Yucatan Developments... Your Thoughts?
There was a small news story recently that we reported, about UNAM students doing a study and proposal for a gated, planned community that would cater to extranjeros. Another recent newstory mentioned a shopping mall going up in Valladolid, filled with chain stores ranging from Italian Coffee to Burger King. Both these news stories invited a flurry of responses and comments, most of them along the line of "we don't like these kinds of developments".
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Over the past year, Merida alone has started (and almost finished) FOUR new shopping malls. There is one now open behind the fabulously modern Liverpool shopping center that sports an ice-skating rink in the center. The Alta Brisa Mall is open now too, located next to the Star Medica Hospital. MacroPlaza Merida is anchored by a Chedraui grocery store and a Super WalMart. The last one that will be finished is called CityCenter Merida and is also located in the north part of town and will also have a Super WalMart. Between them, the new centers will open 56 new movie theatres, bringing Merida's movie screens to 86 in total. The five shopping malls that existed before these had 718 separate stores, and these four new centers will add an 420 additional stores. (Thanks to childrenofhabitat.blogspot.com for these figures). Merida has never in its history, even during the henequen boom, seen such unprecedented growth.
Having lived here for the past six years, we've watched this happen. We've enjoyed the fruits of this growth at times, and agonized about it at others. In particular, a comment sent to us privately about the planned shopping mall in Valladolid prompted us to share our thoughts on this matter. We think there is something important here that all of us who are strangers in these parts need to think about and understand. Pues, (a much-used Spanish expression that means "so" and "then" and "well" and any number of connecting words that basically mean nothing much at all...) the following is the article, the email we received in response and our response to that email.
First, the article in question...
Valladolid to Get New Shopping Center
On the east side of the peninsula, Chedraui is investing $8,000,000 USD in a new shopping center in Valladolid, and it is to be built in the first quarter of 2008. This shopping center will also be home to Italian Coffee, Burger King, Big Home, Coppel, Hollywood Cinemas, Taco Inn, Famsa and Cajun Grill, among others. With the naming of Chichen Itza as one of the Seven New Wonders of the World, the eastern part of our state needs as many new businesses and services as they can get. Hundreds of thousands of visitors are coming and many new residents are deciding to call the area home. It is a long way from Valladolid to Merida (or to Cancun) so this shopping center is good news for everybody who lives there or stops by to visit.
Next, the letter we received...
Our reader wrote: "Regarding the article, is this view about development prevalent in the expat community and at the editorial board of this publication? What interests future retirees about your area is its unique culture and landscape. My wife and I visited Valladolid last winter and we loved what we saw. The Yucatan does not need to stay underdeveloped, but your fascination for (this) type of development described tells me that it is in danger of becoming indistinguishable from the snack strips of El Paso, Fort Lauderdale or Costa Rica, and that this will happen too quickly. Surely, you will agree that what you have now is special. I am not saying local government should restrict growth. But my wife and I were interested in the Yucatan and this article tells us Yucatan expats are anxious to recreate the world they left behind in the north. This begs the question, why did they leave it? It also has caused us to cast our attention more seriously to southern Europe for our retirement plans."
Lastly, our response...
Dear Sir: We don't originate the subjects of our News summaries on Yucatan Living. We translate articles from Spanish-language sources that are published for a Mexican readership. We do this as a service for our English-mostly readership. If the Yucatecos think it's a big story, then we try to include it.
We can't speak for the expat community, of course, but we can make some observations we feel sure about:
1. The "growth" described in the article below is driven by corporate expansion and the desire of the Mexican
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people. The expat community has nothing to do with it. Here in Merida, there are at most 6,000 expats in a city of a million Yucatecos. We'd guess there are no more than 70 expats in Valladolid. We have no direct impact on growth that we can tell. The impulse to build and grow comes from the Mexican middle-class.
2. The socio-economic diversity in Yucatan is extremely vast. There are those who exist on practically no money, living a traditional Maya lifestyle. There are multi-millionaires who own half a dozen opulent homes. And there are people of every conceivable walk of life in between those extremes. One or two malls is a drop in the cultural ocean.
3. In general, expats who move here come for the diversity of experience, not to recreate their former lives. But there's nothing like having access to a modern experience when you need one. This is especially true for health care, insurance, real estate and other important matters. If you want to buy a washing machine, you have to go to a modern store. The mercado only carries washboards. Once you've actually lived outside of your own country, you'll perhaps understand that desire a little bit more.
4. Mexicans who are being deported from the U.S., (many of whom have never actually set foot in Mexico), are relieved to find some of the familiar brands and shopping experiences they left behind. A small consolation for them, perhaps, but ironically, it's not unlike an immigrant to the U.S. finding a source of their favorite items from their home country. Also, did you know that far more Mexicans travel to the U.S. each year legally (on a 15 day tourist visa) than sneak across the border? Why? Mostly to shop in modern U.S. malls. But given the choice, they'd rather stay at home to do their shopping.
