Foreigners?

[jesm]

Would like to hear opinions on this recent Correo article in which nationals are complaining about increasing foreign influence and ownership in GTO, particularly around Meximora. I don't see this happening to any large degree but perhaps I lack current information and perspective. Are non-Mexicans actually changing the character here?

http://periodicocorreo.com.mx/prefieren-...periferia/

[colleen]

Well, that was very interesting. Thanks for the link. I think Pedro Vasquez Nieto is a great guy. I wouldn't criticize anything that was said in the article but I don't agree. Or at least I look at it differently. Yes, for some reason, the foreigners seem to want to live in Centro. I have lived outside the Centro area since we bought our home in 2002. Our area was privada till the people from Los Leones decided they'd rather drive over rocks and, loudly, take a short cut to Pastita. The govmt won't do anything. They could put in stairs so that it would be safe for people to walk their children to the kindergarten, but they don't care. They came out, looked around, agreed that the small bridge is not safe for the large Coke and gas trucks and then did nothing. Our area was not slummy. We're the only gringos.

Foreigners have revived many areas, all for the better. The Mexicans who sold to the foreigners made money. Yeah, street vendors have been put out of business. Look at Embajadoras. Sure, people can now sit all over the park on the crappy dyed red concrete that encircles it. What is historic or colonial now? I don't see much of that. And it was the Mexican govmt that did that horrible project. It put many people out of business. It redirected people away from anyone who sold in the area by the little bandstand. I'm pretty amazed that anyone inside the market survived. There are alot fewer people there now. That disaster had nothing to do with foreigners.

I'm going to guess that rentals of property to students, who do make life miserable for neighbors, is not property that has been remodeled by foreigners, but crappy property owned by Mexicans. There are, of course, people who rent and do business off the records and I don't approve of that. My bookstore followed the rules, I paid for all kinds of crazy things. If you follow the rules, it is not easy to get permission to start a business or continue it. But then, many rules have changed, as have the visas since I was doing that.

The change that I abhor is the presence of graffiti absolutely everywhere. We never had it in our area before last Xmas eve. It's a horrible plague and the police and govmt need to do something about it. They want tourism but if this city looks like it might be run by juvenile gangs, that's not going to help. If it was safe in the past to walk at nite but it's not safe now, is it foreigners who are causing it? NO. Only in the sense that Mexicans see a target that might have money or property of value. Yeah, blame the victim for appearing to have $.

There are decaying properties near the bus stop coming down from Pastita and leading to Embajadoras. Someone did amazing repairs, about a year ago, to one of the places. I have seen no evidence of anyone living or working there since. Now a second one is being repaired. Not as nice, but way better than before. I suspect in 10 years, even the ones with trees growing out of the roof will be remodeled. I also suspect that this is being done by persons from Mexico City. I have talked with a few people involved in remodeling several years ago and they were all from DF.

I have looked for my friend Maria de los Angeles who used to come into town every morning. First she cooked. Then she got her children off to school. Then she got on a bus to come into town to sell her gorditas. I always bought from her even if I wasn't hungry. I think it's unfortunate that many tourists will take pictures of the people selling on the street but not buy anything. True, I have gotten pretty sick a few times. Maybe Maria doesn't need to do all that work anymore. One daughter was working as a beautician and another was close to graduating and going to the university and even the young son would be grown by now. Her husband took off for the US years ago and she didn't know if he was dead or just not looking back. Life is tough.

Yes, there are traditions that are lost or in the process of changing. If only they'd lose the traditions of setting off cojetes at 4 AM and playing the drums and bugles at 5AM as they march off to the San Miguelito festival. What's the fun of setting off the loud bangs at all crazy hours? Hey, life changes. The US isn't living the 1950s anymore, not even the good parts of the 60s and 70s. Young, educated Mexicans want change. We foreigners who are members of Brillantes Caminantes are helping intelligent students from poor families to get an education and we are trying to get Mexicans more involved. Their life style is improving and some of that is due to foreigners.

OK, let me have it. Tell me where I'm wrong.

[mr bill]

For what its worth, today is 26 September 5 days after the article appeared and no reader of Correo has bothered to comment.
"Prefieren capitalinos vivir en la periferia sep 21, 2015 Guanajuato 0 Comentarios"

[peddler665]

The Building I stayed in last Winter was Mexican owned (or at least managed) near the Presa & I seemed to be the only Gringo in a large complex. Mostly young people (Students?) but very peaceful. Hopefully I will be there again this season.
As a guy who has been a resident/home owner in the San Francisco Bay area for 33 years I most say the graffiti there is a far bigger problem than in GTO!

[pianoheat]

Well yes I hate the Graffitti but in truth it is very hard to stop. I don't get the sense that there are a lot of foreigners in the Centro or Guanajuato in General yes lots of tourist from all over. I like the redo of the park in embajadores I'm a regular for tacos and go there often. It seems pretty vibrant I don't see how it is bad for the businesses there

[colleen]

During the months that Embajadoras was undergoing it's remodeling, many people were not able to sustain their businesses. Go upstairs, inside and you'll see all the open area. It was filled before. I haven't counted the # of people selling outside before and after, but it was difficult to walk thru all the sellers. There were more near the small bandstand. They are gone. The ones who survived are probably doing pretty well.

If San Miguel can control graffiti, then there shouldn't be a problem here. Wouldn't you think Mexicans would be a bit upset about the Gringolandia that city has become? Unless, of course, they have a business that caters to those gringos. If you stay in Centro in Guanajuato most of the time, you probably don't see much of it. Take a walk up Pastita. The school paints doors and walls several times a week. The areas that have alot of people nearly all the time seem ok. No problem on Alhondiga. In Pastita the gang SKUPE has even taken time and painted in many colors, a graffiti mural on the stones by the bridge heading toward Olga Costa museum. Of course nobody is there at nite to see them do it. They seem to be all over this area and up to the Panoramica. Then drive the Panoramica toward Clzda de Gdlp and Cerro del Cuarto and you'll see that it changes to TOX. You know that those guys are darn proud of what they are doing and it would be pretty easy to find out who they are. I wouldn't be surprised if there is no law mentioning it and therefore, nothing to be prosecuted. Mexicans are upset about it. They don't want to live with it, but as a friend said yesterday, it's the same old answer of shrug your shoulder, tilt your head sideways, turn up your hands and say "what can I do about it?". I also hear that since we will have a new local govmt, the guys in place now had no interest in doing anything and surely won't do anything now. I don't expect anything different from the new administration. If tourists only go to Centro then it probably doesn't matter.

[pianoheat]

I hear your anger about the graffiti believe me I hate it too. In 2005 I lived in Tonala and I would tell all my American friends in San Francisco and LA that there was much less Graffiti in Tonala then back home and then it slowly started to change and in a few years Tonala was a mess. My theory may be wrong but I attribute the new trend to Mexicans deported from the USA where they learned their tagging ways They brought in a special graffiti team they made no progress. These people are sneaking around at all hours of the night with a hidden spray can they have look outs with special whistle codes You would need an army of people on the streets to put an end to it. I live in the Centro and I see tagging all over the place They just painted the Teatro Juarez and it was tagged the next day. I particularly hate when they tag the Canterra Stone because you can't just paint over that. San Miguel has Graffiti problems not so much in the Centro but San Miguel is a much different battlefield you don't have all these little Callejons that people can vanish in and I'm guessing a police man in gear is not catching a frightened teenager running up these hills. I haven't been tagged and I'm on a very unseen Callejon but I do have video cameras with night vision. Probably would be a good investment for the city.