In a bid to beat the clock on restrictions set under electoral laws, Chapala Mayor Joaquín Huerta is stepping up the pace of public appearances to inaugurate completed community improvement projects before the end of this month.
Public officials in Jalisco are prohibited from touting their accomplishments after April 1, the date when 2015 election campaigns get underway.
The mayor’s whirlwind agenda kicked off with the formal unveiling of the rehabilitation of Chapala’s Plaza de Armas on Wednesday, March 18. The festive event drew a big crowd of spectators who took in performances by the San Antonio music workshop children’s band and the municipal ballet folklorico troupe, an open-air movie screening and the boiler plate ribbon-cutting and speeches by city hall officials.
Huerta will tackle the last snag in the plaza makeover early next week: negotiations with the 20 street vendors who were displaced to parking spots on Avenida Madero while the work was in progress. He has remained adamant that allowing the sidewalk merchants to return to their usual sales spots is “not viable,” insisting that public opinion strongly favors keeping the plaza free of ambulantaje (informal commerce).
At a roundtable session tentatively set for next Monday, the mayor will offer the vendors two relocation options and entertain one alternative proposal from the interested parties.
Other newly finished projects include a greenhouse at the municipal nursery, repavement of Calle Venustiano Carranza, several computer-generated “virtual” libraries, a community center and the equipping of a medical dispensary.