Garden refuse pickup?

[ComputerGuy]

TAXES are designed to include the money required to pick up garbage, along with everything a municipal government is supposed to do. POLITICS and BUDGET MANIPULATION is the reason why services end up being half-way.

In Ottawa, garbage pickup was reduced to every two weeks, with garden refuse every week. In a country like this, where everything is packaging and everything is in excess of what it needs to be, the idea that a: you can store your garbage that long, and b: you should have to, is purely lacklustre planning and a complete disregard for any standard of living. I am in a neighbourhood where, like many others, they are now paying a private contractor to provide regular service in between pickups. This is, in effect, self-taxation... and while noble, is only spoon-feeding the politicians and allowing them to get away with it. And it will only get worse as it spreads to other services. Soon enough, libraries will shut down as being wasteful (with the resultant loss in jobs, adding to the cost in the social system), and road access to main thoroughfares will become the responsibility of the neighbourhood in which you live. Anarchy will follow.

[Mainecoons]

Comparing high cost France with Mexico is ridiculous.  They managed to pick up the trash and fix and sweep the streets for years here quite competently and thoroughly.  Regular as clockwork.

All the sudden since the last election, not any more, and interestingly at the same time they were raising property taxes and increasing the city hall payroll 50 percent.

Oh, right, I forgot the Ajijic gardeners went on a trash binge and broke all the trucks.  Yep, that's it.  However I have it on good authority that if we go on bended knee and swear fealty to Chapala our trash will magically disappear.  Reckon we'll have to try that soon.  Anyone want to volunteer to organize?

Let's see, we have three guys who live in Chapala where the trash is picked up 6 days per week and one person from San Cristobal on the other side of Mexico who can't see the duck.   For the rest of us the duck is piled on the street when not being spread around by the loose dog.

You all are suggesting this?

OK, now I understand where you're coming from.

 

[bmh]

The cost in France  is irrelevant what counts is that people be responsible for the amount of garbage they produce and if they produce more than  the average people in town they should pay more. I see no reason why a city should  pay for an unlimited amount of garbage from people who have large  amount of garden. Frankly they should have a service that charges for collection of green garbage. Also I do not see why people who have large quantities of garbage should not pay more. After all we pay more if we use more water or electricity so why not garbage?

No Maincoon they did not always pick up green garbage.  The gardners used to burn the garden debris when I got here. If you do not like your garbage to stay on the street or in your garage..pay someone to go and dump it, obviously you have too much as garbage is being picked up just up the street from you.. Tell me the garbage from the bodega says there for days..

Tax money is not designed to pick up unlimited amount of garbage on a daily basis.. The reality shows that.

 

[Mainecoons]

BMH, the Bodega hires out their own pickup because the municipio does not pick up from restaurants, at least not in Ajijic.  That's been the case as long as I've lived on this street.  Occasionally we and other neighbors pay Bodega's guy extra to take stuff.  He is a private collector that services a number of local businesses.

It wouldn't surprise me if the government picks up from restaurants in Chapala but they don't provide that service here.

Respectfully, you are on the other side of the country and really do not understand what is going on here as that comment about the Bodega shows.  This is the same community I moved into 9 years ago, there has been little growth.  The problem here is the deterioration of government services in general despite much higher tax revenues.  The recently exposure of the city hall payroll speaks volumes about why this is happening.  It isn't just the trash pickup, that is simply the latest failure.  Street repairs and sweeping went south several administrations ago.  

The amount of trash is pretty much the same as it always has been.  We've reduced our personal amount significantly through composting and recycling.  We have one medium bag of household trash per week but these days we never know when or if that will be picked up.  There's been no sustained effort from this municipality to encourage or support recycling or composting.

If you want to pay a visit here and see for yourself, let me know and I'll drive you around and show you what is happening here.  Otherwise, please don't set yourself up as an expert on something you are a thousand miles away from.   Thanks.

[El Saltos]

BMH lives in the Seis Esquinas barrio in Ajijic, not the "other side of the country."

[CHILLIN]

I don't where some of these constant whiners are getting the idea that Chapala City Hall has a private pot of gold. Federal transfers are down everywhere in Mexico because of reduced oil revenues and rise of U.S. dollar. Lots of layoffs, as the Guadalajara Reporter wrote last month - is this "fake news?:

http://theguadalajarareporter.net/index.php/columns/208-dale-palfrey/50206-chapala-government-rests-workers-to-overcome-cash-crunch

[ned small]

Perhaps this fits rather than ducks. I will leave it up to all y'all as to where it fits. If you like it,it merely means that you understand what it represents so don't be afraid to like.

