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This Letter to the Editor appeared in the GDL Reporter on May 11, 2019.

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Letters To The Editor - May 11, 2019

Published: 09 May 2019
 
Written by GR Staff

Dear Sir,

I would like to report on behalf of the Axixic Chimalli organizing committee on the progress that has been made in our efforts to resist unwanted and unnecessary developments in and around Ajijic.

First of all, a hearty thank you must go to everyone who has made contributions that total more than 100,000 pesos so far. After payments to our lawyer in Mexico City, we have in excess of 70,000 pesos in our bank account but will likely need to continue our fund-raising efforts, so stay tuned about that. To that end we have an account set up at Bancomer on the Plaza in Ajijic with the account number 0468878021. We also have a PayPal account set up. Go to PayPal under the name ChimalliAxixic@gmail.com, or on Facebook to Chimalli Axixic Vigilantes.

You perhaps have seen articles in the Guadalajara Reporter about the stance of our local government officials in Chapala. One victory we can all celebrate is that any development to the Tepalo area has been declared off limits. Of course, that is not the case with other sensitive areas under consideration for development.

Our lawyer has demanded that local authorities send all the relevant documents regarding past zoning decisions, setting the cota limitations on the hillsides and so on. In compliance with the lawyer’s requests, municipal officials sent totally illegible documents. We continue to wait for readable documents so that we can begin to build our own archives regarding decisions rendered in the past.

The goal of this legal work is to determine what changes have been made to environmentally sensitive areas and who authorized them. At the same time, we are pressing forward with holding the current administration to account for any actions that they may take to award developers permits without due process.

Meanwhile, our committee is seeking expert help from others who are committed to the environment around Lake Chapala. One such person is Dr. Raquel Gutierrez Najera, an environmental lawyer in Guadalajara whom we met with recently. Gutierrez is very familiar with our area and is especially concerned with the health of Lake Chapala. She represents IDEA (the Institute of Environmental Law) and informed us about the Ramsar Convention (an international treaty covering wetlands) and the fact that Lake Chapala is a Ramsar designated site.  This may turn out to be our best hope for preserving the local environmental balance in the future.

We welcome any input and questions you may have, as the organizing committee continues to meet regularly with a commitment to do all we can to stop these illegal developments.

Tim Boeve, secretary, Axixic Chimalli

 

 

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Harry, are you referring to the Chamala group or The Guadalajara Reporter? If the newspaper: They can really only report on the news. They don't have an a "investigative team". This is a very small operation. They all work exceedingly hard to fill that paper with information relevant to the area. Dale Palfry does a helluva balancing act, trying to get the truth out of municipal government with a firm stance while not offending to the point where she is refused access. I don't know how she manages.

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Seeing all the dirty tricks the government pull to avoid giving information even when a lawyer is involved the GP stands very little chance to get information the government does not want to give.. They are dragging their feet on everythng as they are all involved in this going way back and do not want to be exposed for what they are... Yes Dale Palfry is doing a good job considering the situation.

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Thanks for asking HarryB. I was  one of the founding members of the Chimalli Axixic group and our stated purpose was to curb illegal development in the hills of Ajijic.

Money was raised (over 100,000 pesos) to specifically hire a lawyer from Mexico city, who is a specialist in urban planning and development. The first thing he did was to ask for the legal basis for granting a change in zoning for the Tepalo waterfall area from a protected green area to housing development. As soon as they received his request the zoning was returned to green.

Some new people joined the group and resisted using the money raised to pay this lawyer, even though that was the stated purpose of the funds. 

I and two other members were able to get the group to send first 20,000 pesos and after almost two months 12,500. The lawyer requested extensive paperwork from the Chapala City Hall and they sent unreadable copies and only part of what he asked for.

I went to City Hall and got 1972 documents (costing over 3000 pesos) and gave them to the Chimalli group to send to the Mexico City lawyer ......in March. 

These documents were never sent. I insisted that we keep to the original plan and send the documents and finish to  pay the MEXICO city lawyer. I was asked to leave the group and threatened with legal action if I divulged the group’s plans and strategies.

I understand that a lawyer from Guadalajara, whose specialty is ecological issues, was given 40,000 pesos plus a stipend of 5000 a Month to take legal action.

The only thing that she has done, to my knowledge, is to attend a conference in Spain. 

7 months have gone by. The above letter to the Reporter was written in March. The generous donors have a right to request clarity on the actions of this group and the expenditures to date.

 

 

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I was waiting to see if they were going to do anything. Hope springs eternal, but now I realize that the money raised is not going to the original purpose and the illegal building goes in unabated.

in fact a hotel is being built on the Chapinaya at the moment on land which is reserved as protected Forrest land. The permit was given by the ex/mayor javier degollado in 2017. He is currently a city council member.

