In the tense climate permeating the recent Gouves council meeting concerning the continuation of the quarry as proposed by the Mayor Yiorgos Nikolakakis, opposition leaders Mihalis Plevrakis and Nikos Stavroulakis were outspoken in their rejection of the new plan by a vote of eight to seven, with three abstentions.

"This issue was closed by a unanimous decision from a previous council meeting in 2003, and was ratified by the Prefectoral Council in 2004, which did not approve the area becoming a quarry zone, and fixed a termination date for the quarry’s activities as November 1 this year, also with a unanimous decision," Councilman Plevrakis stated. "Our opinion is still 'no' to such units for recycling ruble in our region," he continued, "which is a tourist area and a still-developing region, because these operations will be to the detriment of our municipality and our quality of life."

 “We don’t say no to the necessity for the creation of such recycling units in order to control and eliminate the dissemination of garbage, rubble and solid waste in our rivers, countryside and hills. These units however must be controlled by an organised local government if they are to serve the true purpose of their creation.”

Mr. Plevrakis

Councilman Stavroulakis said he was against a quarry being in that area in any form or shape, and that the vote was not as close as it appears.

"In reality, an abstention, or blank vote, is the same as a 'no' vote, so the outcome was more like 11 to seven," he explained. "At any rate, there are much better things we can do in the Anopoli area – things that will support the growing community and be beneficial to the people."

 Councilman Lefteris Zouros, who cast one of the three blank votes, does not agree with his colleague's math.

"I felt the mayor's proposal was interesting and had many good points," he said. "But it should have been distributed to the members first, so we could have had time to read and discuss the new plan," he said. "It's not a simple issue, and we should not be forced to vote on something on the spot."

Mr. Zouros said he tried twice – once with the council president and once with the vice mayor – to stop the introduction of the new plan and have it shelved until everyone had a chance to study it, but he was unsuccessful.

Mr. Zouros

Commenting on the council's vote, Mayor Nikolakakis said: "If there were eight yes votes it would still create strong reactions. It is a very difficult issue and the Greek society likes to sweep these issues under the rug." 

However, the mayor doesn't consider the issue dead.

"I see this proposal as an instrument to open up discussions about a very important subject – managing and recycling rubble," he said. "The recycling unit is something we want to happen because there is a tremendous problem with tons of rubble from old demolished sites, and we must have a plan to deal with it. 

Although its license is finished, the quarry, without any more blasting, will work for at least three more years because they have amassed tons of products to merchandise. But the issue can be re-introduced."

(Editor's note: see related story, MAYOR'S QUARRY PLAN)