I recently liked some things people have said that I normally disagree with. The people,not what they said lately.

[CHILLIN]

7 hours ago, ComputerGuy said:

TAXES are designed to include the money required to pick up garbage, along with everything a municipal government is supposed to do. POLITICS and BUDGET MANIPULATION is the reason why services end up being half-way.

In Ottawa, garbage pickup was reduced to every two weeks, with garden refuse every week. In a country like this, where everything is packaging and everything is in excess of what it needs to be, the idea that a: you can store your garbage that long, and b: you should have to, is purely lacklustre planning and a complete disregard for any standard of living. I am in a neighbourhood where, like many others, they are now paying a private contractor to provide regular service in between pickups. This is, in effect, self-taxation... and while noble, is only spoon-feeding the politicians and allowing them to get away with it. And it will only get worse as it spreads to other services. Soon enough, libraries will shut down as being wasteful (with the resultant loss in jobs, adding to the cost in the social system), and road access to main thoroughfares will become the responsibility of the neighbourhood in which you live. Anarchy will follow.

Huh!?! I guess you have never visited a frac, gated community, or condo here. They typically look after their own garbage collection, pool maintenance, water supply, repair of roads/common areas, gardening, security. Public access to their communities is often restricted. While sometimes, and maybe too often, there are personality clashes,  I have never even heard a rumour that local frac. etc, was possibly corrupt. There are something like 2,600 gated communities in Guadalajara.

You are looking for champagne services at beer barrel prices.

[Mainecoons]

Chillin, perhaps you do not understand that you are not taxed by the municipio for the services you provide within your fracc.  The residents and business in the towns are.  For example, we pay SIMAPA direct for water and sewer, many of the fraccs have their own water supplies and charge the residents directly.  That is not included in our property tax.  Refuse collection is.

Fraccs are not always the most successful.  For example, Riberas is a failed fracc the municipio took over with the promise of providing the services now included in property taxes there.  Upper Chula Vista had a legal war between residents a couple years ago, it got quite hot to the point people were suing each other and the fracc.  

All of the fraccs have problems collecting maintenance fees because the legal system regarding same is weak.  Those with water systems can basically choke down or shut off those services to non payors, a weak remedy at best.

Not so long ago there was a thread here posted by a resident of La Floresta about just that situation and the family that was shut off was resorting to stealing water from the neighbors.  I am told La Floresta has about 10 percent non payers, very good for a local fracc.  As a result, they seem to have excellent trash pick up and street maintenance.  

Your own fracc, Chapala Haciendas, was unable to sustain gate security because of non payment of dues and I think if you talk with your association you will find you still have quite a number of non payers there, particularly among the many unimproved lot owners.  Your fracc also has a problem with "hit and run" burglars who take advantage of the lack of security to break into homes there and disappear back up the road long before the Chapala cops show up.  

I was out there visiting a friend in your fracc recently and frankly, your streets are as bad as ours if not worse.  The money isn't there to improve them because the fracc can't collect from too many owners.  Our friends are very aware of this problem and regretting buying there because of it.

Across Chapala highway from you, Brisas had the same problem until they dug into their pockets and reinstituted security.  It is working for them according to friends we have in there.  They tell me lots are selling and homes are being built there because of the improved services.

By your own admission, you rarely if ever these days go much beyond Chapala to visit other parts of the municipio.  Perhaps you would have a better understanding of the situation faced by basically all of the municipio outside of Chapala if you did.

CG, a resident of badly neglected Riberas, hit the nail on the head.  Like us, they are paying for services not received.  In view of recent reports and also what local business people and abogados tell me it is not at all difficult to understand where the money is going.

I'm happy for you that you are satisfied with your situation there.  However, equating fraccs directly with the set up in the towns is comparing apples and oranges.  Perhaps Ajijic should look at converting itself into a fracc and providing these services direct.  Clearly, sending our tax dollars to Chapala is a bad idea.

 

[bournemouth]

Friends who live in San Antonio, near the church,  tell me the garbage men are still coming to them 6 days a week.

[bmh]

El Saltos, you are correct that shows you what mr. know it all knows..and have had a house there since 2001...

[ComputerGuy]

Chillin, you are relating my discussion to something completely different. Ottawa has no "fraccs". Each municipality is expected to cover the WHOLE of the constituency as a basic requirement. And even if we were on the same page, a deprecation of services is not "expecting champagne". And when did corruption come into my statements?

