PEGGY CHILTON ALBUM COVER.

Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. Lakeside resident and former film and television and singing celebrity Peggy Lord Chilton will be the star of the Lakeside Little Theater’s Legacy video series this month.  Chilton has a long career including acting in 17 films – several shot in Mexico, numerous television shows, a popular folk  singer opening for Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio, and a tour of Playboy Clubs across the nation as a singing comedian.  She moved to Lakeside in 2009 and has directed or appeared in numerous LLT productions, including Pajama Game and Nunsense, and plans to stay involved as a director or actress.

In a pre-interview conversation, Chilton  – once known as “the Lusty, Trusty, Buster” – described parties at the Playboy Mansion, meeting Phyllis Diller  for gossip in an alley between nightclubs, how her pet ocelot protected her, and being told early in her career by one club owner he hoped she was better that the previous singer, someone named Barbara Streisand.  

Produced by JeanMarie Harmon, and filmed and edited by Jim Jack, the Lakeside Little Theater Legacy Project is a YouTube video series featuring some of the legacy talent in Lakeside to give a quick peek at their lives before and during their time at LLT. Currently, the series is featuring Broadway dancer, actress and choreographer Barbara Clippinger at www.lakesidelittletheatre.com/

El recurso que dejan los extranjeros es importante para Ajijic.

Arturo Ortega (Chapala, Jal).- Para el director de Enlace con la Comunidad extranjera de Chapala, Héctor España Ramos, existe un decrecimiento de un 30 por ciento tanto en la afluencia de extranjeros residentes como de visitantes debido a la pandemia por coronavirus en el municipio.

España Ramos, explicó que a pesar de que la temporada navideña es considerada como alta, el decrecimiento se ha acentuado más en este año debido a que la mayoría de los extranjeros son mayores de edad y los nacionalizados prefieren no salir de sus casas y acatar las normas sanitarias recomendadas para no contagiarse.

Por otra parte, quienes no son nacionalizados deben regresar a su país de origen para no perder los derechos de sus seguros, y en el caso de los visitantes hay quienes no vienen o no pueden venir por recomendación de los consulados y las medidas restrictivas en aeropuertos.

El titular de Enlace con la Comunidad Extranjera -quien también es dueño de un restaurante en la delegación de Ajijic-, informó que el decrecimiento de expatriados, principalmente estadounidenses y canadienses; se refleja en la ocupación de restaurantes. 

Es por este motivo que el impacto económico se ha resentido más en el sector restaurantero, tanto en la delegación de Ajijic y San Antonio, como en la misma cabecera municipal, donde cohabitan la mayor parte de residentes y visitantes de otros países.

España Ramos justificó su estimación asegurando que ni los Consulados, ni Migración tienen datos exactos, ya que muchos residentes extranjeros en Chapala no se han registrado, mientras que Semanario Laguna acudió a las oficinas del Instituto Nacional de Migración con sede en Guadalajara, sin obtener respuesta que corrobore la información.

Chili Cookoff  in 2020.

Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. There will be no Mexican National Chili Cookoff  in 2021;  if all goes well, one of Lakeside’s – and Mexico’s – largest charity events will return in 2022.

Jacque Bouchard, founder and past president of the event told Laguna that it is not logistically possible to hold the Cook Off this year.

“The government has not said yes we can or no we can’t – they just don’t know either.  We need to make plans far ahead; we need to make reservations, recruit volunteers, sign up sponsors – there are a million problems with trying to do it this coming February.  It just is not possible,” Bouchard said, adding that even if the government were to declare a green light for the event, they could not do it in the short amount of time left, and most likely could not do it later in the year.

“Of course, if there is a green light, Tobolandia will be open and we cannot produce the Cookoff during their season.  But most important is that many of our key people are not here and they will not be coming back to the area this winter, so we would have to recruit new people and train them,” he said, adding that many of their volunteers are from the charities they support, but even these might be in short supply because the Canadians can’t drive to Mexico and Americans are afraid to come.

The upshot is that the event has been cancelled for 2021 and it is not likely that an alternative event can be assembled online.

