marla - 1-7-2004 at 11:52 AM
The Associated Press
The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.
January 6, 2004, Tuesday, BC cycle
SECTION: International News
LENGTH: 1011 words
HEADLINE: Mexican government struggles to achieve grand plans for yachters' paradise in wild Baja
BYLINE: By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: SANTA ROSALILLITA, Mexico
BODY:
Along the desolate Baja California peninsula, President Vicente Fox's grand plans for a yachters' paradise have produced only a half-finished marina
of crumbling boulders and a highway that ends abruptly, giving way to sand and scrub brush.
The $1.3 billion project known as the "Nautical Staircase" was supposed to build 27 new or revamped marinas along the area's 1,000 miles of rocky
coastline, then add luxury hotels, new airports, world-class golf courses, and exclusive oceanside bistros and spas.
Held up by environmental concerns, authorities have yet to complete even one step of the staircase. And with just three years to go before Fox leaves
office, many wonder if the project will ever get off the ground.
The president flew to Baja California in 2001 to sell the plan as the "Cancun of the 21st Century." Soon after, construction crews descended on Santa
Rosalillita, a collection of faded pastel homes with one paved road and no hotels and restaurants.
They began work on a marina and a highway running across the peninsula, but construction was suspended because the government tourist agency FONATUR
failed to produce an environmental impact study.
In November, the Environmental Department approved the study. But Salvador Nito, FONATUR's projects manager, said authorities now must commission
environmental studies at each of the project's new marina sites - a painstaking process that has yet to begin. He said his agency now hopes
construction will resume sometime this year.
"Things are moving slowly, but we are thinking of the long term," Nito said. "You don't build a great development from one day to the next. There's no
reason to hurry."
That could change. Fox is among the staircase's biggest supporters, and his administration has earmarked $210 million for the project, the rest coming
from private investment. But the president's term expires in December 2006, and he is legally barred from seeking another.
"We've seen this before. A government comes with grand plans for the peninsula until the money runs out and the project dies," said Patricia Martinez,
director of the wetland advocacy group Pro Esteros, in the port city of Ensenada. "Fox only has three years left, and that's not enough time. This
dream of his is impossible."
In the first phase, FONATUR said it would refurbish five marinas and build 11 new ones before Fox left office in 2006, but even Nito acknowledged that
has become overly optimistic.
The entire project, initially scheduled for completion in 2016, now could stretch into 2030, he said.
Fox had pushed the idea as a way to develop the coast and create jobs in communities with no electricity, drinking water, telephone service or
livelihoods other than subsistence fishing.
Much of the peninsula shuts down at sunset, in part because the only light comes from candles and flashlights. South of Ensenada and north of the
modern resort of Los Cabos at the peninsula's tip, there are only scattered fishing enclaves, surrounded by miles of desert blanketed by towering
cardon cacti and cirio trees.
The project's supporters say if anyone can tame Baja, it's FONATUR, which transformed Cancun from a forgotten spit of Caribbean coast into a
25,000-hotel-room super resort that attracts 3 million visitors a year. The agency also created sprawling Pacific tourist centers in Ixtapa and Los
Cabos.
While Santa Rosalillita waits for work to begin anew, soldiers guard its half-finished marina, 410 miles south of the U.S. border. A mass of boulders
pieced together using concrete, the open-air construction is ill-equipped to hold even one yacht.
Still,, the marina has already altered the ocean's currents, triggering erosion, according to a study commissioned by environmental groups.
Marco Antonio Maclish, a 27-year-old fisherman whose family sold FONATUR the land to build the marina, said critics are expecting too much.
"Every great mega-project has it's first phase. That rock pier is ours," he said. "This is the beginning of the second Cancun. You just can't see it
yet."
Farther down the beach, erosion has stripped away so much sand that Jose Luis Murillo's wooden home looked ready to topple into the surf.
"The Nautical Staircase was supposed to bring a better life," Murillo said. "Instead, it's destroying my home."
Another phase of the project sits unfinished outside Santa Rosalillita, where crews began building the highway that is supposed to allow yachters to
sail to the new marina, then tow their boats east across the peninsula to the Sea of Cortez on the other side.
