Manifesto for rebuilding Cancun even better

http://www.cancuncare.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17368

Thanks Steve.

Above is the link for compiling e-mail addresses for hotel owners, tourism officials, planners, developers, politicians, business owners, environmentalists, etc.

Please keep all ideas and criticisms of the manifesto on this thread and e-mail compilations on the other thread.

Thanks

 

Anyone have any ideas that aren't covered in the manifesto?

 

Firstly I wanted to congradulate you on your very good ideas. As a local but once tourist I can see many of your points being something that the GVMt should really take seriously if they want to make Cancun an even more succesful vacatin spot.

The bike paths along the beach are a great idea. You see many people jogging along Kukulcan Blvd and the gyms in hotels packed. Thats because people love excercsing and would give anything to ride a bike in beautiful scenery and a safe place. They should also have a bike, stroller and rollerblade rental place.

I also think that in order to improve on Cancun's tropical and vacation feel they need to allow for restaurants and bars to be built along the beach. People love that.

I agree to all your ideas and I also have one that I think will help improve a major problem starting to rise in Cancun.

Traffic! This is becoming a very big problem. I often spend too much time sitting in traffic. Driving becomes nearly impossible during the Mexican holidays. I can honestly say that from La Isla mall to Dady'O it can easily take 45 minutes when in reality its a 7 minute drive. I can walk faster. I think that if they had less buses and taxis it would help this problem. I understand that their are unions for the workers but at the same time there are too many driving the streets. There is no need for 4 or 5 buses stopping one second after the other at the stops. Most of them empty. Taxis are the same. They should at least make regulations on certain hours that they are in the streets. Even maybe alternating hours. Honestly for every 2 cars you see 5 public transits. The traffic also takes away from Cancuns natural beauty and tropical island feel. Soon enough people will associate this as a city and too busy. Just my thoughts..

 

Improving Cancun

If you want my opinion on improving Cancun, halt development altogether. There are already too many buildings and too many people. I have been to Mexico 7 times, and I haven't stayed in the hotel zone since my first trip to Mexico fifteen years ago. There is no reason to ever go into it. This vacation paradise will collapse under its own weight.

Yes, I would love to see the lagoon cleaned up. The beauty of Mexico is are the natural wonders, the weather, the culture, and the people. The natural wonders are being overrun by the hordes of tourists with no respect for what they are witnessing. The weather can't be touched. The culture is being watered down with the influx of all the mega hotels. Most of the time in the hotel zone, you could be in Miami and not know the difference. But even the attitudes of the locals seem to be deteriorating from being overworked and having to deal with a bunch of drunken idiots. Eliminate bar tours and all you can drink open bars in the clubs. It serves no good purpose.

Bike paths and walking paths would be a great addition.

I could care less if the giant hotels obliterating the beach are identifiable from the beach.

Businesses in Cancun should only be owned by locals. No European or American conglomerates should be allowed to come in and plunder this income from the Mexicans. Small hotels, small restaurants, and small bars along the beachfront would get the money to where it shoud be, the LOCAL ECONOMY.

Anything that makes the area MORE COMMERCIAL is a BAD IDEA in my opinion.

 

Personally, I feel that increased development along the lagoon side of the island could be a very very good thing for Cancun. With a few stipulations of course. In conjunction with the local/state/federal government create a tax fund from new and existing business to be used for the cleanup and maintenance of the lagoon. Private business owners in America, Mexico or anywhere else usually aren't willing to pay extra money for anything that doesn't directly put money into their pocket, so government intervention is a necessity. In New York as well as all over the States, when you develop any land to create some sort of business you always end up kicking exrta money to the locality for public works projects. Whether it be running a new water main that other people along the path can then connect to, or money into a environmental study or many other things that benefit the public. With the proper government oversight, it could almost be run like a neighborhood association where all of the businesses are responsible for and mandated to keeping the lagoon clean. The key to all of this though is efficient and fair policies from the government. That is something that is hard to come by no matter where you are though.

 

At this point 3,422 people have read this manifesto. Anyone know if someone from FONATUR, the hotel association, developers, planners, architects, or anyone like that has seen this manifesto?

If you know someone who is influential in Cancun please send him or her the link.

Thanks

 

Have any of these improvements taken place since the reconstruction in the wake of Hurricane Wilma?

Are there lots of palm trees now?

Are problem beaches before the hurricane (Hyatt Regency, Westin Regina) going to be fixed during the repair?

 

I originally wrote this manifesto a few weeks after Hurrican Wilma struck Cancun. Although I have not had the opportunity to visit Cancun since the disaster I have been impressed with what I have read and seen in photographs.

Are some of the ideas in the manifesto being addressed (Note: I am not taking credit for all the ideas in the manifesto - I just put them together in an electronic document)?

Specific questions:

1. I heard something about the boardwalk. What is that all about?

2. Where are the new sculptures located?

3. How is the beach in Cancun? Is it continuous now from Club Med to Dreams? Is the beach by the Westin still a problem? Does the Hyatt (the one by Dreams) have a beach now? Was any beach reconstruction done on the bayside (the side facing Isla Mujeres)?

4. Are there any more public works projects going on that I may not be aware of?

5. How is the palm tree planting going? Have any palm trees been planted on the beach?

6. Are there any plans for a dedicated bicycle path as I described in my manifesto? This just seems like a natural for an island shaped like the number "7". The last time I was in Cancun I had a difficult time finding a bicycle to rent.

I apologize to those of you who have seen this manifesto before. I wanted new Cancun Care members to see it and hopefully get a full update on the recovery and improvements.

Thanks

 

A couple of comments:

There is a bike, walking, jogging path that runs from Bonampak (km 0) to at least past the Carosel, which is next to BBG. I never noticed how far it goes but early mornings it seems like everyone in Cancun is on it but me.

In Peru in July I thankfully had transfers in my travel package but the taxi driver demanded some extra money and, after I told him no, stopped in a gas station and said he did not have enough gas to get to my hotel. I gave him $5 for gas and complained to the tour company. They wanted me to file a police complaint and said this guy, their own subcontactor basically, would go to jail basod on my complaint. Now there is an enforcement policy that would work.

As stated earlier, there must be hundreds of new palm trees in the median from Bonampak until about Embarcadero.

GREAT IDEAS MAROONED. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. MY LAST SUGGESTION IS TO CONSOLIDATE EVERY GOOD IDEA INTO A REPORT FORMAT SUITABLE FOR SUBMISSION TO SOMEONE. MAYBE EVEN SOME EMAIL LINK LIKE A PETITION SO THAT REAMS OF PAPER COULD BE ATTACHED AS PART OF THE PACKAGE. LAURA MAPCHICK SEEMS TO KNOW PEOPLE IN GOVERNMENT AND I AM SURE THAT THE PROPER CONTACT COULD BE FOUND TO WHOM THE PACKAGE COULD BE GIVEN. THERE IS ALSO A NEW POSTER ON ANOTHER FORUM, THAT I KNOW AND I BET HE COULD HELP OUT WITH GETTING A PROPERLY FORMATTED PROPOSAL TO THE RIGHT PERSON. I AM SENDING HIM HIS LINK.

FINALLY, AS WITH EVERYTHING IN GOVERNMENT HERE, IT NEEDS TO BE IN SPANISH, BUT I WOULD SUGGEST SPANISH AND ENGLISH, INCLUDING THE EMAIL PETITIONS. MAYBE EVEN A GRASS ROOTS GROUP WHO WOULD GATHER SIGNATURES IN THE HOTEL ZONE.

GO FOR IT