The Guadalajara Reporter
Guadalajara's Largest English Newspaper
Given an opportunity to air their views on how to address Chapala’s most urgent problems, contenders for the mayor’s seat inexplicably side stepped the local government’s financial crunch at a candidates’ forum held at the Instituto Tecnologico Superior (ITS) campus on Tuesday.
In a story published in the May 8 edition of Guadalajara daily El Informador, Chapala was one of 12 Jalisco municipalities singled out for spending more resources on servicing public debt than on funding public works.
Adding to what has become a historic year of international support for Chapala’s civil protection and firefighting squad (UPCB), the Rotary Club of Playa Venice Sunrise recently donated a second-hand ambulance to beef up the company’s emergency rescue fleet.
Citizen’s Movement (MC) candidate Moises Anaya is promising greater empowerment of citizens if he wins the election to be Chapala’s next mayor.
Running at that head of a slate made up almost entirely of men and women who have never held public office, Anaya pledges to establish a citizen council of elected, unsalaried representatives from each of the municipality’s 30 barrios, who will participate in decision-making by advising him on complaints, recommendations and the need for public works projects voiced by their neighbors. The body will also be encouraged to review Chapala’s public finances.
In addition, Anaya states his intention of holding a plebiscite at the half-way point of his administration, vowing to resign the mayor’s post if constituents are not satisfied with his performance.
As Mother’s Day is celebrated around the world on Sunday, May 10, festivities in the Lake Chapala area will crank up in the wee hours when many beloved madres will be roused from their slumber with lively musical serenades.
As day breaks, sky rockets will blast off at local cemeteries, calling folks to services held in remembrance of mothers who have passed on to greener fields. Many will bring floral tributes to place at the graves of departed matriarchs.
Charro party
Ajijic’s Asociación de Charros gets a jump on the holiday with a wild country-style family fiesta on Saturday, May 9, from 4:30 p.m., at the bullring on Calle Revolución.
Heeding instructions in a circular issued last month by Mayor Joaquin Huerta, nine Chapala government employees have taken temporary leave of absence from their jobs while supporting the election campaigns of various local candidates. According to press office chief Carlos Alberto Diaz Mendoza, the payment of salaries for absent staffers has been suspended until they return to their posts following the June 7 elections.
Cruz Roja Mexicana is soliciting public support for relief efforts to aid more than two million victims of the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Nepal on April 25.
Other than a brief delay in the arrival of tourists coming in the for the extended holiday weekend, the Chapala-Jocotepec corridor was not directly impacted by the May 1 narco-blockades.
The political forum for Chapala mayoral candidates planned by the lakeside branch of the Guadalajara Chamber of Commerce has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 12 to mesh with a similar encounter organized by local media outlets. The event will be held at the Robert Kleffel auditorium on the campus of the Instituto Tecnologico Superior (ITS), starting at 11 a.m.
