Residents of the Santa Teresita neighborhood of Guadalajara have mounted a campaign to persuade the state government to turn the site of the now-closed Bodega Aurrera supermarket on Avenida Chapultepec into a park or cultural center.
Neighbors are using the website change.org to move their campaign forward.
The petition asks Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval to use his executive power and expropriate the property, which is owned by Walmart de Mexico.
“A park and cultural center will give a new life to our barrio and the entire zone,” says Carlos Silva, the Santa Tere resident who launched the campaign.
Bordering the ritzy Avenida Chapultepec cafe/arts “Pink Zone,” Santa Teresita is a well established residential/business neighborhood comprising mostly small properties, tightly packed into bustling narrow streets. Its renowned Sunday – mostly clothing – tianguis is a decades-old tradition in the city.
Silva met with Sandoval at Casa Jalisco, the governor’s residence, on Wednesday to show him the proposal. The governor expressed interest in the idea, which Silva says would also benefit 50,000 residents in 17 neighborhoods adjoining Santa Tere.
According to Manuel Flores Leos, secretary of the Santa Tere neighborhood association, the only park in the area, the small Parque José Clemente Orozco at the corner of Jesús García, is rundown and poorly maintained by the Guadalajara city council.
The only positive that came from a recent planned upgrade to this park were improvements to its bandstand, Flores Leos says.
That project was part of a 2013 initiative, in which then Mayor Ramiro Hernandez had pledged to install children’s games, benches, lighting, and fix sidewalks and green areas. None of the promised enhancements materialized, Flores Leos lamented.
Flores Leos and many neighbors fear that Walmart de Mexico will sell out to developers. “The last thing we need are more tower blocks messing up our traffic further,” he says.
The petition on change.org suggests that high-rise construction is inundating the metropolitan area and is a trend that citizens don’t want. As of Wednesday afternoon, the petition had garnered 4,800 signatures.
Expropriation of property is possible under Jalisco law (Ley de Expropiación de Bienes Muebles e Inmuebles de Propiedad Privada de Jalisco) when “required for public use” (por causa de utilidad pública).
Representatives of Walmart de Mexico have not indicated whether they would be prepared to accept compensation from the state government instead of selling or developing the property themselves.
To view or sign the petition, type “Terreno de Aurrera Chapultepec” into the change.org search engine.