5. Meanwhile, is it really fair to impose one's wishes on people in other countries? If the Yucatecos want a shopping center, why not? Did you notice that all but one store in the article was a Mexican corporation? That means more jobs in Mexico, more middle-class Mexicans, and probably more shopping centers. This is happening all around the world. It's the big global "catch up" to the so-called "developed" world. Good luck escaping it in southern Europe. If you really don't want to see a shopping mall, we'd recommend the Island of Roatan, off the coast of Honduras, and even there, we're not sure you'd be completely "safe".
What do you think? We welcome your comments...
Comments
Tim 17 years ago
I don't care about development per se, but I do think it is ashame that Mexicans now have the same health problems as Northamericans. McDonald's, Burger King, and Coca Cola are not my idea of good development.
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steve in merida 17 years ago
Great article, great discussion points. I agree with the points that change is inevitable, and that expats have little ability to influence the changes described in the article. In the epoch of TV, people around the world view the entertainment and affluence of the US and Europe, and they want similar things for themselves and their families.
So, I am "for" improved living standards for those that want them. I am "for" improved economies and economic opportunities. I am "for" better medical care and better education and more access to education that often result from the changes that come with economic development. I am however slightly saddened by the influences of materialism and mall-culture. "More, more, more! ..." The influences and effects of neural-marketing are particularly troubling. How do we maximize the benefits, and minimize the cultural and familial disruptions?
I believe people are smart enough to make their own choices, and a few are wise enough to keep the pendulums of "going-too-far" in check, before these pendulums ultimately swing back. Most correct their mistakes while the consequences are small. Some (a few?) will crash and burn, but ultimately we make choices that keep the things we find important and shed at least some of the dreck. Mexico is a land of contrasts, filled with resilient and resourceful people.
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casey 17 years ago
With all this development, is there any word of air flights from the eastern part of the US directly into Merida being discussed, or a ferry from Florida?
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sky 17 years ago
While I do not think that Mérida needs any more of these malls (and instead more parks), I think it's okay to have more choice.
I think one should be more concerned about old buildings (or even not so old but original buildings from the '50 or '60) being torn down to build up yet another Extra, Oxxo, or small Plaza in all the colonias. That seems to be really stupid. About six months ago they razed a nice Quinta-style building in Col. México including a incredible beautiful & old tree and now the spot lays bare and is "For Rent". that happens all over the place.
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Mirna Ruiz 17 years ago
I am an expat hopefull living in Lodi, California. Merida is the next place I'm going to live. I planned to start a business with my family there, not retire. A clothing boutique. My concern is Wal-Mart keeping my prices very low. Can I still raise my kids on that? Does this mean I have to go to plan B?
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Dev 17 years ago
Perhaps the real question is not what is built, but how it is built. Tasteful development can be a benefit that pleases almost everyone. Controlling new development should mean putting restrictions on impermeable space so that square footage is naturally controlled by green space requirements. This forces developers to think a little more creatively about what they are building, rather than throwing up another box with a crowded parking lot and a Wendy´s at the corner.
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CARLOS DANIEL GALLEGOS 17 years ago
Many cultures around the world have tried to protect itself from the outside influences. China and Japan fought long to closethe world out. The Amish community in the USA tries to keep out the outside influences. Guess Merida and Mexico are no exceptions. Yet, people like Chef Rick Bayless have already shown much of Mexico foods have been influenced by other cultures. The culture of Spain is wide spread throughout Mexico. What is the fear of USA or gringo influences? Unless you are a tribe living in the remote part of the Amazon, every culture on earth is influenced by another. :-)
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CasiYucateco 17 years ago
This is an issue larger than Valladolid, Merida, or Mexico. People are catching on to the idea that there is something insane about the constant grab for more, and more, and more. Tonight's NightLine showed couples who had bought luxury homes in Florida for $1.5 million, took out a second mortgage for another 1/2 million to "upgrade" the brand-new luxury home, and now are unhappy that they cannot make their $6000 per month house payments nor find buyers. My heart breaks.
How is this related? Because the desire for more is being engrained into our mind-set, yet somehow on the most fundamental level, we know that kind of greed is just wrong. The "happiest nations on earth" (google them) are not those which are the richest or the most materialistic or even have the most democratic governments.
The happiest people on earth are those who are happy with what they have, regardless of how little or how much. (If only I could stop collecting books!)
Regarding development and Mexico, it may be that some folks tie a sort of romantic notion into their concept of Mexico: It's a simpler time there, before "the rat race," before rabid commercialization. And particularly in our later years, looking for a comfortable retirement and escape from the wear and tear of the daily commute, the pollution, the noise, the overbearing boss (or whichever kind of boss), Mexico seems to fit the bill.
Then reality breaks in. Someone lets out the news that Mexicans are not particularly happy about living in drafty leaky bug-filled thatched huts with dirt floors or buying their meat where chicken feathers are still fluttering to the ground. And that means modern development. It shatters the dream that 'an escape' is out there. And it provokes an emotional response: "No! Not in that place! Not where I want to live."
We have to be the change we want to see. We have to find peace inside, not elsewhere.
