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SHE SAID…
September 14, 2003
The present city administration came
to power nearly three years ago. A few months after
it did, my neighbor decided that he was going to add
a floor to his house, even though city regulations a)
prohibit anyone from building above a certain height
and b) prohibit anyone from building in such a way that
it would block the view from an already existing building.
Not only was he violating both regulations, but he boasted
that all he had to do was “pay a few pesitos to
the right people”! I contacted City Hall, they
sent inspectors over, and the work was “clausurado”
(closed down). The re-bars had been lying on my neighbor’s
rooftop, rusting, ever since.
Two years and four months elapsed.
Then last week, some trucks came over and dumped a whole
load of stone and sand in front of my neighbor’s
house. I immediately worried. Turns out me fears were
well-founded. A couple of days later, there was this
man putting up the re-bars once again. Naturally, I
panicked. We’re not talking about someone building
a six-story condo across the street from me. This fellow
wants to build an extra floor whose wall would lean
against my terrace, entirely blocking it, up close and
personal, reminiscent of that Edgar Allan Poe story…
Over the last couple of years, I’ve
become quite friendly with some of the nice people working
at City Hall. I called one of them again. “Guess
what?” I asked the councilwoman. “Don’t
tell me!” she answered. She knew right away why
I was calling. An inspector came over and told the worker
on the roof to stop whatever he was doing. The man answered
him nonchalantly, “I have a permit.” The
inspector turned around and started to walk away. Never
saw the permit. I stopped him to ask what the story
was. He answered that he would return tomorrow because
he had to “check things with his superior”…
He never returned. In the meantime, as I had feared,
the worker poured the concrete for the two supporting
columns of my neighbor’s long-awaited third floor,
lickety-split, as many do here who do things outside
of the law.
The next day, after numerous more
phone calls back and forth, the inspectors finally showed
up to close down the site. But now, I am the one who
will have to pay to have the columns torn down, and
it might take years before I get the “legal”
authorization to do so from up above. Because I have
to do things “legally”… That’s
the way things function here so it’s no wonder
that there have been so many complaints lodged against
the department in charge of such matters at City Hall.
On a different topic, according to
the lady in charge of the Department of Permits and
Regulations, some 25 painters and vendors with semi-fixed
stands who operate in the Aquiles Serdan park were to
have been relocated near Banco Santander-Serfin, (located
next to my favorite ice cream shop), behind the DIF
parking lot …once the reconstruction of the Malecon
would be completed. The reconstruction was completed
months ago, but maybe they’re waiting for the
in-famous bridge to be finished now, as no one has been
relocated anywhere (except for the fish vendors near
Rizo’s). I have no answers. I just know that the
so-called “park” that is next to the foot
of the controversial bridge, which was supposed to be
a children’s playground, is the saddest, most
pathetic-looking thing I’ve seen in a while.
I read that the district manager
of AeroMéxico in Puerto Vallarta, stated recently
that “only through the unity of the various sectors
that make up the tourism industry in this port would
they be able to salvage this destination during this
time of world crisis in the industry”. We are
still the most expensive beach destination in Mexico
to reach by air. He said the promotion and advertising
campaigns should be a joint effort. Well, if that’s
the case, why doesn’t he ask his superiors to
level the field? Why doesn’t AeroMexico lower
its fares? And why doesn’t Mexicana do the same
while they’re at it? That might help.
And talking about airfares and such,
it appears that Puerto Vallarta’s Mayor-elect
is slated to leave for Europe this week …on a
promotional trip. His 22-day itinerary includes Spain,
Italy, France, Germany, England, Holland and Denmark
- among others! Sounds very familiar to me. Our last
mayor did the same a while back. He returned with one
agreement (signed with a Spanish charter company) and
when the flights started coming into our (common) international
airport, all the passengers immediately headed for Nuevo
Vallarta in the neighboring state of Nayarit. So PV
spends the pesos for those good folks to travel throughout
the Old Continent and the hotels in another state benefit.
Personally, I find that inconceivable. Besides, there
are no flights to Vallarta from those cities. Anyone
who would be interested in visiting us from there has
to land in Mexico City, then take another flight to
PV (which costs nearly as much as the transatlantic
leg). But they’re going for it again, so I must
be wrong…
My very best friend from Canada came
down to visit last week. Because he is a connoisseur
of good food, I knew that we would have a great time,
every evening. (I love it when he comes down here…)
Anyway, on the first evening we went to Trio Restaurant.
Incredible, like always. I’ll tell you all about
it in another article, maybe next week. We also scheduled
Xitomates and Barcelona-Tapas… Mmmmm, I can’t
wait!
This is the week to have fun,
dear readers. Don’t mind the rain, welcome it,
it is warm and cleansing and wonderful. Just go out
and have a great time. This week, you’re going
to see the exciting side of Mexico, as it truly is,
filled with love of life itself. Hasta Luego
pvmomto3@hotmail.com
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