More high-rises are on the horizon, Reclaiming stolen property, Alianza Francesa sponsors French trips, New protected areas in the Cajas

Lunes, 20/1/2020

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –
De la pagina cultural –

Sheet music discovered – Music written by Manuel Antonio Calle in the first half of the 19th century was discovered by the family of musician Arturo Pesántez when he died. The music shows influences by Beethoven which is important since Ecuador was isolated from Europe at the time, and communication, especially with the Sierra, was enormously difficult. This discovery will open up avenues of research. <It’ll probably be someone’s PhD thesis.>

Viaje linguístico – The Alianza Francesa will hold meetings este miércoles, 22/1 a las 17:45 and el sábado, 25/1 a las 10:30 to provide information about the 2020 linguistic journey to spend 4 weeks in Bordeaux and Paris, France.

Otras cosas –

The city has agreed to allow more high-rise buildings in some areas of Cuenca.

Titular – Cuenca apunta hacia más construcciones verticales (Cuenca points towards more vertical construction) – The Cámara de Construcción and the city reached an agreement to promote construction or enlargement of buildings around the airport, visible from the Centro Historico, and other areas. Builders will be able to build taller buildings once an ordinance is approved which establishes compensation for receiving these permits. Developers have 3 options – to build environmentally sustainable buildings <LEED in Cuenca?>, provide resources for the reconstruction and conservation of privately owned patrimonial buildings, or invest in social purpose housing. Allowing high rise buildings in sectors such as Ordóñez Lasso or Totoracocha will reduce the cost of land acquisition and expansion of basic services such as roads and utilities horizontally. If the city continues to expand horizontally, the cost of providing roads and utilities would be $3 billion by 2030.

Reclaiming stolen goods – The Policía Judicial has thousands of electrodomésticos (home appliances -your word for the day), cell phones, and vehicles that haven’t been claimed in its warehouses and storage lots. This has generated a problem because the police will destroy items in order to create space for more items constantly being seized in anti-crime operations. <How about a huge yard sale instead?> Police are asking people who have been victims of theft to come to the warehouses to see if they recognize any of these items which the police have been storing for years so that they can avoid destroying the stuff.

To get your stuff back, go to the warehouse across from the airport and ask the officer in charge to let you in to see the stuff. If you recognize an item, the police will take you to the judge who was in charge of the case. The judge will ask you to provide some sort of proof of ownership. Generally that will be a factura. If you don’t have a factura, you can make an affidavit saying that you’re very sure you own the item. To claim cars which are usually held for at least 5 years, go to the impound lot in Nulti and go through the same steps. <There’s probably a mechanical/financial reason people don’t reclaim cars. Why would you reclaim a 1986 Vitara with no brakes and bald tires that spewed more smoke than a badly tuned blue bus?> Currently there are 474 cars and 845 motos on the lot.

Intenational meeting on migration – Quito will host the XII Cumbre del Foro Global sobre Migración y Desarrollo (XII Summit of the Global Forum on Migration and Development) this week. 160 representatives of various countries and organizations are expected.

3 new protected areas – Altogether, 3,200 hectares of forests and páramo in zones of Curiquingue, Gallo Cantana, y Mazán would be declared protected zones of Cuenca once approved by the city council. According to an agreement with the Ministerio del Ambiente (Ministry of the Environment) this land was acquired by ETAPA to conserve water sources, and when added to protected areas under the control of Elecaustro <electric company>, will total 16,291 hectares. The area contains evidence of the existence of páramo wolves, pumas, and Andean bears; is part of the habitat for condors; and has 17 species of amphibians found nowhere else in the world. Creating these new protected areas will put the frenos (brakes – your bonus word for the day, and a useful one for you drivers to know) on mining concessions near the Parque Nacional Cajas. Once the ordinance has been discussed and approved, it will be sent to the Ministerio del Ambiente to include Mazán, Curiquingue y Gallo Cantana in the Sistema Nacional de Areas Protegidas del Ecuador.

Robbers captured – Two members of a gang which was committing armed robberies in restaurants and gas stations, and of freight transport, were captured after they held up a restaurant on De Las Américas y Miguel Cabello Balboa early Sat. morning. They used a taxi which was traced. The driver was arrested Sat. afternoon, wearing the same clothes he used during the robbery. The taxi used was part of a legal cooperativa.

Descuentos y compras –

Delgado Travel – round trip flights to NY from Guayaquil for $499 including taxes – on Jet Blue, nonstop, departures in Feb. – Gran Colombia 5-21 y Mariano Cueva – (07) 284 2118.

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne
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Editor’s note: Jeanne’s Periodico is a translated digest of news from the Cuenca daily newspaper El Mercurio. If details, such as event dates and times, do not appear in the translation, they did not appear in the newspaper. The text between the carrots, or guillemets (< … >), is Jeanne’s personal opinion and not part of the news translation.