STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 9 July 2012

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33. Village volunteers working off debts

http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/07/08/inenglish/1341753622_586750.html

In Higuera de la Serena, a village in Badajoz province, Sunday is the longest working day of the week. Skipping the day of rest is not the only thing that people here do differently. Over 100 of the 1,041 residents of Higuera sweep the streets, trim the trees and fix the local fountain without charging a cent for it.

Ricardo Estrella, 60, is a carpenter in early retirement who repairs anything that is made of wood. María del Mar Tena Bueno used to do clerical work in the town hall, but now she is unemployed and cleans the streets twice a week. When the local swimming pool opens, she will man the ticket booth. They are both part of a group of volunteers who are doing their share to pull their village out of its financial hole. Their political representatives are also contributing to the collective effort by giving up their public salaries.

These drastic measures are the result of years of bad management, the locals say. Now, Higuera owes 800,000 euros, partly because of a building standing at the edge of town.

In 2000, the regional government of Extremadura authorized construction of a retirement home here. Building work ended last year, but the home was built following residential criteria. In 2006 there was a change in legislation and senior residences now have to follow hospital building guidelines. The way things are now, the stretchers do not fit through the hallways and there is no emergency evacuation plan. The people of Higuera will have to pay for the necessary changes if they want their retirement home to pass the test.