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What happens when local government makes clean streets a priority


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http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mayor-and-her-broom-keep-city-clean/

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When a mayor in Mexico talks about cleaning up a city one might expect the theme to be violent crime, but that wasn’t the case in Aguascalientes.

 

Teresa Jiménez Esquivel was actually talking about trash.

Jiménez, 32, took office in December, pledging to ensure that her city would continue to be Mexico’s cleanest not only by reinforcing cleaning and garbage pickup crews but by grabbing a broom herself every weekend.

 

The capital of the state of the same name has consistently been recognized for cleanliness every two years by Ategrus, a Spanish-based industry association whose focus is waste management.

The non-governmental organization acknowledged Aguascalientes in 2004 with its Silver Broom award, in 2006 with a Golden Broom and in the following editions with a Platinum Broom award.

In choosing winners Ategrus looks not only at cleanliness but at garbage collection and recycling programs.

 

Jiménez is determined to keep the city’s winning streak going. Every weekend for the last few months she has arrived at one of the city’s neighborhoods with a broom in hand and dedicated at least two hours to cleanup tasks. Wherever she visits the people follow suit, sweeping and picking up trash and keeping sidewalks, gardens, public areas and empty lots spotless.

The efforts also include urban maintenance like repainting walls and outdoor benches.

On Saturday it was the Colinas del Río neighborhood’s turn, where the mayor was joined by neighbors in sweeping streets and public spaces and rejuvenating public sports facilities.

“For many years [Aguascalientes] has been the cleanest municipality, and I believe we can do things right. That’s our main goal, and for that reason we’re in the neighborhoods and communities every day, trying to get the people involved with the municipal administration in this effort,” said Jiménez.

In Aguascalientes, population 800,000, 46 garbage collection routes gather 650 tonnes of garbage every day, disposing of them in the San Nicolás landfill.

This is what leadership in a vital government service looks like.  No lame excuses, just results.

 

 

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I think the whole garbage collection thing needs to be reviewed and new proposals to reflect what is actually happening.

Which ever administration comes into office, Trash always seems to figure into being a major issue when it comes to collection and disposal etc etc.

Is there a significant increase in population, or the same population producing more trash

A few? months ago the city was presented (or purchased)4/6 new trucks. Why are there so many non operative trucks?

I did see some private pick trucks making a brave effort to collect from the ever burgeoning mounds of now stinky garbage,

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I was told that one of the prime reasons why the garbage is gathering is because there are not enough garbage trucks in operational condition, that many of the trucks which should have been replaced months or years ago have not been replaced and that trying to repair these old rigs is taking to much time,

The result being that there simply are not enough operational garbage trucks to pick up all the trash.

Is this true?

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swore i would not shop on guad victoria. today i wanted to stockup on a product that i cannot get in most stores. someone dropped me off on encarnacion rosas 11:45 am. it was clean. when i got corner of javier mina there was about 30 ft of garbage. it took up most of the narrow sidewalk as well. dont say its "mex culture" or "local color". there are several fruit/veg stores on that street. they discard old rotting produce. there is a bus stop on that corner. children were standing right near the trash. i crossed the street. btw, i may try another source for the product.

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2 hours ago, johanson said:

I was told that one of the prime reasons why the garbage is gathering is because there are not enough garbage trucks in operational condition, that many of the trucks which should have been replaced months or years ago have not been replaced and that trying to repair these old rigs is taking to much time,

The result being that there simply are not enough operational garbage trucks to pick up all the trash.

Is this true?

This has been the excuse for going on three years now.  During that time, they've continued to pick up in some places 6 times a week while others with half as much pick up have gotten once per week or once per two weeks if lucky.  One would think that if someone is managing this situation they would attempt to spread the service more evenly while they work very diligently to fix or replace the trucks.

