I have been meaning to upload this article for the past week and have finally been able to do so now that I am on “holiday”, go figure! Anyhow, La Oliva Town Hall has launched a new app that can be downloaded from AppStore™ for Apple devices and in GooglePlay™ for Android devices to allow residents to easily establish contact with the Administration and vice-verse.
The menu features tabs such as:
- News
- Agenda
- Incidents
- Alerts
- Plenary Sessions
- Citizen Consults
- Activities
- Tourism
- Routes
- Maps
- Telephone numbers of interest
- Bus
- Ferry
- Weather
- Multimedia
- History
- Appointments
- S.O.S.
- Links
- Translator (a nice touch)
By means of La Oliva App, residents in this municipality to contact the Administration directly to inform of incidents they see. This means I will no longer have to call the Town Hall when 50 goats invade the main road from Corralejo to La Capellanía or when the bushes that grow around certain roundabouts reach ridiculous heights that prevent visibility, I could just send a message via the app along with photo evidence or GPS coordinates if necessary and receive their official response in the same way. This can also help speed up their interventions and keep us appraised of their progress.
I have also discovered that users receive notifications such as urgent matters, events that may have to be suspended last minute due to weather changes, power cuts, road conditions etc. These notifications can be programmed to be sent to relevant citizens so if for example there is a programmed power cut in the Parque Natural area, residents outside of that area won’t receive the notification.
The app is also useful for tourists as it includes information on the weather, local businesses, cultural events etc. Since the app is linked directly to the Opening License, Treasury and Commerce Departments, the information about local businesses for example will always be up-to-date making it easy for potential customers to find restaurants, bars etc by means of the GPS function.
As mentioned before, the app has a translator so besides Spanish, it offers information in English, French, German and Italian.
Pedro Amador, the mayor said, “this government is making a major commitment towards citizen participation in the way this municipality is governed. This local government has not stopped working for one single day. Not only have we strived to unblock this Town Hall but we are launching innovative initiatives such as this mobile app”.
“This government is making a major commitment to citizen participation in governance of the municipality. This local government has not stopped work a day. We not only worked on the release of the City Council, but are launching actions as novel as this mobile application, “he stressed the mayor of La Oliva, Pedro Amador.
Even though there are online sites available where locals air their grievances, this app is a positive step in the right direction where we are encouraged to communicate with our Town Hall on ways in which to improve this beautiful area.
