Vecinos Update Letter, June 2018

 

Good Morning Members:

This was a very busy week. We had a breakfast meeting on May 1^st at Casa Gatos with several officials from the Municipality of Tulum and our Akumal delegado.  We discussed several Vecinos projects happening in Akumal Norte, from the completing of the solar street lights to the installation central sewage system.  In attendance was Jennifer Smith from Turtle Bay Café.  Jennifer is the creator Arts Festival that will take place November in the Pueblo. The festival will bring in street artists from all over the world to produce paintings that will be displayed on the Pueblo’s main street. School children will produce paintings for the festival and Vecinos will sponsor some of the supplies needed for their projects.

We discussed the need to repave the entrance road from 307 to the OXXO store.  But the project that everyone was most excited about is the building of the Akumal Norte Community Center.  The original thought was to build just a police station; however, after much discussion among the kitchen cabinet, we realized that for almost the same foot print we could establish a building that could serve many needs in the community.  The center will offer a focal point for the conducting of community affairs.  The new building plan will house Vecinos business office, Police security station, and small emergency center with a training room.

At the time of the breakfast we had our building permits.  The building permits were given to us as a gift from the present administration in Tulum.  The officials at the breakfast were so impressed with all that Vecinos is accomplishing that the day after the meeting we received our environmental permission letter from SEMARNAT to clear the land.  During the meeting we were informed about some federal agencies we might solicit to help us with some funding for the new center.

Other Project Updates

• We are still collecting recycle information for our database.  The data base will be submitted to Cero, so they can work with the private recycle company to begin the pickup program for those who signed up for it.
• Nothing new on the building of a new entrance road, still talking to David Ortiz about where we are with that project
• Turtle museum project.  The federal government submitted completed plans and funding for this project.  The holdup is objections from some tour operators. We need to make it clear to them that this project is free, paid for completely by the government, and would benefit them.  Their companies would have stands in the new Turtle Visitor Center, and tours could only be sold from those stands.  If it is built on land on the Pueblo side, a tour train would pick visitors up from there and deliver them to the playa.  There would be no stands on the entry road at all.
• The street and road committee will be meeting with the director of Catastro, the government registry of properties within the municipality.  We need a uniform street plan and house numbers for the community.  This plan will enhance postal and delivery service for Akumal Norte.  Plus, it will make giving out directions to visitors for our homes and condos much easier.  Any changes to the current plan must go through the Catastro Department.

To cut down on so many emails you get, I will post information updates on my blog on Facebook at North Akumal Neighbor