Barrio Blanco to be evicted? - Juelga/Protest today

[windeguy]

If I was king, I would issue an edict to all of the communities from Sosua Abajo to Sabaneta giving them two years to fix their infrastructure, address the squatter issues, rehabilitate the appearance and functionality of the entire area. If not, then Lifestyles would be allowed to do it for them.

Yeah it's their country and all that, but the apathy of local governments clearly demonstrates that none can be effective in caring for their patch of turf and advancing the lives of those who live there. Many inhabitants would be better off elsewhere, living in conditions that are better even if only marginally so.

Sosua can't seriously claim to be a reborn tourist mecca when they can't keep two traffic lights working or a few palm trees from dying.

As an aside, Lifestyles only took over the Cabarete build site long after the originally approved project failed and stood as an unfinished eyesore. Realistically, can't blame Lifestyles for expecting to be able to make the property useful to themselves in exchange for removing the blight.

As another aside, it's not Lifestyles that owns the property or pays the construction bills - that is a group of offshore foreign investors. Without them and their money, there would still be an uncompleted structure decaying in the sunlight for a long time to come.

Things will get really interesting when Hwy 5 needs to be widened and upgraded so the parade Lifestyle Limos can get there without going off-road through pothole alley. The spilling of cocktails is a sin. The road from the airport passing at least 6 communities will improve significantly and Cabarete may just get that ring road it's been looking for. Certainly not tomorrow but within a year or two those two road issues will much closer to the top of the priority list. That will be good for me (everyone else too) and much faster than waiting for Sosua/Cabarete to do it themselves and really bugger it up.

If Lifestyles and their deep pockets partners can get the pot holes fixed and the road in a continuously good state of repair, that is a great thing.

If the Lifestyles project clears out Barrio Blanco, opinions will be mixed on how good that is.

The ring road could be interesting in that it could displace the illegal development of La Cienaga, which is much larger than Barrio Blanco and totally illegal being on a public wetland.

 

[beeza]

Do they really think that the people who launder their money through Lifestyles actually give a damn about poor people of the DR?

White powder is a great building material.  Just look at Miami, Panama, Cancun and Punta Cana.

 

[windeguy]

Do they really think that the people who launder their money through Lifestyles actually give a damn about poor people of the DR?

White powder is a great building material.  Just look at Miami, Panama, Cancun and Punta Cana.

You forgot all the towers in Santo Domingo.

Ironically, the barrio that they are allegedly about to clean out is one local place to get that same substance.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

350 people will rotate through Lifestyles Cabarete every week or two. 350 Squatters in Barrio Blanco haven't a chance at remaining, they should get themselves prepared and relocate before the the bulldozers arrive in the New Year. Lots of space in the partially completed buildings and vacant fields at Playa Encuentro for some of them.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

This blockage is on the one main road through Cabarete.

That is the only road through Cabarete. A more robust set of planning and zoning rules could ensure that buildings are not built within 3 feet of the street leaving space to temporarily put stuff on their own property so that it doesn't impede traffic. Cabarete has chosen not to do this, so where else is it supposed to go? Until locals raise the expectation bar for their politicians and begin assigning blame to those who create the situations that lead to issues, the only certainty is that there will be more issues.

You know it is coming someday - the north coast hwy will need refurbishment and there is barely enough space to walk between the road surface and the exterior walls of those businesses on both sides of the street for most of the length of "downtown" Cabarete.

 

[windeguy]

350 people will rotate through Lifestyles Cabarete every week or two. 350 Squatters in Barrio Blanco haven't a chance at remaining, they should get themselves prepared and relocate before the the bulldozers arrive in the New Year. Lots of space in the partially completed buildings and vacant fields at Playa Encuentro for some of them.

The PN recently did an eviction near Playa Encuentro, another area would be a better choice.
Lots of land east of Cabarete. It floods when it rains, so nobody with money wants to build there.

