good old days of yesteryear.
Playa Flamenca town hall and police station (where you get NIEs, padron, pay your water bills etc) is, I agree, a badly organised joke. Similar places in Torrevieja and Rojales or even Orihuela itself, do not seem to have these problems. As long as people don't get wound up with waiting, it all goes smoothly in the end. Last time I went, the place was choc-a-bloc with Eastern Europeans trying to sort out their paperwork. I had to wait about 5 hours but I was prepared for it. Telegraph crossword, Mail Sudokus and a good book (plus large bottle of water) and all was completed. Just go with the flow and don't get too het up about the whole process. The only ones who had to go away and come back again (as mentioned in the blog) were those who turned up about 11 am when the place closes at 12.00.
Fortunately, I also haven't had sewerage popping up through the streets. I also think the beaches are lovely, the sea clear and the people (generally) very friendly. I have used the Consum supermarket at Dona Pepa 2 recently (mentioned in the one of the letters) and find the place very new and very good. Never got attacked there, either. When it is finished and all the units occupied, I think it will be a great place to visit.
So next time you leave Murcia/Alicante airport and get forced off the road and your suitcases stolen, struggle to get through the traffic jams and roads clogged with sewerage whilst driving through mine fields to your holiday flat in Orihuela Costa, lock yourself in behind the 5 barred gates, double barrel lock your drawbridge over your shark infested moat, have to stay in for the whole 2 weeks because if you set foot outside you will be hit over the head, have your bag stolen and throat cut by the marauding hordes of pirates and organised crime tsars, get accosted by bands of prostitutes roaming the streets (and roundabouts) just to be able to buy a pint of Guinness and an all-day English breakfast for 3 euros, you have the sites marked "Truth" to thank for it.
Oh, and it's pointless staying in behind the locked doors because the illegal Sky re-broadcasters have been shut down and you'll have nothing to watch. Probably courtesy of all those people who write to public forums boasting about how they get all these channels for a third of the cost in UK!
Maybe it's time to pick a safer place for your couple of weeks in the sun. How about Baghdad or Beirut? I hear they aren't as bad as the Orihuela Costa (Pah!!).
Edited to add:
We all know the euro is going sky high against the pound. Why do these sites seem to blame the Spanish for this problem? Surely this is more the bad policies, mismanagement of the economy in Britain and money market speculators rather than the Spanish doing it simply to stuff the Brits? I'm sorry but, in a free market, exchange rates are going to fluctuate. They may be bad now compared with a few years but are certainly better than they were, say, 15 years ago when the pound was really at rock bottom. It's high against the dollar now but 6 years was almost on par with what the euro is now. I can see people having problems with fixed incomes in pounds but please, please, don't blame Spain for this. (PS. £1.13 for a litre of petrol today which is €1.41. Using exchange rates from a couple of years ago that would be about €1.70 a litre - now come back to UK and exist).
This message was last edited by bobaol on 5/22/2008.
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22 May 2008 10:42 PM
Karensun
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Thankyou bobaol, for your posting. I live on Orihuela Costa and I am heartily sick of hearing ( and reading ) it called everything from a pig to a dog. It was good to read the common sense of your post.
Obviously there are things that need changing and there are things that should not happen but bad things happen everywhere.
If people spent less time moaning about an area and spent more time 'doing' ie registering so there was more cash available to increase the infrastructure we would all be a lot better off.
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23 May 2008 12:32 PM
georgia
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Bobaol,
absolutely bloody outstanding post!!!!!!!!.................
My personal opinion of the Orihuela costa is that in some places it is lovely and in others it can be a little scruffy,this is basically because of exactly what Karensun mentioned,people buy property,never register and then expect the town hall to estimate how many people to supply services for.
It is also down to trhe development of the area and how quickly the build has accelerated past the infrastructure.
I dont read these stories any more as I KNOW the truth because i see it with my own eyes everyday.
I have been to the airport probably close to 500 times and never ever seen muggings or anything like mentioned....................
Its nice to read a post from someone with a passion,rather than a grudge.........
