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 Editorials | Opinions | June 2007 
Propriety vs Progress in Puerto Vallarta
 David Lord - PVNN
| | The sacred sites are buried by the hodge-podge of the white man's dreams of profit and nothing of the past will remain. |
It seems to go on and on and on, the nerve raking noises, the falling thuds of rolling splinters of rock, the ringing screech of a scrapping steel beam, the cracking and creaking of tree limbs, followed by the thuds and thumps of displaced dirt clumps, then another dull crash and thud as more rocks are falling from the broken mountains walls.
| | These machines obliterate the past, then cement is poured to totally hide any remains of any previous cultures ever present. | 
| | The sacred sites are buried by the hodge-podge of the white man's dreams of profit and nothing of the past will remain. | 
| | Already, four condos have fallen due to the decveloper's miscalculations of how much earth they could take away from under the structure. |
Listen to the hollow ring made by hundreds of pieces of rock and boulders being dropped from the giant bucket of the two earth movers. They are working at a frantic pace to get another scoop full of mountain into yet another dump truck with its diesel fumes curling up into the dust filled air.
I'm waiting for the cool rain to clear the dust from the air just to breathe. When will the monsoon rains muddy the earth and cover the poor mountain's scars and wounds, letting her scars be moistened, just to sooth her with some relief from another tortured day of the scratching claws and burrowing drills?
Those that destroy Vallarta's Amapas Mountain and its jungles are pitted against the thousands of years of Indigenous cultures and their history of peaceful co-existence. The Petroglyphs of the once powerful and spirited Indigenous peoples remain in these mountains after five thousand years, they are only sixty miles away, I wonder how many sites are being destroyed around Vallarta.
The sacred sites are buried by the hodge-podge of the white man's dreams of profit and nothing of the past will remain. We think of the Conquistadors as destroyers, they have absolutely nothing as compared to the machinery of today, which can destroy several times as much in just one day as in a year of manual dismantling. These machines obliterate then the cement is poured to totally hide any remains of any previous cultures ever present.
These sites may contain many anthropological areas, that were their ancestor's burial grounds, these spirits will have no rest or peace in the once dense green jungle is now stripped nude and pounded to pulp.
The already rich and powerful developers have more money than they could ever spend in a life time from previous Condo sales in Vallarta. Not satisfied with life and all of its diversity and beauty, they will be remembered as the Land Barrons that destroyed Vallarta.
"It does not make sense," you say, "what they are doing to this city." It has been done to Acapulco and Mexico D.F., and the quality of life plummeted.
You can see for yourself without even going up the steep roads. Just walk from the downtown plaza center and square past the new smelly parking garage, then cross over the bridge past the recently destroyed landmark of Molinas de Agua.
Now when you look up, don't focus on the huge monster Avalon on the right side, (which, according to the local Mexican newspapers is sitting on land that was swapped in some land scheme by the former Mayor,) look across from it. No, not below it, that is C.C. Construction's other partially completed mega Condo, look across the valley to the white building that had the four condos fall from it due to C.C.'s miscalculations of how much earth they could take away from under the structure.
When you see all the sprayed grey concrete atop and down the sides of the newly sheared-off walls, you begin to wonder how all that rainwater washing off the concrete will be diverted away from the city streets below.
How fast does water fall? Does anybody know? I think it is pretty fast... I remember the Rio Cuale last year, it was really ripping down the river bed at thirty or forty miles per hour. I bet the flow of water off the concrete covered mountain will get up to speeds of over sixty miles an hour.
Wanna have fun? Just try and drive up the one lane road to this glorious mountain of destruction, whoops, sorry... I mean construction. Maybe your car is better than mine, because mine skidded backwards all the way back down the access street (Pulpito) on the way home the other night. I had to let Susan out of the car after the second try. It had little to do with her screaming, I just needed to concentrate a little more, but the third try was the same as the first - and this was the first gentle rain of the season. June the 9th and I cannot get home at the first rain?
What about all those new neighbors C.C. Construction hopes to sell to, will they know how to drive backwards with tires smoking, trying to grip cobblestone to reduce the impact against the barrier at the bottom of the street? I feel better because C.C. Construction has promised to pay all costs that any neighbors have as a result of its project. I think I need a four wheel drive, is that included? The repairs to the cracked home of Susan (my partner) are still major damages, as yet unpaid.
We watch, we wait, we wonder why Corporations get away with destruction of the Eco systems, which in turn destroy the environmental stability of all Puerto Vallarta. Hiding behind a permit issued by a former Mayor who O.K.'d more than 164 building permits in Puerto Vallarta in his final four days in office last year!
Corporations exist to make money, that is understood, but the people that run those Corporate bodies should not violate common sense that puts everyone else on Amapas Mountain in jeopardy and risks possible flooding below in Old Town Vallarta.
 David Lord served in Vietnam as combat Marine for 1st Battalion 26th Marines, during which time he was severely wounded. He received the Purple Heart and the Presidential Unit Citation for his actions during the war in Vietnam. In Mexico, David now represents all veterans south of the U.S. border all the way to Panama, before the V.A. and the Board of Veterans Appeals. David Lord provides service to veterans at no fee. Veterans are welcome to drop in and discuss claims/benefits to which they are entitled by law at his office located at Bayside Properties, 160 Francisca Rodriguez, tel.: 223-4424, call him at home 299-5367, on his cell: 044 (322) 205-1323, or email him at david.lord@yahoo.com.
Click HERE for more Veteran Affairs with David Lord »»» |
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