City owes bus companies $1.2 million, Dietary supplement factory shut down, Senior discounts, Local native runs for office in Connecticut

Lunes, 29/7/2019

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural – Nada.

Otras cosas –

Titular – Poca asistencia a megaparques (Low attendance at megaparks) – Despite the summer vacations, there were few people in 3 of the 4 megaparques last weekend, although low temperatures might have had an effect. The 4 parks, La Libertad, La Luz, Eco Parque Ictocruz Turi, y Lineal Tarqui Guzho, are part of the “Cinturón Verde” (Green Belt). The scene was different in the old parks like El Paraíso and de La Madre. <Well, at least they weren’t full of drunks and drug dealers.>

Bus companies say they will reconsider upgrading the fleet if they don’t get paid.

Child labor – The Dirección de Mercados y Comercio Autónomo de Cuenca (Department of Markets and Autonomous Commerce <is that the official name for a street vendor?> of Cuenca) and the Guardia Ciudadana are working on a pilot program for the vendor’s kids at the Mercado 10 de Agosto. “Cero Trabajo Infantil” has 300 kids who go to different activities 3 days a week for a month instead of working for their parents. Many parents still believe their kids should work during summer vacations since “It’s not a sin to teach kids how to work from an early age.” <Wasn’t that the whole reason for a summer vacation? So kids could help their folks out with the harvest? Soccer camps, art retreats, crafts classes, and Chinese and Hebrew schools were a much later invention. And I bet these market kids do grow up to be hard workers.> Azuay is one of the provinces with a high incidence of child labor at 9.3%.

Real estate brokers – La Asociación de Corredores de Bienes Raíces (ACBIR – The Association of Real Estate Brokers) of Azuay has graduated the 2019 class of real estate professionals with a licencia de corredor profesional (professional broker’s license). Ecuador has regulations that real estate brokers have licenses and join ACBIR and the Federación Nacional. The coursework was given at Instituto San Isidro and included marketing real estate, real estate rights, municipal procedures, appraisals, and real estate practice. <So was your broker licensed? Probably not? Don’t know? Don’t care as long as they were honest? Did you notice an ethics course was missing from that list of areas of study.>

Buses – The city owes the Cámara de Transporte de Cuenca (CTC) about $1,225,000. $598,500 is owed for the subsidy for groups receiving priority attention during the period enero a mayo, 2017. Another $626,898 is owed for the 1¢ subsidy the Concejo Cantonal approved when bus fares were adjusted. Leonardo Albarracin, president of the CTC said the Chamber needs the money since it is renewing its fleet of buses.

Food factory closure – ARCSA closed a factory making dietary supplements, peanuts, granola and dried fruits because of unsanitary conditions including rat poop next to the barrels where food for sale was stored. 700 natural products, expired medicines, and medicines without the sanitary seal were seized. <Rat poop in your granola? Oh, no, ma’am – those things are gourmet toasted black rice.>

Election – Wilson Hernández who was born in Girón and moved to the US over 30 years ago is running for the at-large city council seat in Danbury, Connecticut. <You’re always from Girón, or Cuenca, or Azogue, etc. no matter how long you’ve been gone.>

Frogs – Researchers from the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) have discovered 3 new tiny frogs which are from 1.6-2 cm. long and weigh .4 grams. <I’ve seen roaches bigger than that.>

Empresarial –

Rights of adultos mayores – La Ley Orgánica de las Personas Adultas Mayores establishes rights, benefits, and exemptions earned by senior citizens, and the right to work.

Non-tax benefits include 50% exemption on air, land, maritime and river transport fares and admission to public shows, cultural, sports, artistic, tourist and recreational packages. Museum admission is free. If the senior needs assistance, the discount applies to his or her attendant. There is also a 50% exemption for use of electricity (for monthly consumption up to 138 KW/hr), water up to 34 cubic meters, basic land line phone service, basic cell phone and internet service. <Are CentroSur and ETAPA going to be full of gringos claiming their discounts tomorrow? Bring the appropriate paperwork. And your facilitator if this is too much of a challenge for your Spanish.>

Tax exemptions include exoneration from payment of income and municipal taxes if the person over 65 years old has a monthly income less than 5 times the basic salary (SBU) or a patrimonio (assets) of less than 500 SBUs. For income and asserts exceeding these limits, taxes are only paid on the excess.

And that’s all for today so Hasta el ? –

Jeanne