The highway is meant to wind 20-miles from Santa Rosalilillita to MEX 5, the two-lane interstate that runs north-south through all of Baja. Instead,
it ends after less than three miles, dumping passengers onto a spine-jolting cow-path of stones and potholes.
"We were here two years ago, and the highway just ended then too," said Richard Sobel, a retiree from Vancouver Island who was towing his yacht down
the peninsula and decided to see if the new highway had been completed. "Are they ever going to finish this?"
Work hasn't even begun elsewhere.
About 150 miles up the peninsula from Santa Rosalillita, Cabo Colonet is among several deserted beachheads slated to become posh resorts.
"It's a good plan, but putting it into effect is another story," said Kyle Adams-Polzin, 50, a retired electrician and avid surfer from San Diego.
"The people in Mexico City proposing these things have no idea what it's like out here. It's much more barren than it looks on a map."
Cabo Colonet's only resident, Adams-Polzin lives without electricity, running water or a telephone in a wooden house he built himself.
"This doesn't look like a tourist spot to me," he said, surveying the beach where only pounding surf and chirping crickets could be heard. "In fact,
if they ever did come here to build something, I'd probably move. I like the seclusion."
---
On the Net:
Government site on project: http://www.escaleranautica.com/indexenglish.html
GRAPHIC: APN SUNDAY ILLUSTRATIONS: Subscribers get 8 photos by Eduardo
LOAD-DATE: January 7, 2004
Good article Marla
Ski Baja - 1-7-2004 at 12:03 PM
I like this kind of publicity. Mex 5 ??
ferdic1 - 1-7-2004 at 04:01 PM
Ah, for the good ol' days, when Journalism 101 taught that the three A's of news reporting were Accuracy, Accuracy and Accuracy!
Kind of supports your philosophy of believing only half of what you read?
4baja - 1-8-2004 at 06:38 AM
this is old news, we new from the beginning that this was doomed from the beginning and this is good news for me. that marina will do more damage to
the bay then any good the the local people of the fish camp. i was just there and its just a big mess.
Anonymous - 1-8-2004 at 09:28 AM
I told you so...
Bob H - 1-12-2004 at 11:04 AM
It's a crying shame what has happened to the Santa Rosalillita area. It sickened me to see all the damage and the lack of concern for the
environment.
Bob H
Baja tourism project off to slow start
Anonymous - 1-12-2004 at 04:02 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/01/12/yachters.p...
January 12, 2004
SANTA ROSALILLITA, Mexico (AP) -- Along the desolate Baja California peninsula, President Vicente Fox's grand plans for a yachters' paradise have
produced only a half-finished marina of crumbling boulders and a highway that ends abruptly, giving way to sand and scrub brush.
The $1.3 billion project known as the "Nautical Staircase" was supposed to build 27 new or revamped marinas along the area's 1,000 miles of rocky
coastline, then add luxury hotels, new airports, world-class golf courses, and exclusive oceanside bistros and spas.
Held up by environmental concerns, authorities have yet to complete even one step of the staircase. And with just three years to go before Fox leaves
office, many wonder if the project will ever get off the ground.
The president flew to Baja California in 2001 to sell the plan as the "Cancun of the 21st Century." Soon after, construction crews descended on Santa
Rosalillita, a collection of faded pastel homes with one paved road and no hotels and restaurants.
They began work on a marina and a highway running across the peninsula, but construction was suspended because the government tourist agency FONATUR
failed to produce an environmental impact study.
In November, the Environmental Department approved the study. But Salvador Nito, FONATUR's projects manager, said authorities now must commission
environmental studies at each of the project's new marina sites -- a painstaking process that has yet to begin. He said his agency now hopes
construction will resume sometime this year.
"Things are moving slowly, but we are thinking of the long term," Nito said. "You don't build a great development from one day to the next. There's no
reason to hurry."
That could change. Fox is among the staircase's biggest supporters, and his administration has earmarked $210 million for the project, the rest coming
from private investment. But the president's term expires in December 2006, and he is legally barred from seeking another.
