Big fire in Loja Province, Noisiest areas of town, Businesses oppose referendum, Land needed for industry, Tram maintenance negotiated

Martes, 10/9/2019

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Cultural support – The minister of Cultura y Patrimonio, Juan Fernando Velasco, came to Cuenca to announce government financial support for the Bienal, CIDAP, and the CCE. The first work is theater of the absurd. <I can’t figure out what the genre of the second one is.>

Teatro – The Mohenia Grupo de Teatro will present “Él” on el 13/9 and “Morrongo” on el 14/9 in the sala Alfonso Carrasco at the CCE. On the 21/9, there will be a double feature at the Prohibido Centro Cultural.

A large forest fire continues to burn in Loja Province.

RECFEST: Festival Nacional de Rock Alternativo – this event will be este sábado in “Da Yacta,” next to the plaza Otorongo. Participating bands are Zona 56 from Machala, LItio from Quito, and Raúl Rodríguez and Xarcasmo from Cuenca.

Exposición – An exhibit opened in the gallery on the upper level of the Empresa Pública Municipal de Desarrollo Económico de Cuenca (EDEC-EP – Municipal Public Company of Economic Development of Cuenca) called “Fajas Cañaris” as part of the “100% Hecho a Mano” (100% Handmade) program. Weaver Juan Tenezaca has passed his knowledge on to Luis MOrocho, his yerno (son in law) who demonstrates on his belt loom. <Now you can add another word to your basic madre, padre, hijo, hermano vocabulary. And I bet a lot of you have a yerno.>

Otras cosas –

Titular – Reclamos por traslados (Claims for transfers) – Families in Cuenca formed long lines el lunes in the Distritos de Educación to transfer their children from their assigned school to another. Traffic on Bolívar was closed until 11:00 due to the large number of parents trying to get their kids into schools closer to home or where siblings are already enrolled.

Colegio Militar – Many parents opt for the Military School, the Colegio Abdón Calderón. They like the discipline that is taught along with how to treat people, punctuality, and impeccable grooming. Kids even learn table manners. Many of the students come from military families or want to enter the military themselves.

Loja forest fire – An emergency was declared for a fire that started 3 weeks ago in the Quilanga cantón in Loja. The fire was brought under control 2 times but restarted. <Then it really wasn’t under control, was it. A fire that reignited in the Bay Area taught firefighters to babysit potential hot spots after forest fires.> The Comité de Operaciones de Emergencia asked for support from the Armed Forces to reinforce firefighters from different cantons in the country.

Industrial land – The City of Cuenca has identified land suitable for low and medium impact industrial uses in rural parishes in north Cuenca including Nulti, Paccha, Llacao y Sidcay. First, the Plan Urbano de Cuenca (Urban Plan of Cuenca) and the Plan de Uso y Gestión de Suelo (PUGS <nothing to do with those cute dogs with pushed in faces> – Land Use and Management Plan) should be approved. Because of lack of spaces for industrial complexes, Cuencano businesses are moving to provinces such as Cañar and cities such as Durán y Latacunga which reduces employment in Cuenca.

Businesses against the referendum – The Corte Constitucional has until el 20/9 to decide on Yaku Pérez’ request to convene a referendum which would prohibit mining in Azuay. Businesses in the country are worried about this and have asked the CC to not issue an opinion that would affect this productive activity.

Guayaquil airport closure – The “José Joaquín de Olmedo” airport in Guayaquil is temporarily closed for runway maintenance. LATAM is communicating with its passengers to reschedule its flights. Passengers with flights from Guayaquil to Galápagos y San Cristóbal have the option of flying via Quito. <This is for those of you who’ve planned a trip to the Galápagos – all 2 of you?>

Tranvía – Negotiations for maintenance of the Tranvía between the city and Alstom, which built the trains, are continuing. Alstom has offered $15,500,000 for the contract and at a meeting el pasado miércoles, more alternatives were presented for evaluation. Mayor Palacios is confident that the city will be able to choose one of the alternatives by the end of the month. If an agreement can’t be reached, there are 2 other firms which are interested. Palacios pointed out that restarting the testing will depend on final acceptance of the project and finalizing the maintenance contract. Currently the city is spending $250,000 per month for tram maintenance.

Correos del Ecuador – The Post Office has a new “Exporta Fácil Prime” service to reduce the time for sending packages or money from Ecuador to other countries from 20 to 5 days. The limits are up to 30 kilos or $5,000. The program is directed to small producers, micro-businesses, and craftsmen.

Noise – 7 areas of Cuenca exceed the decibel levels permitted by environmental legislation. Noise pollution is damaging to people. Noise sensors were placed in 7 areas of the city with the most noise complaints – U. of Azuay, calle Larga, Pres. Córdova, Remigio Crespo, estadio Alejandro Serrano Aguilar <which has got to be particularly noisy tonight>, El Arenal, y el Parque Industrial.

The noise limit for commercial areas beween 7-21:00 is 60 decibels. For industrial zones the limit is 70 decibels. A researcher recommended avoiding use of car horns <Did you know that an Ecuadorian nano-second is the time for the light to turn green and the first driver to honk? It’s been getting longer and generally non-existent in recent years.>, keeping your car tuned up, and not putting speakers outside stores. <And no messing with the muffler.>

And that’s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne