Mayor cracking down on billboards, street traders

If you think that Panama’s streets suffer from visual pollution you will find an ally in Mayor Roxana Mendez.

She has detected more than 19 000 illegal billboards throughout the capital district since October last year  and is still counting.

Mendez, who replaced the ineffectual Bosco Vallarino, is taking her new broom to the illegal signs and  reminds offenders that the penalties and fines for companies that insist on installing their signs on public land, range from $ 25 to $10 000.

Records of the local government show that the area east and center of the capital host most of the illegal billboards. The eastern blight includes Tocumen, 24 December and Pacora while in the center the biggest polluters are in  Calidonia, Bella Vista, Bethany and Rio Abajo.

Mendez is also wielding her broom to clear the streets pf Calidonia and Santa Ana and has  suspended permits for street vendors. A thousand traders will have to ply their trade elsewhere. Traders interviewed on TV remained defiant and say they will resist the broom.