Is this a reasonable on going situation for a municipality with a rich tax base whose nearly first act of office of the current administration was to raise taxes again?  While we've been getting this trash truck excuse for years they've been constructing "roads to Jesus" and other projects of little benefit to the municipality as a whole.

And they've been actively attracting still more tourist functions and activities here without dealing with the failure to manage and handle the trash situation without adding to it.

In my opinion this is not at all reasonable and demonstrates very bad management or worse.  Others may disagree.  

What I know is what my eyes are showing me when I walk the streets of Ajijic now.  There is scattered trash from missed pickups everywhere.  It is a bloody mess, frankly.  People don't know when to put their trash out and to watch to see if it is picked up and if not, take it back in.  Fortunately most of the people on my block are doing this but that seems the exception not the rule.

When the rains start, it will be washing into the lake.  So much for our environment.

Do you think the mayor in this article would allow this to happen on her watch?  Can you recall ever seeing a mess like this in our sister Tapatio tourist towns of Mazamitla or Tapalpa?

I don't and I can't.

 

 

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Apparently some people think they pay huge taxes here. So how much more do you pay than where you came from. I pay rent so I don't know what my property tax is here where my garbage is picked up twice a week. My house in Edmonton sold for more than $200,000 9 years ago and i was paying $3000 property tax plus this and that for garbage pickup once per week. My rent  here for a whole house is way less than a one bedroom apartment there. Trucks break down and there are lots of priorities here and the tax dollars are well spent and managed if one cares to really study this area. Your property taxrs are so low that it's amazing anything gets done at all. There have been at least two governments here that have managed to get state and federal funding for many things that aren't covered by the pittance property taxes owners and us renters pay here. Contrary to popular belief the bulk of property and business taxes are paid from Chapala. Are there any factories, manufacturers or huge estates comparable to the center of the Municipality and it's surrounding agri[farms] and that tax base, in the tiny village of Ajijic?

 

 

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THere is a small town in Oaxaca called Teotitlan del Valle, it is one of the cleanest place in Mexico, the market is spotless the streets as well, they recycle and so on.. no tax base, it is an indigenous town. The people living there, brrom the street, and neighbors will tell neibours off if they leave trash out. I asked why the place was so clean and apparently the council decided to have a clean town and everyone in  town agreed to do it and they have a clean town... it takes leadership but it also takes citizens who are not lazy, do not leave trash out because they do not feel like getting up in the morning and so on... the government is not the only one to blame, take some responsability as well..

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This isn't Canada, that is totally irrelevant.  This is Mexico and home prices on the north side of the lake are multiples higher than most towns in Mexico including any number that could be cited as being far cleaner than this one.  That means the property tax base is correspondingly higher than most places in Mexico.  To compare anyplace in Mexico with Canada is an extreme and meaningless apples and oranges comparison.

Even the modest homes here go for considerably more than, for example, the south side of the lake.  Yet even the modest towns there, like Tizapan for example, are far cleaner than this municipality.

There's no reason to think that people here are any different than people anywhere else in Mexico unless one is suggesting that the expat population are lazier than most.  Actually, given the level of voluntarism here I'd suggest quite the opposite.  Blaming it on the people who are supposed to be getting the services versus the people who are taking the money and not delivering the services is insulting to the former IMO.

If people can't rely on the local government to pick up trash reliably and predictably, they don't know when to put it out.  Obviously.

Open your eyes, get around Mexico more and see the difference between good local government and bad.  As the article in the OP provided a great example of, the leadership starts at the top.  

But not here.

 

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17 hours ago, lakeside7 said:

I think the whole garbage collection thing needs to be reviewed and new proposals to reflect what is actually happening.

Which ever administration comes into office, Trash always seems to figure into being a major issue when it comes to collection and disposal etc etc.

Is there a significant increase in population, or the same population producing more trash

A few? months ago the city was presented (or purchased)4/6 new trucks. Why are there so many non operative trucks?

