flyfishinPam
Super Nomad
Posts: 1727
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Loreto, BCS
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Mood: gone fishin'
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Some residents worry town will grow too fast
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-11-30-baja-boom-side...
Some residents worry town will grow too fast
By Danna Harman, USA TODAY
LORETO, Mexico ? Most residents of this Baja California community say they are enthusiastic about the economic opportunities that development projects
such as the Villages at Loreto Bay will bring to their region.
They can see what has happened to Los Cabos, which 10 years ago was a village of 15,000. Today, it's a city of 160,000 with cinemas, shopping,
improved education and health care systems.
Some here, however, are wary of fast growth. They worry it will create traffic jams and sewage spills, overstress the police force and marginalize
locals. A group of professors at Harvard's design school put together a report this year called "Loreto Alternative Futures." The report, funded by
the San Diego-based International Community Foundation, warns of the ecological, social and economic risks posed by the Loreto Bay development.
Rodolfo Palacios Castro, general director of Budget Rent A Car in Loreto, grew up in Cabo San Lucas and has seen the effects of development there. "We
used to go to the beaches there (in Cabo San Lucas) with family," he says. "Now, they have all been privatized by the resorts. There is no room for
us."
He worries that the same thing will happen here. Americans, he says, "will compete with us for everything ? for water, for the beaches, for fishing,
for business. ... And they will always win, because they are rich."
Sergio Morales Polo, president of Grupo Ecologista Antares, a local ecological group, agrees. "If 10 Loretans can afford to buy here, that would be a
lot," he says. "We feel like we are about to be taken over." Morales says he is not opposed to the entire Loreto Bay project, just its scale.
David Butterfield, the Loreto Bay developer, says he understands some of the concerns but promises his project will be different. He says it will be
responsible, creative and attentive to the ecological and social needs of the place.
"Its hard to find someone more responsible than developers for the devastation of our planet," he says. He concedes, though, "I can't promise 100%
that we will be able to contribute to the environment here. We will certainly try."
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by flyfishinPam
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-11-30-baja-boom-side...
"Its hard to find someone more responsible than developers for the devastation of our planet," he says. He concedes, though, "I can't promise 100%
that we will be able to contribute to the environment here. We will certainly try." |
Is this guy for real?
What a load of crap.
Sorry that is just the way I feel.
Remember that I am now living in the middle of one of the biggest resorts to ever be built in Mexico...trust me the word devastation fits like a
glove.
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tehag
Super Nomad
Posts: 1248
Registered: 1-8-2005
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Loreto Bay
Judy:
You call it a disaster but still live there???
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Yes
What am I supposed to do? Sell out and leave? Where would you suggest that I go?
As long as I can walk my dogs on the beach every morning, I can survive.
I moved here to spend the rest of my life here, and now that this project is started all I want is for it to be finished. Then I will decide what to
do. My quality of life had taken a down turn that is for sure. BUT I still live in Baja and have a wonderful garden and only need to drive 15 or 20
minutes to be in the middle of nowhere. That really is the beauty of this place.....you can get away in a very short period of time. So if it bugs
you, you take a ride and take a walk in the cactus and remember that you are still pretty damned lucky. At least that is how I feel about it.
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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I realized that I have assumed that everyone knows where I am.
I live near the fishing village of La Playita across the arroyo from San Jose del Cabo.
http://www.puertoloscabos.com
That is a link to the project going in between me and the Sea of Cortez
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tehag
Super Nomad
Posts: 1248
Registered: 1-8-2005
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Loreto
Judy:
Yup, that's about it, where ya gonna go?
I'm in Loreto now. Raised in San Diego, major boom town, tried Todos Santos in the mid '70s, fled the Cabo blitz, settled here. Sometimes I look at La
Purisima, but it's only BS, I'm too old to flee again. Besides, I can still walk my dogs on the beach and steal away to the cactus when it gets to me.
Good luck to you there and wish us well here, the future is upon us. It ain't all bad either, I can get an apple at the store, make a phone call, use
electricity almost all the time, drive on pavement.
I miss the stars the most. When the power does go out at night and I'm awake, I dash outside to see the Milky Way again.
Tom H
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Skeet/Loreto
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4709
Registered: 9-2-2003
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Tom and Judy
I am glad you are still enjoying Loreto and La Playita! Baja and its isolation is what drws so many of us to this strange and Magical Place. I enjoyed
Loreto and the Mar De Cortez for 35 years. There are other places similar in Baja, but as you say Tom, La Purisima,Commdou, San Ysrido is maybe too
much. They would be my Choice if I had stayed in Baja.
Did not ,so I chose to go back to my roots to the Panhandle of Texas where I now live among the Deer,Rabbits, Cattle, Horses, and can see for Miles of
nothing but Plains. So do not get discouraged, keep your Adventures and Dreams going! There is always something new and different just beyond the next
Hill!!
Skeet/Loreto
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