Bouchard, who stepped aside so that Doug Friend could take over as President this year but remains an advisor, told Laguna that, “there are no plans at the moment for online events, but we know the charities we support are feeling the pinch, especially groups like Niños Incapacitados and Cruz Roja.  They are trying to come up with new ideas, but some attempts at online fundraising events have not worked.”

The Chili Cookoff Board is planning to get back in the business of supporting organizations like Cruz Roja and Ninños Incapacitados with a bigger, better event in February 2022. Bouchard points out that, providing Covid-19 is tamed, there should be some pent-up demand because the Cookoff is most popular with newbies and snowbirds, who will flock back to Lakeside.

“The newbies and snowbirds love the Cookoff – they love the pageantry and the opportunity to meet new people and hear music;  they are not here now but they will be back in 2022 and be very enthusiastic,” he said, “and we know most of our sponsors and participants will be back – the Mexican people are very resilient and they will find a way to support us and get involved.”

Patrick O’Heffernan.

The United States is currently home to more than 7,000 non-daily newspapers with more than 150 million readers. There are no similar statistics of weekly local newspapers in Mexico, but Wikipedia lists 55 regional newspapers, 24 of which publish weekly.  The actual total is probably much higher because the Wiki list does not include the many hyperlocal weeklies that exist in almost every town and pueblo in the country. But regardless of the correct number, Mexico is blessed with a robust infrastructure of local papers. 

Here in Lakeside, the majority Spanish-speaking population relies on the Semanario Laguna and its website, Twitter feed and Instagram sites for breaking news, plus its innovative Ventas Publicidad  Laguna WhatsApp site for local business news.  For English-speakers, there is the English-language section of Semanario Laguna, plus hyperlocal online news websites in English, Facebook groups, and the Lakeside edition of the English-language Guadalajara Reporter.

Some people dismiss the hyperlocal news organizations and outlets.  They prefer to get their news from Facebook, TV, regional weeklies, national or state dailies, or “big news” websites like NewYorkTimes.com, LATimes.com, Guardian.com, etc. But local weeklies are the muscle and sinew of journalism in any country for two big reasons.

First, local papers provide you with information about what is going on in your neighborhood, your town, your school, sometimes your block.  Where else are you going to find out who won the local high school soccer game, whether or not the town’s escaramuza charra  team is going to the finals, or why the street across from your house is being torn up?  Who else is going to interview Miss Ajijic and Miss Chapala and their courts?  Who else is going to cover the local citizens’ rally to stop illegal development and then go and photograph the illegal development?

Local news outlets, whether daily or weekly or online, provide the information people want and need for their daily lives.  You cannot get everything you need from Facebook, or local editions of metro papers, or national websites.  You need news organizations with people on the ground, in your community who know where the bodies are buried (or try to find out), who know the local government, who know the local businesses and nonprofits, and know what you need to know in your community and its relationships to the state and the nation and yes, even the world.

Which brings me to the second reason local news organizations are so important to journalism; they are not only its muscle and sinew, they are its womb.

The Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of NYU publishes a long list of journalists who began at a local weekly or small TV station and went on to win Pulitzer Prizes, lead national networks, serve as executive editors of major newspapers, or become best-selling authors.  

Consider Christine Amanpour, Chief International Anchor for CNN; she started on a small radio station in Rhode Island. Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer for the New York Times Homer Bigart started as a copy boy at his hometown newspaper. Ben Bradlee, the Executive editor of the Washington Post whose character we all saw in the film The Pentagon Papers, started his career as a cub reporter at the New Hampshire Sunday News, a start-up Sunday paper in Manchester, New Hampshire. 

Or consider Lakeside homeowner Teya Ryan who started in a small,  hyperlocal public TV station in Los Angeles, where she cut her teeth producing community stories and eventually rose to Executive Vice President and  General Manager of CNN,  leading the world’s largest news organization. 

Even here at Semanario Laguna we are losing one of our reporters to Mexico City where he will get a Masters Degree and work for one of the nation’s largest magazines.  A former writer for Laguna is now one of the top sports writers in the country. And we are proud that they started with us — a hyperlocal news organization that runs photos of local school graduating classes and pictures of crocodiles in our lake alongside investigations of government misfires and private takeovers of public property.