I did see some private pick trucks making a brave effort to collect from the ever burgeoning mounds of now stinky garbage,

I notice it is not getting any better even though there are fewer people with the snow brids gone. It doesn't seem to matter.

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Mainecoon yes this place is different, In San Cristobal Chiapas when the water company stopped delivering water in our area , the barrio president went from door to door organizing people and getting groups of residents to show up at the water company and wherever the water company officials were. . Each street got organized so people could receive water from the water truck. 

  Here people put the garbage out and as long as it is out of their house it is ok.. You do not see groups of residents showing up at city hall to same them or raise hell about the garbage situation. 

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Read your own post.  Who provided the leadership, the catalyst?

The barrio president.

Where is the leadership here?  Why have things evolved to the point where even this most basic of services is not being carried out competently or reliably now?

To the degree the local community is not "showing up at city hall" you are right to criticize the local community.  However, many of us can't vote and we have many absentee owners and renters.

And it appears we have a government that takes advantage of that situation.

 

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58 minutes ago, Mainecoons said:

This isn't Canada, that is totally irrelevant.  This is Mexico and home prices on the north side of the lake are multiples higher than most towns in Mexico including any number that could be cited as being far cleaner than this one.  That means the property tax base is correspondingly higher than most places in Mexico.  To compare anyplace in Mexico with Canada is an extreme and meaningless apples and oranges comparison.

Even the modest homes here go for considerably more than, for example, the south side of the lake.  Yet even the modest towns there, like Tizapan for example, are far cleaner than this municipality.

There's no reason to think that people here are any different than people anywhere else in Mexico unless one is suggesting that the expat population are lazier than most.  Actually, given the level of voluntarism here I'd suggest quite the opposite.  Blaming it on the people who are supposed to be getting the services versus the people who are taking the money and not delivering the services is insulting to the former IMO.

If people can't rely on the local government to pick up trash reliably and predictably, they don't know when to put it out.  Obviously.

Open your eyes, get around Mexico more and see the difference between good local government and bad.  As the article in the OP provided a great example of, the leadership starts at the top.  

But not here.

 

What I said about property taxes is very relevant  because some of you constantly complain about paying huge and get nothing in return. So why can't you tell us what your huge property tax is so that the rest of us can put your statements in perspective. I pay rent for a whole house quite a bit less than a 1 bedroom apartment in Edmonton so that tells me that my Mexican landlord doesn't pay huge. My friend down the street who owns, pays about $120 cdn and gets garbage pickup 7 days a week to my 2. The truck broke down twice in the fiscal year for about 2 days so neither of us got garbage pickup then. Equipment can breakdown anywhere. My eyes are well open  and I don't check out government in every town I visit and do you actually do this because I don't know anyone who does? One of my hobbies used to be politics  but I no longer do this and even then i didn't directly visit governments in any area I visited.

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When I say local community I mean everyone which means mostly Mexicans...they are the ones who will change things, they are the ones who come with pick ups at the corner of Francisco Villa and Ocampo and dump pick up loads of garbage, they are the ones on Ocampo and Francisco Villa who do not see anyone dumping garbage or do not stop them.

In San Cristobal we had a pick up truck from a local Chinese restaurant coming to dump their garbage before the bell. My neighbor saw them do it  and shoved a garbage bag right in the driver´s window and told him not to show back up and the driver did not come back...That is what goes on in some other towns where garbage does not sit at the corner of the streets for several days and we only get pick up twice a week. The people there are poor and have small houses and yet they can cope with a twice a week pick up . There the city has trucks that go by at the time and day they are supposed to show up as well.. Here it is a hit and miss.. 

 

 

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when there are several produce stores on one street stretching to 3 streets, it should be EVERYDAY & before 9 am. i would say 8 am but i am bring generous. if its put out night before as late as possible, the weather isnt that hot. (besides produce there is chicken & meat, rotting in the sun. gross). go tell the mexicans to pay more taxes, see how that goes.

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