Customers complain of higher electric bills despite blackouts; Baños water system rewarded; Art in public places; El Mercurio marks 100 years in print

Jueves, 17/10/2024

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

Católogo de Bienal (Biennial Catalog) – The Fundación Municipal Bienal de Cuenca announced the launch of the catalog for the 16th edition of the Bienal, titled “Quizá mañana.” (Maybe tomorrow. <Sounds like the answer you get when you ask what day the Peter Pan crunchy peanut butter will get restocked.>) The launch will be el viernes, 18/10 alas 9:30 in the Casa Sede Bienal de Cuenca (Bolívar y Estévez Toral).

The Cuenca Bienal has launched a project designed to integrate art into the urban environment of the city. The project is support by the Graiman tile company which will create ceramic mural of Bienal winners. (El Mercurio)

Obras ganadoras de Bienal ocuparán espacios públicos (Biennial’s winning works will occupy public spaces) – The Fundación Municipal Bienal de Cuenca launched a new project, “Transformando Espacios: Bienal en la Esfera Pública (Transforming Spaces: Bienal in the Public Sphere) which is designed to integrate art into the urban environment of the city. The Foundation collaborated with the Grupo Industrial Graiman to create ceramic murals that reflect images of the winners of different editions of the Bienal. The project was inaugurated at the airport with Modulación 892 from 1987 by artist Julio le Parc who won the first Bienal. In 6 months, 6 murals were made.

Titular –

Planillas de luz más caras pese a cortes (More expensive electricity bills despite outages) -Hundreds of complaints are showing up on social networks because in spite of the blackouts, many Ecuadorians are not getting smaller electric bills, but in many cases, much higher ones. For 3 customers, their bills went from $42 to $56, from $65 to $107, and from $25 to $63.

Responding to the complaints, the Agencia de Regulación y Control de Electricidad (Arconel) announced that the electric rates have been maintained without variation for the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. Arconel also reported that the rate schedule has not been revised since last noviembre as is done every year so that there is no reason for an increase in the bills unless the user has increased consumption. <So the hallway light you leave turned on so you can see when the power returns, and you don’t wake up when it lights up uses $14 or $42, or $38 worth of electricity? Even if you’ve been leaving it on 24/7?>

Cuenca –

De El Mercurio del miércoles, 16/10 (3 articles):

La Junta de Agua de Baños recibe premio internacional (The Junta de Agua de Baños receives international award) – The board that administers the water system in Baños which serves 45,000 people, won 3d place in a the Premio Clocsas 2024 contest. The Confederación Latinoamericana de Organizaciones Comunitarias de Servicios de Agua y Saneamiento (Clocsas – Latin American Confederation of Community Organizations of Water and Sanitation Services) organized a meeting called Calidad de Agua y del Servicio this year which measured physical, chemical and microbiological parameters to verify the water complied with established standards; and evaluated aspects of water services such as efficiency of distribution, attention to the client, complaint management, and continuity of service.

There are 14 countries in Clocsas with 164 organizations which were at the meeting from which the 5 best in Latin America were picked. Rodrigo Yungasaca, president of the Junta de Agua de Baños, said that this year it joined the Red de Organizaciones Comunitarias Sociales and the Comunitarias de Agua del Ecuador (Rosgae). He said the Baños water board is a community institution that doesn’t receive public funding. The board has a project that goes to 2060 which includes building a new potable water treatment plant. <Lets hope that there will be rain to supply that plant. Who knows what the climate and weather are going to be like heading into 2060. Will the paramos change into highland Andean deserts?>

Homenajes por los 100 años de El Mercurio (Tributes for El Mercurio’s 100th Anniversary) – The first issue of El Mercurio was circulated on el miércoles 22/10/1924 under the slogan, “Diario Independiente de la mañana” (Independent Morning Newspaper) There are various events to celebrate and honor this milestone. The paper started when there weren’t even 3,000 people in Cuenca and the limits of the city were barely past the Centro Histórico. <I wonder if the first paper was the size of the paper for a large US high school?> The founders were the brothers Carlos, Alfonso, Aurelio and Octavio Sarmiento Abad. In 1935 the paper was bought by Nicanor Merchán Bermeo and has been in the Merchán family ever since.

Sigseñas ganan concurso del sombrero de toquilla (Sigseñas win toquilla hat contest) – Fanny Rivera and Lourdes Morocho, craftswomen from Sígsig, won the Sombrero de Paja Toquilla contest boosted by the Municipio de Sígsig with the support of the Asociación de Municipalidades Ecuatorianas (AME). The two went to the Galápagos to show their creations at the 45 Asamblea General Ordinaria in Santa Cruz with mayors from the whole country. Lourdes Morocho was recognized for her work titled “Las Islas Encantadas Galápagos,” <When I saw the accompanying foto, I thought she was holding a decorated cake on a plate, but it was the decorated crown and brim of the hat.>

Wow – I got this done before the power goes off at 2 so I don’t have to work tonight.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne