The Guadalajara Reporter

Mayor backtracks on improvements for Ajijic tianguis street

Plans for renovating Calle Revoulcion, the site of Ajijic’s weekly tianguis street market, are on hold until the Chapala government receives a federal funding package that isn’t expected until August or September, according to Mayor Joaquin Huerta.

He broke the news to Ajijic administrator Hector España and members of his citizen advisory committee during a meeting Wednesday, April 30.

The aim of the project is to install a pedestrian-friendly swath of stone pavers down the center of the cobblestone street along the stretch between the highway and Calle Constitución. Tianguis vendors and many village residents back the plan. Last fall a number of them even put up cash to get the job done.

Huerta initially gave his thumbs up to the idea with the caveat that aging water and sewage infrastructure be replaced at government expense prior to resurfacing the roadway. At that time he indicated that the underground work could begin after the first of the year.

When January rolled around he gave a pledge that the full tab would be covered with public funding, giving May as the projected start time. Taking the mayor at his word, advisory committee chairman Harry Bublin promptly reimbursed monies to donors who had chipped in for the work.

In justifying the delay this week, the mayor said he had assumed federal funding for public works would come in around this time of year, as it did in 2013. But pay-outs to Chapala and other municipal governments have been held up due to procedural changes by the Peña Nieto administration. 

While Huerta offered España and his committee “100 percent” assurance the project will be carried out as planned, other officials appeared less confident.

City Hall Secretary General Nicolas Padilla was blunt, saying the feds have put the local government in a financial stranglehold. “It’s a reality we can’t cover up.”

Public Works Department official Elia Ibarra told the group that while the executive plan has been submitted to the appropriate channels, it remains subject to formal approval. 

After the meeting broke up, Ibarra told the Reporter that the perspective of federal agencies has shifted radically, with greater priority going to social assistance programs. Local governments and their citizens now have little say in targeting where and how funds are spent. 

As they were leaving the mayor’s office España and Bublin expressed frustration that the Huerta administration has not lent full support to other community projects that wouldn’t involve any additional expenses for the municipal treasury. They noted that progress on the construction of ramps for the handicapped on street corners in central Ajijic has been stalled because the mayor has ignored their repeated requests for laborers who are already on the payroll.

“We have two tons of cement in storage. All we’re asking for is some extra manpower,” Bublin griped. “The committee won’t stop petitioning as we seek new angles and hang in for long-term results.”