Irked by a sense that Chapala authorities are making no progress in ridding the downtown area of a reviled paid parking system, a throng of citizens took to the streets early Tuesday, June 11 to once again raise their voices.
The protestors marched down Avenida Madero to demonstrate at the office of Comers, S.A. de C.V., the private company that manages the coin-operated meters regulating parking spaces stretched along three central thoroughfares. When no one answered their knock at the door, they headed off to raise a ruckus at city hall. They were greeted by a cadre of police officers in riot gear guarding the locked iron gate, causing tempers to flare further.
Several officials quickly appeared, but their attempts to appease the crowd only prompted more heated discussion.A few protestors hoofed back to the main intersection to block off traffic, while others clamored to to raze the money-gobbling gadgets. Mayor Joaquin Huerta arrived on the scene minutes later, urging the crowd to retreat to the sidewalk for civil discourse on the controversy.
Since Comers began issuing free parking passes to residents and merchants with addresses in the controlled zone, opponents have honed in on the onerous conditions of the 15-year contract drawn up two years ago between Comers, its parent company MK Ideas Tech and the municipal government. Most insist that strictly enforced metered parking is scaring off the city’s withering tourist trade. Company executives, meter inspectors, former mayor Jesus Cabrera and aldermen who unanimously approved the deal are painted as public enemies.
Huerta has openly sided with his constituents in favor of removing the meters, but some believe he has not acted decisively to resolve the matter. The mayor argues the government must tiptoe lightly through a legal mine field to avoid be financially obliterated by the 44-million-peso penalty written into the contract for premature rescission. To mollify the protestors and show his solidarity, he proposed putting the controversy in a broader limelight with a spontaneous demonstration outside the state congress in the heart of Guadalajara. Game on.
In a heartbeat three buses rolled up at the waterfront to board 150 passengers. En route Huerta rang up contacts with leading media outlets and District 17 legislators Jesus Palos Vaca and Jose Luis Munguia Cardona. All were waiting in the wings when the demonstrators arrived.
The mayor revealed that his legal team will file a lawsuit next week, citing clear grounds to annul the contract. The congressmen pledged moral support. Reporters picked up a hot story. Satisfied for the moment, the protestors got back on the buses, chatting cheerfully all the way home as they munched down lonches and sodas provided courtesy of el presidente.