Our correspondents in Cuernavaca, Mexico say the entire community is being overrun with big box retailers. The largest incursion came first with a bitterly fought battle over Costco (a company which threatened to sue me for reporting the citizen’s battles on this website). Residents charged that Costco had destroyed valuable natural resources on the site, and had removed historic murals from a building they raized. Residents now report that many local people are not shopping at the Costco in protest for their actions there. To make matters worse, a Wal-Mart “Superama” store is now beginning construction. Here’s a report from Mexican sprawl-busters there: “Wal-Mart is going to name this store Superama Vistahermosa in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. In addition to the Superama, the local government has auhtorized no more than 1 kilometer away, a department store named Liverpool, two big cinemas, an Office Max, etc. This is the worst nightmare we have ever seen in Cuernavaca. Tell everybody in the USA that Cuernavaca is a dead city for tourism. Traffic is as crazy as in Mexico City. Water is insufficient, every home is being torn down to build a store. The local government commanded by the PAN (a political party) wants a city devoted 100% to commerce, and no land for homes will be allowed in the near future. It is craziness and stupidness elevated to the highest level. Although we told Wal-Mart to go away, because there is another Superama store exactly the same just 6 minutes by driving, they began the construction this week, and the land they are building on was for residential purposes. They illegally changed it to a commercial purpose, with the help of the local government.”
The residents of Cuernavaca have asked that sprawl-busters spread the story of what has happened to their city. For more background on this case, search this database by “Cuernavaca”, or contact [email protected].