As television and advertising encourage us to ask for more, we have to recognize the crass grab for our cash for what it is - yet more greed. It's hard to open your eyes to materialistic consumerism when you are literally drowning in it 24 hours a day. As Merida has gained the capacity to generate more electricity, as people have saved up for a refrigerator and television, the same sort of "ganas" - desire - for 'more and better" sprouts here as well.
All that said, what I find particularly abhorent and short-sighted in Merida are the massive "suburban developments" without any space for green living plants and trees. Just huge heat-islands for warehousing people. Depressing.
And the government funding of so many loans for car purchases just when Mexico's oil reserves are beginning to falter.
The cement jungles will lead to all sorts of social problems - most of which have already been noted in the Diario by local experts in sociology, psychology, urban planning, etc. But, the educated professors have little influence over the profit-taking commercial interests accepting government handouts to build on one hand and selling homes to workers paying with government-backed mortages on the other.
Yet more turmoil will appear (than the traffic already?) when gasoline prices go higher and higher, and then supplies begin to dry up, because it was all wasted on bazillions of little cars and wider roads rather than a more efficient transportation system. Where Mexico is behind the US in some ways, I just wish they'd learn from the many US mistakes and leap-frog into new solutions, rather than mimicking their pale neighbors to the north. More and more "ring roads" is not the solution, as so many urban US areas have discovered. Good planning and good public transportation can take the pressure off roadways, so that cars can be enjoyed too - but other members of society can live without autos if they so choose.
So... yeah. People are complex, huh?
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Reg 17 years ago
Thanks WG for a thoughtful take on developments in Merida. Change is inevitable, and while it's important to appreciate the value of the historic and traditional, it is necessary to understand the good and the negatives that the future presents. You've done a good job in setting the stage for that understanding.
It's a positive that the expat community is playing such a positive role in preserving and restoring a growing proportion of the housing stock in the centro historico. We should take some pleasure that we are helping to preserve the heart of the city. It's also a good thing that Merida is so large that even the growing number of expats doesn't pose the possibility of turning Merida into a San Miguel de Allende, where the Mexican residents are completely priced out of the living in the heart of their city, or are outnumbered in the zocalo.
One of the best things about Merida is that it's economic vibrancy provides what appears to be a decent living for many average people, certainly better than some other places I've visited in Mexico. Merida is not your average city, let's not forget. It is claimed by some to be the oldest continuously occupied city in the Americas, and a city at the turn of the 20th century that had as many millionaires as New York City or other western capitals. The huge stock of colonial homes is testimony to that.
Might these new mall investment pose a threat to the local markets and smaller independents? Generally, the larger chains and malls do. Is it inevitable? No. We'll have to see how it shakes out in five years or so. It will be interesting to watch and be a part of.
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Malcolm 17 years ago
You nailed it. The notion that somehow Mexicans need to be "protected" from the potential destruction of their culture, when the development of the bulk of these projects is being driven by the wants and needs of the Mexican economy itself, strikes me as presumptious, smug, and, well, icky.
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Tim Perry 17 years ago
Once again YL is informing some of Us still an outsider as Myself who has to wait afew more years on the progress going on all over the Yucatan. I truly hope in 7- years till I can move, My first stop like everybodies is the airport in Cancun, which is building and rebuilding everyday, is this change going to be another LA-EX, or Miami, O-HARE ??? Change is Good to some extent as long as it doesn't totally consume People, Who in the US People are so dependant on going to the Mall... I personally hate that 3- word statement. Because of what it has done in America from the East Coast to the West Coast, no matter where One travels off the interstate or paralell to the roads of USA STRIP-MALLS have taken over every little town all the way across the country.... Little shopping Malls that were once new have been abandoned only to close up and or run down, to build a new shiny, glitzy one right on the other side of the highway,because its newer, when will they enough? Two years ago We were in Playa on vacation when in the cab We were in I noticed the block work of a new huge building going up and just as I noticed a huge banner at the top saying comming soon WAL-MART... I joked with the cab driver. I said alright You can Buy New Underwear....We both laughed because He knew what I was getting at. The Great People of Mexico deserve choice,change if to improve Their life in any way,and I think They will be able to handle it much better than We Gringos who don't know when Enough is Enough,with beauty comes the spoil... When I visit Mexico I go to take in the Blue sky,clean air,the beautiful Hand crafted plazas,fountains the Genuine People, the Heritage and culture. I think it will be so sad to go to the NEON MALL that has artificial lighting,fake trees fake fountains high prices and mindless People who hang around just for something to do, I'm basing this on the GRINGO WAY OF LIFE HERE..... The Mall Developers' only act out of greed and money,not People's values first!!! I wish We in America could go back in time , I miss all the Mom and Pop stores,staying for an hour or so talking to the owner because I'm proberly the only one there at the time... Wal-Mart, Home depot, Lowes, Cosco what ever try talking to Manager of a big mall or the Developer who built it... Viva MEXICO I know and hope You can handle the changes that are comming..One Love to all TIM PERRY
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