Lagoa’s Socialist-led council has been accused by the local PSD delegation of turning the town into a “laughing stock” after painting the historic centre’s streets red.
It was a decision that angered scores of citizens and caused a wave of outrage on social media (click here).
But tension reached fever-pitch after a council source told Barlavento newspaper that the colour was chosen by locals around three years ago at a public meeting – a statement that PSD Lagoa says is a lie.
The social-democrats guarantee that the meeting was only attended by around 50 people, and that the chosen colour was not red but a type of “brown/yellowish ochre”.
They also say the gathering was hardly publicised and thus most citizens did not have a chance to voice their opinion.
“So it wasn’t the people of Lagoa who decided to transform the town’s streets, it was the council,” PSD Lagoa says in a statement sent to newsrooms.
The opposition party adds that the town centre is now a “laughing stock” instead of a place that makes citizens “proud”.
It ends by saying that “those who rule cannot hide behind those who elected them to cover their mistakes”.
Despite the backlash, Lagoa council remains adamant that most people will “change their minds” once the €420,000 revamp project is completed.
Photo: BRUNO GONÇALVES