We know many, if not most, of you who are reading this right now also get news from Facebook, or the Guadalajara Reporter, or news alerts from national papers in the US and Mexico. Great – you should. I do.   A variety of sources gives you a much better understanding of the world.  But we thank you for reading the Semanario Laguna because, not only does that mean that you are well-informed locally, but you are part of what keeps independent journalism in Mexico strong.

Patrick O’Heffernan, PhD, is a volunteer cub reporter for Semanario Laguna.  He is a former correspondent and magazine editor in Asia, a Professor of Mass Media and International Relations at Georgia Tech, and an Emmy-winning TV producer for the UN.  He started his career as a summer intern with the Los Gatos Times -Saratoga Observer, a hyperlocal weekly newspaper in Los Gatos California

The new well is located in the zone known as «La Mojonera». 

Sofía Medeles (Ajijic, Jal.) – SIMAPA  stepped up  it’s drilling  for the new water well the agency started on November 10  to supply west Ajijic to end the years-long water cutbacks in the La Mojonera neighborhood of the Rancho del Oro subdivision.

Municipal president Moisés Anaya Aguilar and officials from Ajijic and SIMAPA were on hand to launch the project last week. Juan José Vázquez, head of operations for SIMAPA Chapala, said that it will take three to four months or a little longer to deliver the water, depending on the type of soil and the time needed to install the necessary equipment. The well is moving a ahead in La Mojonera neighborhood

Complete costs for the well and associated facilities were not available at press time since  at this  stage it is difficult to determine cost, capacity and duration of the project, Juan José Vázquez told the press last week, and more precise information has not yet been made available.  He told the press last week that the capacity of Ajijic’s water supply system is concerning because only two of Ajijic’s  six wells supply most of the  demand in Ajijic.  The new well will help relieve the demand.

Municipal president Anaya Aguilar thanked Jorge Gastón González Alcérreca, the engineer who heads the Secretariat of Integral Water Management (SEGIA) for working with the State Water Commission (CEA) to get the drilling project underway and moving ahead.

Anaya Aguilar said he was pleased with yet another achievement of his administration. «We are happy that  this vitally important commitment was fulfilled, since the lack of water was one of the problems that most afflicted the people on this side of town. Let’s hope that the process goes smoothly and that the well will soon start working,» said the mayor in his speech at the well’s kick-off. 

Ajijic delegate Juan Ramón Flores, said that he hopes that the process of drilling and equipping the well will move as quickly as possible. Also present for last week’s project launch  were Councilwoman Cristina Gómez Padilla; the head of COMUDE, Celso Ramón Hernández Díaz; Secretary Ricardo Martínez; and Ramón Ramírez, head of SIMAPA Ajijic.

Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan

Ajijic seafront.

Sofía Medeles (Ajijic, Jal.) – Large profits for the tourism sector but inflation for the locals and misuse of the grant money by corrupt politicians are among the reactions of Ajijic residents to the application for Ajijic to be designated a Pueblos Mágicos.

Since it was announced that the Chapala Council would nominate Ajijic for the third time as a Magic City, opinions have been flying. Laguna surveyed 24 people and 12 businesses in the Heart of Ajijic, to get a sense of the local feeling about the application.

Most of the people surveyed (20,) are conflicted because they would appreciate the honor for their town but they see many inconveniences. The remaining four respondents simply find it a bad idea. 

Miguel, a five-year resident told Laguna that, “this project would boost the economy of Ajijic and the well-being of the residents, but the infrastructure of Ajijic can’t really support an increase in tourism. “Besides,” he added, “the added value it would bring would be unevenly distributed, increasing the wealth imbalance here – the costs are already exaggerated, and they would be even more so.”

Elena, who works in the restaurant industry, said that she would appreciate more tourism, but had similar concerns. 

«Well, it would be great if there was more tourism,” she said, “ so that we all could do well, especially the people who work in places that depend on it, but I think that if we were to get the title everything would be more expensive, so maybe we would earn more, but we would pay more.”

Native Ajijiteco Jorge told Laguna, «there would be more work, yes, but there would also be more inflation in prices, in income, and in services. First, the economic infrastructure should be put in order, so that the magical town really benefits Ajijic and not just the tourists and a few people who get rich from our work. I sincerely believe that the Ajijitecos are not prepared for this, because to me, Ajijic is a rural ranch that wants to rush into urbanization». 

