Last summer Mayor Joaquin Huerta was actively pitching an ambitious renewal plan for the eastern leg of Chapala’s waterfront Malecon.
The project involves demolishing the shabby string of vendor stalls bordering Paseo Ramon Corona to construct an upscale mall with new commercial modules set on the perpendicular axis to frame a large open esplanade and tented stage area designed as a forum for cultural and civic events.
In mid-July, during a detailed public presentation of the Malecon makeover, Huerta announced that ample funding from the state had been secured to complete the first phase of the project. He said that once he gained a majority consensus from waterfront merchants, the work would get underway in late August and finish by December 31. He threatened to ditch the plan if more than half of the merchants refused to jump on the bandwagon. In that case money from the state purse would be applied to alternate projects in Ajijic or San Antonio.
With the end of the year now just over a week away, the project remains on hold and neither the mayor nor key government staffers are providing coherent explanations for the snag. And funding for the project is now in danger of evaporating unless the Chapala government arranges for an extension on the approved timeframe.For months Huerta has been fending off tough questions on the matter from the local press, claiming simply that while well over half of the merchants fully approve of the project, efforts to “socialize” the plan continue in hopes of gaining support from one and all. He has not revealed the negotiation points that are still in play to achieve that goal.
The only concrete advances to date have been the assignment of a contract to build the forum awarded by the city to the project designer Juan Antonio Duran, the completion of the municipality’s formal bidding process for constructing the western section of the commercial zone, also going to Duran’s architectural firm, and bidding on the eastern segment being handled by the state government, with results to be announced at the end of this week.
Meanwhile, ordinary citizens are starting to clamor for the mayor to cease being held hostage by reticent merchants and push ahead with a project that promises to boost tourism and detonate trickle-down economic benefits for the community at large. Huerta’s political legacy appears to rest on his success or failure at pulling off his administration’s paramount public works scheme.