Dear Sir,
After reading many articles about the proposed “Lake City” development from various local publications, both in English and Spanish, it seems to me that many serious points have never been addressed.
First, let’s not kid ourselves: this project will be approved by the current Chapala administration (money talks) but will never be completed. When, in a few years, problems with the project become obvious, the then current administration will blame the previous one(s). And the game continues.
The issues that concern me are:
–I have nowhere read anything about plans to build a new wastewater treatment plant. The existing plant is already saturated and cannot handle the wastewater from up to 3,000 condos (6,000 people). Discharging untreated wastewater in the lake is supposed to be a federal crime.
–Where is SIMAPA going to find and treat the “drinking” water required?
–Will CFE be able to provide the necessary electricity for lightning, AC, and other needs?
–The soil in the area of the Barrio de Lourdes is fairly unstable with fault line(s), crevices, and soil movements that will be amplified by the size of the proposed construction. The enormous weight of the proposed tower, even if only half of it is constructed, will create a large underground pressure zone which will affect the existing neighboring buildings. The Hotel Monte Carlo can expect to see cracks appearing in its walls, soil lifting and breaking up in its passageways and rooms, doors not closing, etc. The carretera will likely break up and lift. Such problems did occur in the house we occupied in Chapala a few months after the construction of 15-20 houses above the Callejon de los Placeres.
–I am somewhat puzzled that the owners of magnificent properties, such as “Villa France,” in the back of the project (I think) have not seriously challenged it. Unless, of course they are part of the project or have sold or are about to sell their properties to the promoters.
–This project is not going to be completed in three or five years, if ever! Once the pool, some common amenities, and a few hundred condos (if that many) are built construction will stop. The promoters will wait for the sale of these condos to take place in order to acquire the capital to pursue the project. In view of the glut of existing condos and houses for sale at present and in the near future, plus the current real estate developments in progress, Chapala residents can look forward to a “work in progress” for many years to come!
–In particular, I doubt very much that the proposed “convention center” and “geriatric clinic” touted by the current Chapala administration will ever see the light of day. No short term capital return in them.
J.C. Tatinclaux, Ajijic
Dear Sir,
This letter is in response to “Buying bootlegs, illegal downloading,” published April 24, 2015.
DVDs can be made for as little as 47 cents (pressing and printing a minimum order of 10,000). Add another 25 cents for marketing, advertising and distribution and the cost is around 75 cents. If the movie industry wants to get serious about addressing this problem then it should price DVDs competitively instead of gouging the consumer. This way they combat the problem, sell more DVDs and ultimately make more money.
This won’t completely eliminate piracy but will make it less attractive to the pirates and put many out of business. I am retired from the motion picture business and in my opinion they gouge (technically steal) consumers. You simply can’t expect people that make less than 5,000 pesos a month to pay unrealistic prices. In my opinion the movie industry has created this problem and can solve it.
Doug No
Dear Sir,
We have lived in the Chapala area for the past two and a half years. My wife and I have made three trips to Phoenix and one trip to Cancun on Volaris Airlines. We recently invited two daughters and two grand-daughters to visit us and bought them tickets from Orlando to Guadalajara on Volaris. The trip was trouble free until the return flight.
There were long check-in lines when we dropped them off at the Guadalajara airport, which meant they didn’t have a lot of time to spare to get to the gate and board.
Our grand-daughter Sarah had a small carry-on size suitcase and a small backpack and chose to keep them as carry-on bags. The other three had checked bags and went through the security area with no problem. Sarah, however, had purchased three painted and glazed terracotta plates for gifts and chose to keep them in her carry-on bag. Security officials told her the plates might be used as weapons and could not go through. She offered to leave the plates – they were not expensive – to solve the problem. But she was told there were no trash receptacles available and that she must go back to the Volaris counter to check the bag.
As the other three boarded the plane, a security official accompanied Sarah back to the counter. Once there, Volaris personnel told her that it was too late to check the bag and that the plane had left. She then received a call from her mother to tell her that the flight crew was holding the plane for her. At that point she could have (and probably should have) trashed the plates and ran for the plane. I think the confusion blinded her to that line of thought. Finally, the plane left without her.
The Volaris staff insisted that this was her problem and she would have to buy a new ticket for another flight. She subsequently spent two and a half hours on the phone, talking to many different people but no one seemed to have the authority or desire to help her solve the problem. (Sarah is 23 years old, responsible, with international travel experience and reasonably fluent in Spanish.) At no time did anyone at Volaris admit they had helped create the problem. Volaris had an evening flight to Mexico City with a seven-hour layover and a Tuesday morning flight from there to Orlando. But they refused to offer her that flight without her paying full price.
The original round trip from Orlando was about US$425. The return trip cost from Guadalajara cost US$440 on Aeromexico.
I think we have given our last penny to Volaris.
Gene and Sandra Hardgrove
Dear Sir,
Deepak Chopra is the biggest windbag, flimflam speaker in the western Hemisphere.
Trained as a medical doctor in India, he soon found that money can’t be made there. So he turned to the west, where he found money and rich benefactors with more money than brains.
He writes and rewrites the same books with the same message. Goes to cocktail parties in Scarsdale, Palm Beach and Scottsdale. He does not tell his message to the poor in India, nor does he treat the ill or downtrodden. Nor does he swim in “The holy Ganges River” with the sewage and floating bodies. He does not accept Rolls Royces like the Bhagwan of years ago, who took over Oregon. He does, however, accept large fees.
Hard to believe that intelligent people will pay that kind of money for an hour of hot air. You will feel better drinking jamaica or a sweet tequila.
Arnt Julius Thorkildsen, Ajijic