Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – Eleven street corners in the heart of the city will soon getting a ‘face lift,’ thanks to a joint effort between citizens and the municipal government, who are working to improve the downtown area’s appearance and appeal to visitors.
The president of the Historic Center of Puerto Vallarta Citizens’ Council, José de Jesús Palacios Bernal, reported that work to rehabilitate and restore the corners of all the downtown streets that come to an end at the foot of El Cerro, due to the hillside’s rugged topography, has already begun.
“They had already been improved in some ways, now we are rehabilitating them, so that they can be used as another attraction in the center of the city. We started with Abasolo, which is the direct access to the Cerro de la Cruz viewpoint, and it’s almost complete, only lacking ornamental lighting,” he said.
A New Pedestrian Attraction That Brings El Centro to Life
Thanks to the citizens’ and the municipal government’s Departments of Tourism and Economic Development, Strategic Projects, Public Services, Maintenance of Assets, Social Development and the Vallarta Institute of Culture, the downtown area will soon boast a new pedestrian attraction that brings the city center to life.
Palacios Bernal said that, due to the health contingency, all of the work has not yet been scheduled, but the purpose of this project is to create a series of cultural attractions that generates pedestrian traffic and encourages visitors to explore the most traditional area of this tourist destination.
Citizens Supplied Materials, Government Supplied Labor
According to Palacios Bernal, construction materials for the Abasolo Street project was provided by the citizens, through the Union of Urban Property Owners of Downtown Puerto Vallarta, while the labor was supplied by the City Council, who were also in charge of overseeing the project.
He clarified that the contributions of citizens and sponsors have been in kind, since the Union cannot handle money or issue receipts; instead they donated a couple of tons of cement, sand, gravel, paint, and handrails.
Obras Publicas cleaned the area, rebuilt the existing stairs and planters, installed iron handrails, and even decorated and artistically painted the entire space, which is also being considered as a place to install a new public sculpture.
In addition to Abasolo, work will soon begin on the following streets: Pípila, Leona Vicario, Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, Aldama, Corona, Galeana, Mina, Iturbide, Zaragoza & Miramar.
Source: Tribuna de La Bahia