Dear Sir,
As a resident of the Ajijic Devil’s Triangle of Excessively Loud Entertainment, bordered by El Barco, Plaza Bugambilias (which now has excruciatingly monotonous DJ techno “music” many weekends until 3 a.m.), and the Lienzo Charro, with an “evento” place in the middle, I was delighted to read that some sort of progress might be made in moderating the insanity-inducing entertainment noise that has only gotten worse in recent months.
Saturday nights you might hear all of the above at the same time! I am hoping that the new regulations will pertain to commercial entertainment venues as well as house parties.
Overall, the problem is due to the new and easy availability of over-sized sound amplification systems which seem to be managed by amateurs who have no idea what they are doing. No consideration whatsoever is shown to the neighbors of these and other venues who are forced against their will to have their houses and peace of mind repeatedly invaded by the excessively loud noise. I used to enjoy the banda concerts, but the recent volume levels have become unbearable especially when the event goes on for hours non-stop.
{/access} This noise problem is exacerbated by the traditional Mexican open-air style of the venues themselves, which only serves to let the sound completely escape as the concrete construction actually amplifies the sound rather than absorbing it. Therefore, the only solution is to enforce a reasonable decibel standard which takes the neighbors into consideration.Any professional group would know that sound checks should be done for a good mix and to see that the the sound hardly escapes the venue and that only paying customers inside the venues have to hear it. The solution is simple. Turn down the Master Volume! Bands and groups will actually perform better if they have monitor speakers on stage and less volume out front. A return to acoustic traditional dance music such as mariachis, cumbia, salsa, or samba might be nice!
The owners and/or managers of entertainment venues must be held accountable for the noise pollution they are enabling. Let’s hope that someone isn’t paying off someone to allow this to continue.
In the interest of peace, harmony, and real music.
Micki Wendt.
Dear Sir,
An article in the December 14-20 issue of the Reporter says that left-hand turns across solid yellow lines are prohibited. That was not stated in any of the 103 questions and answers that I downloaded from the website of the Jalisco Secretaria de Vialidad y Transporte to prepare for my driver’s license exam. (The questions also did not suggest that, as the article advises, the left-hand turn blinker may be used to indicate that it’s OK to pass or that one should use both turn blinkers and a hand signal when preparing to make a left-hand turn.)
The article says that where there is a solid line on the carretera, left-hand turns should be made at “the nearest intersection.” But there is no intersection on, for example, the long stretch of the carretera between San Mateo in Riberas and Allen W. Lloyd in San Antonio where one can turn without crossing a solid yellow line. There are also very few places where a driver may “pull off to the right and wait until the road is clear in both directions,” as the article advises, but even where that is possible, a left-hand turn would still cross a solid yellow line. There are many streets and businesses west of Chapala and west of Ajijic that drivers simply cannot access without making left-hand turns over the solid yellow line on the carretera.
I live in San Antonio on Ramón Corona between Arroyo Hondo and Ramón Velasquez. There is a solid yellow line on the carretera where both of those streets intersect it. Residents of the condos on Arroyo Hondo commonly turn left over the line, as do teachers and parents going to the school on that street. There are recently-installed topes on both sides of the intersection with Ramón Velasquez, which one might think are intended to slow traffic for drivers making turns over the line there. If, when driving west, I do not make a left-hand turn over the line on one of those streets, getting home would require a long and circuitous route. Residents of Chula Vista driving east have the same problem. I must also cross the solid line on the carretera when I enter it from Ramón Corona and turn left to drive west. It is impossible to avoid turning left across solid lines at Lakeside, so prohibiting such turns is clearly unreasonable.
Another article in The Reporter says that expats who have Mexican bank accounts, perhaps as I do to facilitate payment of CFE and Telmex bills, must now obtain a document from Migración and then a Mexican tax identification number, and that when money is deposited in an account, it must be shown that it does not represent income subject to tax. The article does not reveal how that must be done, but like all encounters with Mexican bureaucracy, it’s likely to be an onerous task. The article advises that “the new regulations should make foreigners careful about withdrawing significant amounts at ATMs on their U.S./Canadian credit or debit cards and then depositing the cash in their Mexican accounts.” That will surely discourage expats from having Mexican bank accounts and thus make their living here less convenient.
The apparently new or newly enforced no-turn rule and the new regulations concerning bank accounts follow more restrictive immigration requirements implemented earlier this year that also make it more difficult for expats to live here. That poses for me an obvious question: Is it time to leave?
Kenneth G. Crosby