Bosco seeking to return plastic Christmas to Cinta Costera

From The Sidelines

Is Panama’s increasingly unpopular mayor listening? In spite of widespread condemnation of last year’s Christmas Villages on the Cinta Costera,  Bosco Vallarino is trying to re-launch his plastic Christmas fantasy.

Last year he was aiming to get his Christmas Villages in the Guiness Book of Records. Instead the grass on the Cinta Costera was burned and withered, and  it has still not recovered from the devastation.

Two public restrooms were vandalized, and toilets, sinks and faucets broken. An electricity unit was broken, leaving a large strip of the running path without lights for months afterwards.

Local residents complained of the noise from bandstands, often with no crowd in attendance, and piped carol music played late into the night, with no one present to listen, except those trying to sleep nearby.

There was also an outcry about  no-bid contracts to  those with contacts to the mayor or  city hall insiders.

The one hope is that although Vallarino has assumed he can proceed with his fantasies, the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) has not granted him permission.

According to Fernando Khan, spokesman for the Ministry, the permit will depend on the City Council posting a $1 million performance bond.

After last year’s debacle MOP Minister Federico Suarez, said that the recreational area would not be available for mass activities.

Vallarino’s response was that last year’s romp in the park "cost only $450 000 and not a million dollars, as has been said."

Official documents show that Vallarino’s Comptroller requested $ 944 072, and was awarded $ 637 500.

The much loved Christmas parade was cancelled, but at the last minute a scrambled version was put together, and ran as darkness arrived.

After losing the battle to retain control of garbage collection, the mayor is also battling over the right to pollute the city with billboards. Called upon to resign earlier this year, he blamed his advisors for his ongoing missteps and carried out a public mass firing. He now has new advisors. Is he listening?