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| The Mayor of Sta. Elena while committing to the community of Ballenita to maintain Glorieta as tourist viewpoint. |
When the Mayor of Santa Elena signed what he called the Intention of Commodato last night around noon on Friday, several people in the community realized that they could not allow this construction to "disappear" with the construction of the police station, office and conference room. They immediately began to work in a coordinated manner with the participation of this publication to work on the fronts of internal (within the community) and external (outside the community) dissemination to create interest in what their leaders called "a bucket of cold water."
The pressure process continued yesterday, until around noon, when the Municipality's PR (Attorney Carlos Alcìvar) approached us, with whom a group of residents had a meeting, in which it was determined that it was convenient to have a meeting with the mayor himself at the end of the day. All the actions that were being carried out by the community were stopped to make way for a space for dialogue.
At night, the people of Ballenita had the meeting agreed upon with the Mayor, on the main street of the community. After the initial participation of Eng. Otto Vera, the rounds of questions from the people of the community began, some in a stronger tone than others, but all were answered by the Mayor. At the end of the day, which lasted more than an hour, several points were agreed upon within an Agreement to carry out different tasks by the Municipality, some in collaboration with people from the same community.
The points achieved in the commitment of the Mayor of Santa Elena include: the non-use of the roundabout for purposes other than tourism, lighting of the roundabout, parks and Ballenita courts, and having the project for the continuation of the new Ballenita boardwalk ready within 150 days. In addition, a new location will be sought in consensus with the community for the construction of the dormitories, conference room and police station, within the same time frame as it was initially.
Several voices on social media agreed that this is a clear example of: 1. That it is a precedent for communities to be consulted before wanting to carry out projects in them. 2. That social media, when used properly, can serve to support and push for causes like these. On this last point, we are pleased to have taken an active part in making the wish of the Ballenita community come true.
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