Casco street clean up vs mayoralty ambitions

Panama’s  current mayor  Roxana Mendez, denied Friday, April 13  that she is using municipality resources for political campaigning.

She was replying to statements by Deputy Jose Isabel Blandon the former advisor to ex mayor Bosco Vallarino.

Vallarino resigned for health reasons after a confrontation with President Ricardo Martinelli.

Behind Blandon’s attack on the city’s iron lady  lie political ambitions.

The Panamenista deputy became unpaid advisor and front man for the former mayor following a series of  Bosconian missteps . and his search for the mayor’s scepter  first became apparent.

The suspicions of the reasoning behind his political philanthropy were confirmed at a recent meeting of the Casco Veijo neighborhood association (AVACA) when he was presented with a list of priorities for the association,The “ultra priority” note he received listed:  social housing, garbage recollection, security, parking and lack of institutionalism.  

 Blandon was, according to those present, more concerned with announcing the launch of his campaign to become mayor. As he is also suspected of being a supporter of the ring road around the old city, he is unlikely to garner many votes in the old city.

A done deal

Hearts fell in Casco when Panama America  owned by the president’s party, recently published on the front page, a photo of the  expanding new causeway protruding out from the Cinta Costera, and described it as the Cinta Costera extension. It seems that the new highway,  heading for the Avenida de Los Poetas, and ultimately linking with Amador is a done deal.

The contract went to the Brazilian construction giant, Odebrecht, beneficiary of over $1 billion in government contracts, some of them with no bidding.

The Residents of Chorillo will  ultimately face displacement in favor of luxury high rises and gated communities. The refugees will likely resurface in distant Arrijan, already facing an escalating crime rate.

Meanwhile the residents of the Casco Viejo barrio are continuing their civic pride campaign with a program titled Patrulla Verde, calling on the community to pick up litter on the streets, to distribute garbage bags and to give locations with a happy smiley or sad smiley rating.

Now if only that message could be passed on to the rest of the city, where daily you can see garbage being flung from the windows of not only broken down jalopies and official vehicles  but also high end autos like BMW’s, and Mercedes.

The latest program follows earlier activities when residents forked out around $50 a pop for used oil drums to collect garbage. The drums were hand painted by local artists and have now become a favorite target for tourist cameras. Now if only that message could be passed on to the rest of the city, where daily you can see garbage being flung from the windows of not only broken down jalopies and official vehicles  but also high end autos like BMW’s, and Mercedes.

The reward the Casco community has received for its public spirited approach, is the news that the newly laid bricks in a couple of the areas where the roads are being fixed have to be torn up and replaced …  which means the havoc for businesses, residents and tourists will be extended.

The reason for the replacement has not been announced, but it comes at a time when another snafu first published in Newsroom has been confirmed by the outgoing Canal administrator. The canal extension will  not be finished on time, because the consortium with the multimillion dollar contract for building the locks at Colon, didn’t know how to mix the concrete that has to last for 100 years.