"We've seen this before. A government comes with grand plans for the peninsula until the money runs out and the project dies," said Patricia Martinez,
director of the wetland advocacy group Pro Esteros, in the port city of Ensenada. "Fox only has three years left, and that's not enough time. This
dream of his is impossible."
In the first phase, FONATUR said it would refurbish five marinas and build 11 new ones before Fox left office in 2006, but even Nito acknowledged that
has become overly optimistic.
The entire project, initially scheduled for completion in 2016, now could stretch into 2030, he said.
Fox had pushed the idea as a way to develop the coast and create jobs in communities with no electricity, drinking water, telephone service or
livelihoods other than subsistence fishing.
Much of the peninsula shuts down at sunset, in part because the only light comes from candles and flashlights. South of Ensenada and north of the
modern resort of Los Cabos at the peninsula's tip, there are only scattered fishing enclaves, surrounded by miles of desert blanketed by towering
cardon cacti and cirio trees.
The project's supporters say if anyone can tame Baja, it's FONATUR, which transformed Cancun from a forgotten spit of Caribbean coast into a
25,000-hotel-room super resort that attracts 3 million visitors a year. The agency also created sprawling Pacific tourist centers in Ixtapa and Los
Cabos.
While Santa Rosalillita waits for work to begin anew, soldiers guard its half-finished marina, 410 miles south of the U.S. border. A mass of boulders
pieced together using concrete, the open-air construction is ill-equipped to hold even one yacht.
Still, the marina has already altered the ocean's currents, triggering erosion, according to a study commissioned by environmental groups.
Marco Antonio Maclish, a 27-year-old fisherman whose family sold FONATUR the land to build the marina, said critics are expecting too much.
"Every great mega-project has it's first phase. That rock pier is ours," he said. "This is the beginning of the second Cancun. You just can't see it
yet."
Farther down the beach, erosion has stripped away so much sand that Jose Luis Murillo's wooden home looked ready to topple into the surf.
"The Nautical Staircase was supposed to bring a better life," Murillo said. "Instead, it's destroying my home."
Another phase of the project sits unfinished outside Santa Rosalillita, where crews began building the highway that is supposed to allow yachters to
sail to the new marina, then tow their boats east across the peninsula to the Sea of Cortez on the other side.
The highway is meant to wind 20 miles from Santa Rosalillita to MEX 1, the two-lane interstate that runs north-south through all of Baja. Instead, it
ends after less than three miles, dumping passengers onto a spine-jolting cow-path of stones and potholes.
"We were here two years ago, and the highway just ended then too," said Richard Sobel, a retiree from Vancouver Island who was towing his yacht down
the peninsula and decided to see if the new highway had been completed. "Are they ever going to finish this?"
Work hasn't even begun elsewhere.
About 150 miles up the peninsula from Santa Rosalillita, Cabo Colonet is among several deserted beachheads slated to become posh resorts.
"It's a good plan, but putting it into effect is another story," said Kyle Adams-Polzin, 50, a retired electrician and avid surfer from San Diego.
"The people in Mexico City proposing these things have no idea what it's like out here. It's much more barren than it looks on a map."
Cabo Colonet's only resident, Adams-Polzin lives without electricity, running water or a telephone in a wooden house he built himself.
"This doesn't look like a tourist spot to me," he said, surveying the beach where only pounding surf and chirping crickets could be heard. "In fact,
if they ever did come here to build something, I'd probably move. I like the seclusion."
Anonymous - 1-12-2004 at 04:47 PM
4Baja,
Can you elaborate. Where were you just visiting and what's a big mess?
marla - 1-12-2004 at 06:41 PM
Hey don't give me any cow pucky about the Highway 5 thing. I only take grief for my own screw-ups! I'm sure that person got an earful anyway 
That is pretty bad.
burritomama - 1-12-2004 at 08:43 PM
Thanks for this Marla!
I noticed, with considerable relief, that many of the signs touting the escalera were no longer along the highway this year.
Great to see you and the kids at BOLA.
surfer jim - 1-13-2004 at 10:30 AM
Now that you mention it those signs are gone...used to have one about every 100k...think I remember seeing one on the way down this time...and at the
turnoff I allmost missed it...one small sign...in 200 years the E.N. will be like the old missions we now go visit...