Meanwhile, the respondents who denied that there would be any benefit echoed Maria who said,  «Tourism has become more of a problem than a solution in the last few years, tourists come and don’t respect, they don’t consume, besides leaving a lot of garbage and creating a road chaos without comparison, I don’t see any benefit to those of us who live here.»  

However, for the commercial sector of the Heart of Ajijic, galleries and restaurants and handicraft store owners see much benefit in the proposal.

Alejandra from the handicraft store Manos de Ajijic, commented «As for the economic spillover I think it would benefit the businesses and the people who work with tourism.  However, Ajijic does not have the space to grow more, causing excess demand in the hotel business. For the real estate business, I think it would be very beneficial, however only for the tourists, but more tourist housing could price more locals out of the market.” 

Gustavo Arce from Amigo del Cacao warned that,»it is a good project because Ajijic has a lot of potential, it meets all the requirements. As long as the magic city award benefits the people and not the corrupt politicians.  It’s like saying that the magical towns program sends a peso to Ajijic, and from that, 10 cents arrive in the town and 90 cents go somewhere else. If there is some authority that can regulate that, it would be wonderful, otherwise we don’t need it”

Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan

Patrick O’Heffernan

In the late 1960s, after a century of complaints, the governors of the North American states of California and Nevada approved a bi-state compact to protect Lake Tahoe, the largest freshwater lake west of the Rocky Mountains.  They created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to oversee development around Lake Tahoe, which is slightly smaller than Lake Chapala.  TRPA was approved by the United States Congress and tasked with creating a plan with the local cities and agencies. Today that plan is enforced by TRPA and federal, state, and local governments that strictly regulate development.

Lake Chapala is now facing the same kind of crisis Lake Tahoe faced 60 years ago.  But Lake Chapala is far more vital to the people of its surrounding states and towns than the mostly recreational Lake Tahoe is.  Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest natural lake, is the linchpin of a  gigantic eco and economic system, the River Lerma-Lake Chapala drainage basin, which includes more than 8 million people, 3,500 diverse industries, 750,000 hectares of irrigated farmland and 14 cities with populations in excess of 100,000.  And it is under deadly stress.

Lake Chapala is beset by pesticide runoff, dehydration, algal blooms, high phosphorus levels, heavy metals, aquatic weeds, sewage, and loss of shoreline.  Driving much of this is illegal appropriation of the Federal shoreline and water – illegal dumping in Jocotepec for merry-go-rounds, illegal building on the beach in Ajijic by restaurants, illegal filling for farms in Riberas, garbage dumped in the lake from west Ajijic to Chapala, illegal fishermen, untreated sewage  – they are all  killing the lake.  

Why?  Because there is little to no enforcement.

Chapala, Jocotepec, Jalisco and the Federal governments all have agencies whose responsibility is to protect the Lake we all love, the largest lake in Mexico. And they all fail.

The problem is not weak laws, or lack of scientific expertise, or ignorance of the problems or corrupt or underperforming officials.   It is lack of political will.

As far back as 1997, there was call for international pressure on Mexico, similar to the Canadian lobbying that led to the conservation of Monarch butterfly habitat, to detail the Lake’s problems and develop a multi-state, regional-national effort to save the Lake. But this takes will and money.  The agencies whose job it is to protect the Lake are underfunded, overworked and undercoordinated. And that is the failure, not of the good people who manage and staff the agencies, but of political will to give them the authority and resource they need to succeed.

The Lakeshore is Federal, but the local office of the Federal agency is understaffed – so much so that when Chapala Mayor Moisés Anaya Aguilar took its director on a tour of illegal appropriation of Federal shoreline he was told that there are too many problems and too few resources to do much.  Local agencies have no authority to act and Federal agencies have no capability to act.  And AMLO has other priorities.

Some progress is being made, mostly in uncoordinated fits and starts.  There is a move to devolve enforcement authority to the local governments.  But that will be a wack-a-mole game that ignores the major problems and will meet fierce pushback.  Without a regional plan, progress monitoring, funds from the Federal government for enforcement officers and equipment, sewage treatment plants, shoreline rehabilitation, and prosecution, it will fail.