Plus, you should know me better by now than to try and undermine what I said by implying I "haven't been around".

[dave0415]

Whining that this is some sort of "right" or "privilege" paid from your miniscule tax dollars is laughable.

Thank you Chillin. At last someone states the truth about taxes

[rvanparys]

Chillin:  Excellent suggestion!

[CHILLIN]

Since we are now allowed to post complete non truths (re: fracs) I will agree that I seldom find myself in lower Ajijic. I am no dummy. As has been relentlessly reported by a disgruntled few who live there, giant rats gorging on garbage piles, off leash, wild dogs terrorizing everyone, open sewers, cracked sidewalks and roads which look like a bomb zone, out of control noise blasting from restaurants, bars, and illicit Zumba parlours, "youts" with their graffiti and boomboxes. The only thing different from Chicago inner city is the guns - oh well the constant cohete rockets make up for that.

[ned small]

13 minutes ago, CHILLIN said:

Since we are now allowed to post complete non truths (re: fracs) I will agree that I seldom find myself in lower Ajijic. I am no dummy. As has been relentlessly reported by a disgruntled few who live there, giant rats gorging on garbage piles, off leash, wild dogs terrorizing everyone, open sewers, cracked sidewalks and roads which look like a bomb zone, out of control noise blasting from restaurants, bars, and illicit Zumba parlours, "youts" with their graffiti and boomboxes. The only thing different from Chicago inner city is the guns - oh well the constant cohete rockets make up for that.

Bang on! It truly is a ghetto.

 

[Xena]

11 minutes ago, CHILLIN said:

Since we are now allowed to post complete non truths (re: fracs) I will agree that I seldom find myself in lower Ajijic. I am no dummy. As has been relentlessly reported by a disgruntled few who live there, giant rats gorging on garbage piles, off leash, wild dogs terrorizing everyone, open sewers, cracked sidewalks and roads which look like a bomb zone, out of control noise blasting from restaurants, bars, and illicit Zumba parlours, "youts" with their graffiti and boomboxes. The only thing different from Chicago inner city is the guns - oh well the constant cohete rockets make up for that.

Thank you, Chillin, for summing up so perfectly what I have been thinking. If all I knew of Ajijic is what I read here I would never even drive to Ajijic for lunch, much less move there. It is puzzling to me why people pay so much more money for the honor and privilege of living in what sounds on this web board like a hell hole. I continue to be amazed that a real estate company sponsors a board where even a moderator joins the continuous chorus of what a pit Ajijic is. 

[Mainecoons]

Such good neighbors we have in Chapala.  A real public spirited bunch.

 

[Mainecoons]

33 minutes ago, CHILLIN said:

Since we are now allowed to post complete non truths (re: fracs)

 

[Xena]

Some posters seem to think that Chapala is a paradise where all public needs are met for residents who pay far less in taxes. They assume Ajijic must be carrying the entire municipality on its financial back because Ajijic is the premier community on the lake -- when it is not a trash strewn, rat infested pit. I have no idea why they don't just move to Chapala where all public needs are met and enjoy the high life they assume we are living over here. For years I have been reading the whining and complaining of the same small group of chronically dissatisfied posters. It has not yet dawned on them that constant complaining on a gringo web board is not getting them anywhere. 

[RVGRINGO]

Add to that mess the population of hard of hearing geriatric expats shouting across the table in noisy restaurants, making peaceful lunches virtually impossible.  One must try to eat lager, at suppertime, but most of the venues are closed then, as the expat market is at home, trying to sleep with their earplugs installed, to avoid the braying of donkeys, crowing of roosters, exploding rockets, blasting loudspeakers from passing vendor-vehicles, and all those buzzing mosquitoes and bobos.  Oh, the horrors!

Did I miss anything?   Oh....Yes, we did move from Ajijic to Chapala centro and lived quite happily there, without complaint.   Some of the “Ajijic crowd“ seem to fear to tread in Chapala, fearing that they might have to speak Spanish......or otherwise interact.

[Mainecoons]

How Chapalans (even the ones who have been gone from there for years) view municipio service shorting of their neighbors:

 

[Xena]

Would it make you feel better, Mainecoons, if we joined you in complaining on web boards and see if more people complaining to other gringos gets you what you want?

[AngusMactavish]

[Xena]

3 hours ago, Mainecoons said:

Such good neighbors we have in Chapala.  A real public spirited bunch.

 

Oh my god. You gringos in Ajijic are living in cardboard boxes?!? I had no idea. No wonder you are complaining.