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1 hour ago, lakeside7 said:

Thanks for the reply. 

I wonder why the Guad Reporter has not picked this up, I would have thought it more important than feeding us Trump latest twitter

Yes, one would think so.  Frankly I could care less about their highly biased op eds on U.S. politics and wish they would stick to things of local concern.  For example why Ajijic and the rest of the municipio crumbles while there seems to be all sorts of improvements in Chapala.  Or why the folks in GDL  are enjoying serious enforcement of noise ordinances against these bars while they blast on locally.  Or why Chapala seems quite happy to ignore height limits everywhere but Chapala.  Or why Chapala gvernment is constantly in hot water with the legal system.

And so on.  If I want a biased viewpoint of the U.s. or its president from some Canadian (GDL Reporter is Canadian owned) there are countless sources for same.  What is lacking is vigilant, skeptical and probing coverage of local affair.  A little light and exposure might go a long way around here to get better government for the entire municipio.

 

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39 minutes ago, Mainecoons said:

 

And so on.  If I want a biased viewpoint of the U.s. or its president from some Canadian (GDL Reporter is Canadian owned)

 

I thought Michael was from the UK and Sean was from Boston, both married to Mexicans and with permanent (ciudadano o permanente) status in Mexico owning a MEXICAN S.A.

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There is an injunction (Amparo ) against the Hotel, but there is more illegal construction going up all over.

They  are even building in river beds in Canacinta, and  another lakeside organización, Amigos del Lago, has reported the builders to Conagua because this breaks federal law.

 

Hopefully Amigos del Lago will pick up where Chimalli Axixic let the ball drop.

 

 

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14 hours ago, slainte39 said:

I thought Michael was from the UK and Sean was from Boston, both married to Mexicans and with permanent (ciudadano o permanente) status in Mexico owning a MEXICAN S.A.

Dale Palfrey runs the GDL Reporter and decides what it in it.  Point is this area has far more need for serious investigative reporting of its truly bad local government than it does for constant biased bitching about the U.S. president.  He probably doesn't know where Lake Chapala is and doesn't care either.

He's not responsible for this hotel, those high rises in La Floresta, building in the arroyos,  the abandonment of the two floor maximum standard, that obviously illegal total lot covering towering monstrosity now being constructed at the west end (south side) of Constitucion, the rotting and littered streets and skate park blight of Ajijic and so on ad nauseam.  

All of this illegal and just plain awful development is occurring for one reason and one reason only:  The Chapala government looks the other way.  They seem to be permitting or ignoring bad development and land use in the face of ridiculously poor infrastructure at every turn.  That is where the problem is and that is where the attention needs to be directed. 

Left unchecked the Chapala government is going to totally ruin the desirability of our area.  That should be obvious by now.

 

 

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More than 20 years ago when we first started scouting Mexico to live we were told that laws in Mexico are routinely ignored and broken.  We were advised that if someone is not able to adapt to that mindset, culture or whatever you want to call it, living in Mexico would not be enjoyable.  The passage of time has made that statement more and more true and relevant.

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14 minutes ago, pappysmarket said:

More than 20 years ago when we first started scouting Mexico to live we were told that laws in Mexico are routinely ignored and broken.  We were advised that if someone is not able to adapt to that mindset, culture or whatever you want to call it, living in Mexico would not be enjoyable.  The passage of time has made that statement more and more true and relevant.

True then and continues to be the situation to day..Sadly paridise  lost

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17 hours ago, Mainecoons said:

Yes, one would think so.  Frankly I could care less about their highly biased op eds on U.S. politics and wish they would stick to things of local concern.  For example why Ajijic and the rest of the municipio crumbles while there seems to be all sorts of improvements in Chapala.  Or why the folks in GDL  are enjoying serious enforcement of noise ordinances against these bars while they blast on locally.  Or why Chapala seems quite happy to ignore height limits everywhere but Chapala.  Or why Chapala gvernment is constantly in hot water with the legal system.

And so on.  If I want a biased viewpoint of the U.s. or its president from some Canadian (GDL Reporter is Canadian owned) there are countless sources for same.  What is lacking is vigilant, skeptical and probing coverage of local affair.  A little light and exposure might go a long way around here to get better government for the entire municipio.

What an absolute load of unmitigated hogwash. CHECK YOUR FACTS. Allyn and Beverly Hunt bought that paper decades ago, both Americans. Sean is as reported, American, Michael British, both have Mexican status. Their interest is in serving the expat populace. Dale is a reporter and does not run the paper or decide what goes in it.

If I want a biased viewpoint of the U.S. I'll read your stuff. Your denigration of the viewpoint of the entire country of Canada is shameful to me, and smacks of xenophobia.

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