Which is where political will comes in.  The lake can be protected if the people demand it.   In this week’s Laguna, reporter Sofia Medeles chronicles how the online complaints of a citizen finally prodded coordinated governmental action to stop illegal beach appropriation by the Maria Isabel restaurant in Ajijic.  It will take many –thousands   – of citizen complaints to get the sewage treatment plants built, stop the pesticide runoff, prosecute the lakeshore invasions, and regulate fishing and tourism to save the Lake. And it may take international pressure to get the Federal government to generously fund state and local agencies and give them the authority to get the job done.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency could be a model for Lake Chapala’s future. A scientifically-based plan with clear progress benchmarks backed up by determination in state, federal and local governments overcame lethargy and opposition in Lake Tahoe.   It might work here.  But it took the people of California and Nevada 100 years of complaining, pressuring and voting to create the political will. Lake Chapala does not have 100 years

Ajijic Ex-pat Liaison Héctor España. 

Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. In a normal year, the Technical College in Ajijic certifies over 100 students for good-paying jobs in a variety of fields, but this year, because of the Covid-19 economic slowdown, there are no jobs and the usual part-time employment many students rely on to p[ay tuition have disappeared, leaving any students stranded without tuition or living money.  Ajijic Ex-pat Liaison Héctor España Ramos has started a fund to support them.

“You may not be aware of our Technical College in the Libramento. It prepares and certifies youths for high paying secure technical employment and houses over 1200 students a year. However, this year, there are so few jobs that 364 students will have to drop out due to the inability to pay the $125 dollar/ semester tuition.,” said España Ramos.

There are 161 students currently at risk, he added, pointing out that $125 will pay the annual tuition for a student.  Both male and female students in all majors from engineering to culinary arts are at risk.

España Ramos has set up a tuition fund to support students. Donors receive a name, picture and information on the student they are supporting.  The response from the community has been strong, although not nearly enough to provide tuition for all the students who need tuition help.

“I want to thank you to all the people who have helped.  We are getting good donations but we need more for all the students. If we can do this for pets, why not students? “he said.

People can donate at PayPal using the address ms1cb@yahoo.com for dollar donations to a friend, or they can call him at his cellphone 33 10650725 to arrange a cash donation and choose the student they want to support.

Image: BBC News

Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. Vice Media ran a story recently about the US elections tearing apart Lakeside Expats. It cited complaints from a few locals and a mild incident at the Dildoria, but no fistfights at LCS (social distancing wouldn’t allow it), no table pounding at Gossips, no Pendejo Trump banners hung in the San Antonio Tlayacapan Plaza.  Most expats have more pressing problems than antagonizing their neighbors over what is essentially a personal choice.  

My impression is that, except for political junkies and tireless partisans in an MSNBC or Fox bubble, most folks in Lakeside don’t harass friends or acquaintances who support the other party.  Their Facebook pages may be a partisan billboard, but they are quiet F2F. They do care about the election  — overseas voting is breaking records, thanks in part to the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act – they just aren’t fighting about it.  

But, since I am a political scientist, people ask me my prediction about the election outcome – hoping I will bolster their side.  I am happy to predict, but no bolstering.  Right now, I think it is 50-50.  There may be a Blue Wave, but it may not put Biden in the White House. 

According to today’s Washington Post/Real Clear Politics and USA Today polls, at least 9 swing states are still swinging as the gap narrows. Biden leads Trump in Georgia by 1 point.  Trump leads Biden in Texas by five points – or none, depending on the poll.  In Pennsylvania, Biden is up by between 5 and 8 points. And he is up in Wisconsin between 9 and 10 points and in Florida by 2.  But Trump moved up in Ohio by 1 point.

So why not an edge to Biden? Three reasons: voter suppression, the Courts, and the House.

Voter suppression and vote theft has been part of American politics by all parties since the country was founded, but Republicans have raised it to a high art in the past decade.  Democrats have to outvote Republicans by 3-5% to get enough votes counted  just to tie. And this does not even include the Russians, the Iranians, and the Post Master General, all trying to sow chaos.

