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October 21, 2002.
A few years
ago, I expressed my pleasure at the fact that stop signs had finally been installed
downtown although I could not understand why they had only been put up on one-way
streets going uphill and not on the ones going downhill - where they were needed…
Sometime later, I noticed that they had put up stop signs along Aguacate Street
as well. For those readers who are not familiar with the Emiliano Zapata neighborhood,
Aguacate is a two-way street intersecting a half-dozen one-way streets, two of
which are major traffic arteries heading to and from the tunnels leading to the
"beltway" known as the Libramiento. Problem here was that they installed
each and every stop sign facing the wrong way at each of the intersections, so
no one ever saw them… As time went by, some of the signs fell off or disappeared
while the couple that remain wired to the light posts still face the wrong way… Months
later, they put up four-way stop signs at the corner of Basilio Badillo and I.L.Vallarta.
These are red octagons (like honest-to-goodness stop signs) but they say "Uno
por uno". That means one by one, therefore I assumed that the idea was for
the first vehicle there to have the right of way. Few understood that so to this
day, most drivers (especially buses and taxis) just fly through. And along Constitución,
the street that runs parallel between Insurgentes and I.L.Vallarta, there are
still no signs even though so many accidents have occurred there. Now
here's the latest: City Hall has hired a Company (from Mexico City no less) that
has been mandated to submit a "Program of Urban Signposting" to be implemented
in this town - by December of this year. The Director of the town's Tourism Department
was quoted as saying that "it is time for adequate and efficient signposting."
No kidding, mister! You just discovered that? One year
ago at this time, I wrote that I had finally figured "it" out. I had
been thinking that time seemed to be flying by all too swiftly for me in recent
years... because I was getting old. Obviously, I was wrong. Mary Sue Morris' friend
unveiled the truth to me. She said: "If you want to see your life pass by
in a flash, just write a weekly column." That wise friend had hit the nail
on the head! There's a certain tension that comes with
the responsibility associated to a commitment made. Most of the time it's a good
feeling, but when deadlines approach and I haven't typed a single word, and the
muse appears to have left for an extended vacation to greener pastures, the feeling
begins to resemble panic. However, and inevitably, something happens and all of
a sudden enough material appears to fulfill the commitment. Whew! To
my friend Wayne: We finally made it, my friend. We who live and work in the Emiliano
Zapata neighborhood will have our very own Blockbuster store, across the street
from the CMQ! So now you won't be the only privileged one around… Just kidding.
After all, at the end of a hectic day where nothing appears to have gone right,
what better than a little peaceful down time? And books and videos don't honk
their horn at you and curse your driving ability… Have
a fabulous week, check out all the wonderful restaurants that have reopened, and
take good care of each other. Hasta Luego! pvmomto3@hotmail.com Archives
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