KTLN ....."Belediye Meeting" report

[onelove]

Hi,

Just read a very interesting "Belediye Meeting" report on KTLN......... A couple of things caught my eye and I thought worth asking EK members what they thought about them.......

*    Illuminated signs on the bus shelters in kalkan   Yes or No ?  ( These are due to be installed )

*    Reduce the building season by 2 months and extend the tourist season 2 months    Yes or No ?

*    Shops to stop using plastic bags ?

plus lots more..........

All very interesting stuff............read the full report at        www.kalkanturkishlocalnews.co.uk 

Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=8503.0

[DRBD]

even more important is the item about unpaid water bills.

[Kalkan regular]

I'd love to see the season extended but the problem with this is the lack of flights in April and November and I doubt if the airlines would extend their dates just for Kalkan.

[Cosetta]

IMHO one of the biggest problems is not being addressed by the Belediye.  Parking.  Parking for normal cars.  The taxis have taken over 80% of all parking spaces, authorized and not.  Then the restaurants and stores have also blocked off areas in front of their own establishments so there is now a fight to park anywhere near town.  Compound this with the lack of dolmus transport and what do we have?  A taxi domination that rules Kalkan.  Having had a screaming match with a taxi driver yesterday over a parking space, I am not an ardent admirer of them.

[Kalkan regular]

I agree with you Cosetta. We always have a car as it's essential because of my dad's age and it is really hard work to park because so much road is unavailable because of plant pots and restaurant advertising boards. This year parking in the harbour was also much more difficult as it was frequently full. Someone needs to get a grip of the taxi driver's domination. The root of the problem is that there are too many taxis for the hoiday population.

[turkeyfan]

I remember when we were in Kalkan to sort out the funiture for our apartment four years ago. - there were all sorts of problems with the taxi drivers and other businesses - stopping hotels shuttle buses and supermarkets dropping customers back home with their shopping. 

Four years on, the taxi drivers seem to have won the war - insufficient shuttle buses from hotels, shops now only delivering shopping, not shoppers and the biggest one - NO PUBLIC TRANSPORT.  The taxi drivers certainly have some power! AND the Belediye should not be bullied by them - like many others have been.  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the taxi's and indeed use them when I am in Kalkan, but I definately think they have "too much to say" in Kalkan.

KD in answer to your question so I don't go off topic -

1. No to illuminated bus shelters.

2. Yes to extending the season, purely from a selfish point of view - we will be able to enjoy more of Kalkan's restaurants and bars for a longer season.

3.  Plastic bags - paper bags are rubbish, so maybe shops could intoduce more of a 'bag for life' type of thing.

[kevincat99]

Cosetta / Kalkan Regular....
The parking problem is not caused by taxis ..there are maybe 60 in the village..they work shifts and also have a day off every week.  The majority are at the taxi rank and the bus station with usually 6 / 8 in the village by the supermarkets .. so it does not leave many others taking up space

The reduction in spaces is caused by more and more people hiring cars from Dalaman... a car from there is £160 + fuel for a week maybe and set this against a transfer cost of £120 that gives you a car for a week in Kalkan and for day trips for £40 !!  That is where the increase in cars comes from... not the locals and certainly NOT the taxis.

So everyone who rents out their villas make things worse as their guests probably hire cars to add to the problem ....... so tell your "guests" not to hire cars as its bad for parking and see where that gets you !! Would a bus service solve this .....it may help but not too much...anyway who would pay for it if there were not enough fare paying passengers using it

Add to this the Belediye's continued reluctance [ for whatever reason ] to remove the street signage and the imposition of bollards in certain areas ... it all reduces spaces

Kalkan is a village of some 2000 people for 6 months and like anywhere if you increase the population to maybe 10,000 for the summer you get problems.

Also don't forget that the Belediye want to keep the locals happy as they vote...visitors don't !!!

What's the answer???

[pw]

Can't understand why illuminated bus stops should be a problem for foreigners! Surely they would be for the benefit of everyone using buses (locals I suspect)

PW

[kevincat99]

Bus stops....but not too many buses...maybe putting the cart before the horse methinks 

[pw]

Good point! Being a serial car hirer I am the parking problem....................
Never had a problem parking though!!

[Blue Lizard]

Don't be tempted to park outside Omar sharifs place he took it badly that a car had parked near his sign that was in the gutter/kerb...i saw him take a machette to the said car,i kid you not there were sparks flying off the bonnet and doors!! This was last year i was in my observation point in the Kaya smoking area, after much shouting and arm waving locals phoned the jandarma and he was carted away....while the couple who had rented the car (from Istanbul)were left to fill out a form at the side of the road...How do you explain that one for your claim??

[amber]

All matters raised at the belidye meeting are important for us all but DRBD made a very valid comment about the importance of unpaid water bills.
There are large numbers of people receiving water and not paying for it.Calculations are to be made and a fine of ten times the outstanding amount will be charged!!! KTLN used the example -water bill outstanding 1000 lira and fine 10,000 lira!!!
So if anyone has any worries or queries about their bills they should speak to the belidye and if someone else is paying your bills for you,make sure they are being paid.

I really cannot understand the lack of bus service in Kalkan.Any other town you go to has a good local service day and evening.Why not here???
I dont think the parking problem is especially caused by the number of taxis.There simply isnt enough parking spaces or car parks for the number of people is Kalkan in the summer,who use cars.

It will be interesing to hear how the belidye think the tourist season in Kalkan can be extended.It will show what they really know about tourism.

[Kalkan regular]

I appreciate that parking spaces are limited due to the geography of the town and not caused by the taxis. The amount of space could be improved however if so much of the available road wasn't obstructed by plant pots and advertising boards.
Due to the location of our apartment most of our guests don't hire a car or only have one for a few days to get out of Kalkan to visit attractions but as we have a 92 year old who uses 2 sticks to get around we need one or his holiday is more restricted.

[Cuddles]

I am very concerned that the Oct meeting report on KTLN mentions that there will be no bridge for Kiziltas over the D400 for at least another year.
Having witnessed a close shave between a car and pedestrian on the junction behind the Jandarma onto the dual carriageway a couple of days ago, I feel sure that there is going to be a nasty accident there pretty soon.
Holidaymakers staying at the Samira de lux, just don't appreciate how stupid some of Kalkan's drivers can be. Many drivers turn right out of the bus station and drive on the wrong side of the dual carriageways to this junction. Yesterday I saw someone who thought it was ok to drive against the oncoming traffic in the overtaking lane to this junction. A scooter rider rode on the white line from the junction down the wrong way towards Kas.
Holidaymakers too don't seem to realise the danger of walking against the carriageway dividing wall rather than the broad hard shoulder. (yes I know some people seem to think that this is an extra carriageway, but there is a ditch to drop into should you need to).
Is it really any wonder that the death toll on the roads is so high here?