The Guadalajara Reporter
Guadalajara's Largest English Newspaper
The Chapala municipal government hasn’t exactly reinvented the wheel, but with some out-of-the-box thinking has pieced together two used vehicles to beef up the fleet of the local Civil Protection and Fire Department.
Agents of the Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) confiscated a dozen coined-operated video game devices during a March 7 raid of the play area located inside Chapala’s Soriana supermarket. Officers said the action was prompted by an anonymous tip. The operation of the so-called tragamonedas (coin-gobblers) is prohibited by law on the premise that playing the gadgets is a highly addictive and wasteful pastime for children. However, the clandestine installation of such machines has become commonplace in scores of lakeside area mom-and-pop stores and thousands more small businesses across the nation as a method of generating extra off-the-books income.
After putting their heads together with Mayor Joaquín Huerta last week, merchants doing business on Chapala’s Avenida Madero are joining forces with the local government to spruce up the main thoroughfare following a uniform color scheme.
In the wake of unseasonal rains early this week, Avenida Hidalgo, Chapala’s principal east-west thoroughfare, and the contiguous highway to Jocotepec, turned into a virtual obstacle course overnight, riddled from end to end with dozens of treacherous potholes.
The local government responded quickly to the roadway crisis, sending out work crews and loads of asphalt on Wednesday afternoon to patch up the perilous baches.
National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) staffers started knocking on doors this week in this month’s campaign to collect data on Mexico’s population and living standards. Agency reps report that half of the 30 canvassers selected to conduct the surveys at 3,224 Chapala area households have sufficient command of English to guide foreign residents through the lengthy questionnaire. While stressing that all data compiled by INEGI is strictly confidential and not shared with other government agencies, they point out that citizen cooperation is voluntary and participants are permitted to withhold responses to any questions that make them uncomfortable about revealing personal information.
The Lake Chapala Shrine Club stepped off to lead the annual Chili Cookoff parade in Ajijic on Saturday, February 28. The club set a new record with 17 Shriners taking part in the parade along the main highway. The seven flags carried by the Shriners represent the countries in which there are international clubs. SEE COOKOFF STORY & PHOTOS ON PAGES 12, 13.
Apologies are in order for Chapala’s newly appointed press office chief Carlos Alberto Díaz Mendoza, whose profile photo was inadvertently omitted from the Reporter’s February 28 edition. The young media whiz is already earning style points with the local press pool for his cordiality and assistance in getting the lowdown on timely issues of public interest.
Just as their lavender-hued flowers began bursting into bloom, the row of jacaranda trees bordering the southern perimeter of Centro Laguna was practically obliterated last week as a safety precaution carried out by the municipal government.
A bevy of local officials headed by Chapala Mayor Joaquín Huerta and town administrator Héctor España formally reopened Ajijic’s Calle Colón on Monday, February 23 to mark the conclusion of the refurbishment of the four-block traffic circuit wrapped around the central plaza. The three-moth project involved replacement of underground water and sewage conduits and connections and resurfacing of the streets with decorative cobblestones set in cement, with an investment of just over 2.5 million pesos from federal coffers.