The phone call came on Tuesday afternoon, one of the two worst (i.e.: most rushed, harried, etc.) days of the week for me, Wednesday being the other. It was from Susan Wiseman, owner of Casa Los Arcos, a stupendous guest house in the now (in)famous Amapas area. You may recall that that is where entire sections of a few villas came sliding down the hill a few weeks ago due to some not quite kosher excavation work being done on an adjacent development. She asked me to attend a meeting with the Mayor and the City Council the next morning - yes, Wednesday - at 10:30 a.m. A whole bunch of people concerned about their well-being and the future of their homes would be there.
I accepted, for various reasons, but mostly because, as some of you may recall, I have been personally affected by the lack of follow-up on the part of the previous administration with regard to illegal constructions that were shut down (clausuradas) and ordered to be demolished. Needless to say, they are all still there, years later, now causing financial losses to other neighbors of mine.
Back to City Hall, there were about 24 of us. We waited for over an hour because the Council session was taking longer than originally foreseen. Finally, we were invited to go in and extra chairs were quickly set up for all the «foreigners». I don’t know when the last time was that such a large group was allowed to sit in on a City Council meeting. For my part, I had never stepped foot in the Council Chamber, and let me tell you: it’s quite impressive. Very large, well-planned, with a U-shaped table in the middle at the head of which sits the Mayor, and an extra row of tables along one side of the U, for the press. Laptop computers and tape recorders all around. The Mayor introduced the topic, expressed the Council’s concern with it, and then invited the head of one particular department (can’t recall which) to make his audio-visual presentation.
The young man showed a slide show of 15 separate cases of construction violations up in the Amapas area (see separate article in this issue), complete with photos showing some truly scary places. Again and again, he warned of the potential damage that can occur once the rains start.
Afterwards, PAN Councilman Preciado (of the party in opposition to the ruling PRI) was invited to read his proposals, among which was a request that there be a State audit of all the construction permits granted by the former mayor. When he finished, a PRI councilman expressed his disaccord, softly, as if trying to assuage the entire affair. He couldn’t see why such matters had to be handled outside of the city’s legal jurisdiction… after all, Vallarta is an independent, autonomous city… why wash our dirty laundry in public?... an objective investigative committee could be set up right here to conduct the audit… etc. etc. Makes us think, doesn’t it? What did surprise me somewhat was the Mayor’s behavior during the speeches. He appeared more interested in chatting with the gentlemen seated on either side of him, smiling, even chuckling at times. Like everybody else living here, or contemplating moving down here to this constantly shrinking "paradise", I certainly hope the pleasant young man with the dazzling, dimpled smile doesn’t approach this situation lightly. After all, his predecessor is now going to face serious legal proceedings now that the State has accepted to go ahead with the lawsuit brought against him by Vallarta’s Hotel and Motel Association, for illegal changes in the zoning laws, corruption, abuse of power, etc.
Whoa! I’m sorry if my contribution this week is more serious than usual, but these are facts that everyone should be aware of. The local papers, on both sides of the party line, are replete with articles warning against the potential "Acapulco-nization" of our town. Let’s hope that we never reach that point. It destroyed what used to be THE vacation spot in Mexico. I wouldn’t want it to happen in Vallarta.
While we were waiting outside the Council Chamber, I noticed Mr. David Izazaga. He used to be our Director at the Tribune many years ago. Today, he’s the head of the municipal Department of Culture. I went over to greet him, and I reprimanded him (gently of course) for the fact that we had not received a single notice from his department about the events it’s been organizing. So guess what? We now have a real, up-to-date calendar of events! You see, some good came out of the seemingly interminable wait…
And on a lighter note, we received a lovely email from Mary Ellis in which she wrote: "I must say, the photos on the front of the Tribune lately are incredible! It is worth getting the paper just to look at the cover."
On behalf of all the incredible photographers who have submitted their work for publication on our covers, I thank you!
I am also leaving some space here for a beautiful photo of the Tibetan monks, this one sent to us by JOY!
Until next time, have a wonderful week and long Memorial Day weekend, don’t forget your UVA-UVB sunscreen, and take good care of yourselves. Hasta luego. pvmom04@yahoo.com
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