Ajijic town administrator (delegado) Hector España has made big strides during his first month in office, garnering solid backing from the expat community.
As he walked in the door at the Delegacion office, España immediately pulled together two citizen advisory committees, one composed of village natives and another formed among resident foreigners. He explains that the sole reason for the division of the two groups is to keep their regular weekly meetings from getting bogged down by language barriers.
The delegado’s first goal in improving living conditions was to start sprucing up the town with a full clean-up of the beach and the re-launch of the children’s anti-litter campaign initiated many years ago by the late Juanita Reed.Youngsters gather at the plaza at 10 a.m. every Saturday morning and head out to collect refuse strewn in the streets. Afterwards they are rewarded with snacks paid for by program supporters.
España has already finished a variety of small-scale mobility projects, such as knocking down 48 street corners to pull in easy-access ramps, repairing 48 meters of damaged sidewalks, filling in 450 potholes in the cobblestone streets, installing hand railings on steep staircases leading from the Malecon to the beach and using rocks collected in the beach clean-up to build a stone pathway in the local cemetery.
With literally zero funding from Chapala city hall, the work has been achieved with the 1,200 pesos he collects each week from street vendors and donations of cash and goods lined up with the aid of the resident advisors. Individual citizens, businesses and organizations – including the Shriners, Masons and Hash House Harriers – have willingly lent a hand.
Others interested in keeping the ball rolling are encouraged to contact expat committee liaison Harry Bublin by phone at 766-4282 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. He welcomes comments and suggestions, as well as donations for supplies. Sales bills will be given for purchases made with cash contributions.