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 News from Around Banderas Bay | January 2005 
Losing Parks
 Guadalajara Reporter
The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful. If we weren't crazy, we'd all go insane. Jimmy Buffett
 Four lovely and much-used public parks were slated for removal by the Puerto Vallarta City Council in early January: Hidalgo Park, Lazaro Cardenas Park, Benito Juarez Park and the Central Plaza in Pitillal. This leaves only the small park at the square facing the main church of the Virgin of Guadalupe for places to sit in central Puerto Vallarta.
All the parks serve the public as places to relax, listen to music, eat light Mexican food or buy crafts. They are also gathering places for young and old, both tourists and nationals.
The city counselors and the mayor decided to tear the parks down, although two years ago Mayor Gustavo Villaseñor promised not to do so. This reversal and the signed order by the mayor to begin construction, spurred the Neighbors of Colonia Cinco de Diciembre, who protested the first round of park demolitions two years ago, to a protest march on Sunday January 9th.
It may very well be too late to change the destiny of these parks. But if they are destroyed, the repercussions for tourism will be immense. Central Puerto Vallarta is being gobbled up by upscale businesses. Taxis, cars and buses flow like an unending river. Without its parks, and their colorful Mexican ware, old trees and bandstands, the central city will eventually resemble the open cement malls of California.
I spoke with Ron Walker from the Ecological Group of Puerto Vallarta during the protest march. He recommended that foreigners and nationals "read the local papers, especially the ones in Spanish, or write a letter to the local tourist department."
The Ecological Group of Puerto Vallarta has kept watch over the city’s ecological treasures for years. They were part of the protest against development of the estuary El Salado in the northern part of the city. Ron points out that parking garages will not solve Vallarta’s serious traffic problem. There are still too many empty taxis and near-empty buses on streets throughout the day.
A state transportation study that cost 30,000 dollars two years ago found that city buses were only 16 percent used — or 84 percent empty — during off-peak hours. Drivers were found to be inadequate. Taxis cruise empty much of the time, but the city continues to hand out more taxi permits.
The state’s study recommended eliminating 70 percent of buses and presented ideas for parking facilities, but only after bus and taxi improvements were made. But nothing was done, except this plan to tear down the few remaining city parks for six-story parking garages. As one tourist observed, "These parks are part of Vallarta. If they go I don’t think I want to retire here." |
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