Modified Pase del Niño to snake through El Centro; City outlines holiday safety plans; Where to buy your NYE monigotes; Southside police station planned

Jueves, 23/12/2021

Hola, Todos –
Happy Holidays. I hope you will be enjoying them with friends and family, either in person or virtually.

Actividades –
Nada.

Titular –

Buñuelo, el postre navideño (Buñuelo, the Christmas dessert) – Buñuelos are a typical dessert at the Christmas supper with origins attributed to the Romans, French or Arabs, and with the name changing over the years. The dough includes flour, eggs, and butter; and the flour can be wheat or a gluten free alternate such as yuca or almonds. Flavoring such as vanilla, lemon, coconut, or almonds can also be added, and they can also be filled with fruit, pastry cream or whipped cream. Currently the buñuela is fried and served with honey (bee or sugar cane syrup) or sprinkled with sugar or powdered sugar. <Buen provecho – because it’s Christmas, Santa removes all the calories.>

Cuenca –

Contingente listo para los Feriados (Contingent ready for the Holidays) – The city announced the actions it will take regards to Christmas and New Year. EMOV EP, the Citizen Security Council, Firefighters, EMAC, Guardia Ciudadana, Public Works, Municipal Hospital, Cantonal Health Council and others will be fielding 1,428 people from the different institutions with 313 vehicles and motorcycles, and 1.035 technological resources and tools. There will also be over 200 civilian transit agents with 23 patrol cars, 17 motorcycles, bicycles, and tow trucks to control traffic.

The city has authorized 16 locations for the sales of monigotes and masks between 28-31/12. These will be the Parque y Templete de Miraflores; González Suárez y Tahuantinsuyo; calle La Ópera y Circunvalación Sur; Parque de los Derechos Humanos; calle Las Azulinas y Ordóñez Lasso; Cantón Paute y Av. De Las Américas; Parque El Paraíso; Av. 24 y Mayo y vía Rayoloma; Parque Allcuquiro; Feria Libre; Parque lineal de la Av. 3 de Noviembre; Parque lineal de Primero de Mayo; Parque lineal Primero de Mayo, sector Gaspar de Carvajal; Parque lineal 24 de Mayo. <Might be easier to just tell your driver to take you to the nearest place to get a dummy. And no, that would not be the place you met your ex.>

Iglesia hace un llamado a recibir al Niño Viajero desde balcones (Church calls to welcome the Niño Viajero from balconies) – The Archdiocese of Cuenca asked people to receive the blessing of the sacred image of the Niño from their balconies and through the transmissions of various forms of media. For a second year, the traditional Pase del Niño Viajero will not be held and a Caravana Vehicular will be held instead. The Caravana, headed by 8 official and security vehicles, will start at 10:00 once the mass ends at the Catedral de la Inmaculada. Vehicles certified to be in the parade will assemble starting at 00:00, el 24/12 from the redondel at av. Paseo 3 de Noviembre to the plaza del Otorongo. They will take a confusing route through El Centro, apparently picking up and dropping off different groups of cars. Benigno Malo, Bolívar, Sucre, Coronel Tálbot, and Manuel Vega will be on the route. <So grab your egg nog or rompope, get comfortable on your balcony and wait for the motorcade.>

Descuentos por pago del predio (Discounts for payment of property taxes) – Starting 1/1/2022, you can pay your property taxes to the City of Cuenca in at least 15 locations as well as at banks and cooperatives, and on line. Authorities plan to collect at least $7 million of the $12 million scheduled. In 2021, of the $12 million scheduled, $6,824,000 was collected. The city is expecting to collect $2 million from vehicle road taxes of which $1 million is intended to promote alternate means of transportation.

The municipal budget for 2022 is $265,855,177 which is an 18% increase from the 2021 budget. $115,000,000 is for projects, 11% is for current expenses, 12% for financing, and 4% for capital expenditures. 2022 projects include a traffic interchange at av. De Las Américas y Del Toril $8,690,442), construction of the Mirador de Turi ($1,447,074), the parque lineal Piedreas de Yanuncay ($1,412,643), and the Isauro Rodríguez bridge ($1,992,823). The Programa Cuenca Unida will get $28,898,231, the Centro Logístico de Transferencia de Viveres or wholesale market will get $11,167,975, and the mercado in Mutualista Azuay will get ($1,948,880).

The city will have payment windows at the Municipal Treasury, parque La Libertad, Alcaldía, airport, and the vehicle inspection centers in Capulispamba and Mayancela. There will be a 10% discount for payments made through 15/1. The discount will drop by 1% every 15 days until the end of mayo.

Biblioteca posee 33,674 libros (Library owns 33,674 books) – A team of librarians headed by Blanca Vanegas brought order to the books in the “Daniel Córdova Toral” library which was founded in 1927. Everything was mixed up and the librarians spent the health emergency moving everything around and taking an inventory. What they thought would be about 20,000 books turned into 33,674. They also catalogued 1,494 newspapers dating back to 1935, 1,219 magazines, 524 CDs, and 658 historic books including a Libro de Cabildos de la Ciudad de Cuenca, 1557-1563, and an edition of “Las siete serpientes del Rey from 1767. The library is open lunes a viernes from 8-16:45.

Sucesos –

Proyecto de UVC cuenta con terreno para su construcción (UVC project has land for its construction) – The City of Cuenca transferred a parcel of land on the Paseo del Salado y Prolongación de la calle Gertrudis Esparza in the Yanuncay parish to the federal government to build a Unidad de Vigilancia Comunitaria (UVC – Community Watch Unit). Over 200 police from different units will be housed there to provide services to sectors in the south side of the city. Services will include Dinapen, the Servicio Antidrogas, Violencia Intrafamiliar service, and crime prevention and investigation.

And that´s all for today so Hasta ? –

Jeanne