Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1076517
4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 30 JANUARY 2019 JAMES DEBONO PLANNING commission post- pones decision on kiosk enclo- sure after case officer had ob- jected to proposal insisting that it was against policy. An enclosed structure provid- ing shelter for chairs and tables next to a kiosk at ix-Xatt in Slie- ma has been erected at the fer- ries before the Planning Author- ity has even issued a permit. The case involves the Cucina Pulita kiosk which already had a permit for outdoor tables and chairs but which has now applied for a new permit to redesign the kiosk and to erect new 'wind- breakers' around an area reserved for chairs and tables. The case officer has been cat- egorical in decrying the addi- tional windbreakers as being in breach of a policy regulating outside catering establishment which rules out outside catering areas in public open spaces next to kiosks. The policy limits these enclosures to outside catering areas to restuarants. The problem in this case was that the establishment already had a permit for setting up ta- bles and chairs outside through permits issued before the policy came in place. The permit is- sued in 2013 already envisioned the erection of umbrellas next to the kiosk. But the case officer insisted that any "additional structures within the area for tables and chairs permitted in previous permissions would run counter to the objectives of the OCA policy"since "the structures would create an adverse visual impact in the open spaces of the promenade." The Malta Tourism Authority had also objected stating that it "does not agree that tables and chairs on promenades should be enclosed." Sliema councillor and MEP candidate Michael Briguglio has also decreed the development as "shoddy", noting that the struc- ture limits access for "elderly persons, parents with push- chairs, persons with disability" who walk along the strand. But in a meeting on 15 Janu- ary, the Planning Commission hinted that the enclosure may be acceptable if it conforms to a height limit of 1.2 metres. The decision was postponed to 19 February. Ferries kiosk 'enclosure' erected before permit MATTHEW VELLA THE academic Maltese father of Democratic Party politician Pete Buttigieg, Prof Joseph A. Buttigieg, passed away on Sunday 27 January at the age of 71. Prof Joseph Buttigieg, Pro- fessor Emeritus of English at the University of Notre Dame, was raised and educated in Malta, at the University of Malta, and obtained a second bachelor's degree from Heyth- rop College in London and his doctorate from the State Uni- versity of New York at Bing- hamton. Buttigieg joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1980 and, in addition to his service as di- rector of the Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Programme and as a faculty member in English, he was a fellow in the Univer- sity's Nanovic Institute for Eu- ropean Studies and Keough- Naughton Institute for Irish Studies and the director of the Stamps Scholars Programme at Notre Dame. He was the father of South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, 37, who recently an- nounced an exploratory com- mittee to run for Democratic nominee for President of the United States. "As a friend, colleague, think- er, and educator, he touched countless lives, and we hope to find a way to honour his impact later on in the spring," Buttigieg said on Facebook, announcing the death. "Meanwhile we are left with memories of his powerful in- tellect, his extensive legacy, his personal warmth and his deeply felt love for Mom, me, and all those close to him. The last thing he said to us was, 'It's been a good trip'. So it has. We love you, Dad." Buttigieg is survived by his wife, Anne Montgomery, who was a member of the Notre Dame faculty for 29 years, and his son, Pete and husband Chasten Glezman. Maltese academic Joseph Buttigieg passes away