The Courts will decide at least 380 voting lawsuits by January 20, 2021.  The outcomes at the lower courts have slightly favored Democrats; the outcomes at the Supreme Court have slightly favored Republicans.  Bottom line: we may not know who will be allowed to vote and whose votes will be counted in every state by Dec. 12 when the Electoral College meets.

The House is Constitutionally the final decider. Trump knows this and seems to be following three strategies: (1) massively get out the base; (2) aim for a Electoral College win by one or two votes from red counties in blue states with proportional representation in the College, and if (1) and (2) fail,  challenge the vote tallies so if SCOTUS refuses to step in, he can take the decision to  the House where the State delegations decide – Republicans have 26 and the Dems 22.

So, if Trump doesn’t win enough red states and counties for 270 in College, he can count on SCOTUS or the House for victory.   Biden must win every blue and purple state by at least 6 points and win over as many red counties in blue states as possible to overwhelm the Electoral College, forestall a Supreme Court loss, and stay out of the House.  Either candidate could pull it off. Hence, 50/50. Whoever wins, I can say with confidence the Expat community will be watching Social Security and Medicare very closely- that is something they will fight about.

Dharma’s on the Ajijic Malecon will have to discontinue its popular Sunday afternoon concerts, like this one last week with Lete Gibney.

Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. Governor Alfaro of Jalisco pushed the red button Wednesday with an announcement on the state’s website  https://botondeemergencia.jalisco.gob.mx/.  The restrictions will last for 14 days but may be extended if Covid cases don’t level off.  Practically this means his measure will take effect throughout the state of Jalisco as of Friday, October 30 and last until Friday, November 13. During two included weekends there will be a stoppage of activities from 6:00 in the morning on Saturday and until 5:59 in the morning the following Monday.

The website lists events that can and can’t be held, times that events and restaurants and other establishments can be open, and protocols required. The restrictions vary somewhat with the location – different rules apply in Chapala and Puerto Vallarta– but in general, commercial activities must close by 7 on weekdays and cannot continue on weekends. This includes restaurants bars, buses, and private social events. (our thanks to Kerry Watson of Chapala Health Talk Facebook group for her excellent reporting on the announcement)

In Chapala (including Riberas, San Antonio, Ajijic, etc), the main areas and activities  that will be shut down during restricted hours include plazas, the Lakeside malecons, public markets and tianguis ,flea markets and organic markets, sports areas/teams and urban forests, religious ceremonies  and meetings of more than 10 people, and open or closed event centers.

This will be a blow to the restaurant and entertainment sector in Lakeside, but the impact will vary.  Laguna conducted a nonscientific telephone survey of music venues to get an idea of how they plan to respond to the two week-long – and possibly longer – red button restrictions. In general, many venue owners looked for ways to continue providing live music.  These efforts ranged from concerts at Casa Domenech from 5 -7 on the nights its is open  – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fri, to Adelita’s in San Antonio Tlaycapan which will  offer music only one night a week, on Thursdays.

Venues like Gossips that only had music on weekends, will eliminate music for the red button period.  Others like Meraki’s will continue their weekday music schedule, but just move it earlier, to 4 pm to 5 or so.  Meraki’s has the flexibility to move its music completely outside, which it will do, to insure social distancing, an option not available to all venues.

Some venues will have to postpone live music, but will draw business with open mic nights, like La Bodega . The venue hopes a 25% discount on drinks will make up for business lost because of the lack of live music.

Dharma’s may be the local venue most impacted because it is the only music and food venue on the Ajijic Malecon and will lose its popular Sunday afternoon concerts, although it will offer music on Wednesday nights.

Owner, Ayrton Adrian lamented the impact of the closure of the Malecon, saying. “yes, this will totally hurt business. We are the only place on the Malecon with music.  Shutting down from the Malecon will hurt us, especially because we will lose our weekend business.  We will alert your customers that we are open and that take out is available on weekend, but no music.”

The general consensus of the venue operators Laguna talked with is that they hope it is only two weeks; they will lose business without the music and weekend business, and will try to make it up with take-out and deliveries, but for two weeks it won’t be fatal.  Ray Domenech of Casa Domenech pointed out the impact on the music community and mentioned that one reason he was determined to offer music on the nights he was opened was to keep supporting the artists that support him.