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23 May 2008 1:10 PM
Acapulco
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well done the "positive attitude " posters 
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23 May 2008 1:23 PM
Sonia El
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We're CDS but this story could equally apply to any of the Costas. You do wonder who is producing them. It could quite easily be applied to any area anywhere in the world that's undergone a lot of development.
When I tell people we've bought in Fuengirola they immediately think of all the drunk soaked Brits shown on TV fighting and generally getting into trouble and think we're mad. True there are areas that are not nice at night in the summer but the same goes with UK tourist areas. But it a lovely town, with a fantastic beach.
Airport muggings take place at the car rental shops. It called the fuel policy.
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23 May 2008 1:31 PM
Irene&Alan
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Unfortunately sensationalism and scare-mongering stories sell newspapers and people read them. I bet that the rejections and denials don't get a mention.
I support the positive people in this thread. Well done!
Keep 'em coming.
Irene
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23 May 2008 1:53 PM
morerosado
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Anyone p***ed off with me for starting this thread ?
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23 May 2008 2:21 PM
bobaol
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Not with you, More, the people who started them in the first place. This particular one has popped up on least 4 forums in the last couple of days but others appear on a regular basis. Obviously some people have had some bad experiences but having it constantly rammed down your throat, especially when you have made the big decision to up sticks and move, tends to get very weary. Especially when they worry more about worrying than the problems in the first place!
To talk about places like they do is, IMHO, making mountains out of molehills. Perhaps if they spent as much effort into getting out of the place as they do in embellishing these stories they might make the world a happier place for all of us. A bit like community presidents who worry about people hanging towels out to dry. (We've been told the prezz in our new place wants people to remove guttering and change their porch lights to the bland, white type which were supplied by the builders instead of some nice hanging lanterns as some people have installed. Looking forward to the fight on that one).
Don't forget, the "truth" is what really is, not what someone who posts "the truth about.............." wants it to be. Imagine how many pages we could fill with "The truth about Leicester/Bradford/Brixton/Portsmouth/Beirut (enter wherever)" stories? Same with those complaining about the cost of living going up in Spain as if it isn't happening anywhere else or as if the Spanish are doing it on purpose just to cheese off the Brits. It affects them as well, you know.
And, Karensun, I personally like the OC. Great bars, beaches, shops (especially the ones with all the pottery and stone BBQs etc). It can't help being on a hill so all the water forms big lakes when it rains (love going under that underpass to Mercadona at PF when the heavens have opened). Nihil Carborundum Illegitimus (Don't let the ba****ds grind you down)
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23 May 2008 2:53 PM
Irene&Alan
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I agree - please don't stop posting Morerosado; you are a mine of information. I hope I didn't sound like I wanted to shoot the messenger! I was just annoyed at the Costa bashers!!!!
Iren4e
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23 May 2008 7:01 PM
morerosado
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I'm ok with you all  but the OC has had lots of bad press & it isn't over "nothing". There are a few members on EOS who post on another forum I use (haven't posted in here yet) who often post about these things, not because they are slagging the OC off but (I believe) because they own properties on the OC & want certain problems to be sorted out.
I agree anything like this is sensationalised.
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23 May 2008 7:13 PM
georgia
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There are problems with the area but the majority of them are down to the infrastructure in the area and the massive growth,ie too many people coming into one area in a small period.
The other problems are that is considered to be predominantly a holiday area and with low occupancy in the winter months there is not so much pressure to get things done.
Did someone mention Dona Pepa as the Orihuela Costa or am i mistaken??.... as far as i was aware the OC stops at Torrevieja going north......
Algorfa is the Vega Baja,thats why i am not in the torrevieja hospital catchment...
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23 May 2008 7:19 PM
bobaol
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Georgia, the post on The Truth etc..... also mentioned Rojales and Guardamar as well as Dona Pepa 2. Hardly Orihuela Costa country.
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23 May 2008 7:34 PM
georgia
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well in that case i definitely won't be reading it if the muppets cant figure out what area is what!
Their next article will probably be "Leeds, the pride of Lancashire!"
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