My guess is that the squatters will be gone soon. But I am not good at predicting the future.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

...just my guess, they will be relocated before Lifestyles opens with enough time remaining for the debris cleanup and the site to be prepared for whatever it will be used for.

 

[frank recktenwald]

Is this barrio close to the beach?

 

[windeguy]

...just my guess, they will be relocated before Lifestyles opens with enough time remaining for the debris cleanup and the site to be prepared for whatever it will be used for.

Evicted? Yes.
Relocated? Doubtful. No housing has been built to accommodate them.

As for the timing? Agreed that it will be before the project has its grand opening.

Is this barrio close to the beach?

It is behind the main hotel area of LifeStyles Resort on the non-ocean side of the road in the center of Cabarete.
People staying in some rooms, especially those on the upper floors, would have a view into the barrio. Here is a google maps link. It is about 100 meters from the beach.

https://www.google.com.do/maps/plac...870f086e!8m2!3d19.7488451!4d-70.4046966?hl=en

 

[JLA1125]

A couple of Dominican friends of mine asked me to go to the march yesterday so I went. It was very peaceful with no incidents.

 

[windeguy]

I have been informed that the real situation is that a third party is trying to lay claim for some of the property currently occupied by Lifestyles as well as property in Barrio Blanco. It is not LifeStyles applying the pressure rather it is this third party that is doing so. So it is not what we expected at all, but something quite different at work here.

It could get very complicated for both of those locations and already is a problem for Barrio Blanco, hence the demonstration to point out the issue. Lifestyles has deep pockets to resolve things while the Barrio does not.

Only time and lawyers and judges will determine the outcome of the legal challenge to determine if there is any basis for it.

 

[cavok]

Some of the "old-timer" Dominicans tell me it is the same party that evicted Albertico and all the tenants he had. This party has supposedly also served notice on Scotia Bank.

 

[windeguy]

Some of the "old-timer" Dominicans tell me it is the same party that evicted Albertico and all the tenants he had. This party has supposedly also served notice on Scotia Bank.

Interesting. It appears there is some weight behind this person.

 

[drstock]

I live behind Barrio Blanco, separated by the lagoon. One big problem is that they recently diverted the canal that goes around the lagoon so that the Barrio could illegally expand (meaning more votes, I assume). It is now closer to my place than ever, something I don't want as the barrio has a very bad reputation for drugs and crime. They also have a church there where the miked up woman wails and screams at top volume and they then have more miked up and extremely tuneless "singing". From a personal point of view I would not shed a tear if Barrio Blanco goes.

 

[windeguy]

I live behind Barrio Blanco, separated by the lagoon. One big problem is that they recently diverted the canal that goes around the lagoon so that the Barrio could illegally expand (meaning more votes, I assume). It is now closer to my place than ever, something I don't want as the barrio has a very bad reputation for drugs and crime. They also have a church there where the miked up woman wails and screams at top volume and they then have more miked up and extremely tuneless "singing". From a personal point of view I would not shed a tear if Barrio Blanco goes.

Very much like what happened in La Cienaga by filling in a public park and wetlands.

 

[drstock]

In related news:

http://cabaretenoticias.com/2017/12...a-principal-de-cabarete-para-la-construccion/

Aside from the fact that Lifestle builds a new building without permission, it has been occupying half of the main runway in Cabarete for several months. Any city council, adhering to the law, does not leave a company with that disorder on the track. Regrettably, Cabarete is not a municipality attached to the law.

We are asking what serves the Syndic and the rulers of Cabarete who have the function of administering Cabarete but to collect their chelitos at the end of the month. We are not talking about a secondary track but of the main track of Cabarete.

You have to ask Raquel Sierra because she is acting out and silent in front of the multitude of violations by that company.

We doubt that the Austrian citizen Markus Winschenbart, owner of the Lifestyle company, can do in his country what he is doing in the Dominican Republic with the number of violations that his projects have.

All that disorder is due to the corruption of the officials that we have in Cabarete, leaving everything to any investors who do not want to follow the rules. What is the counterpart of these officials? I would have to ask them.

Since 20 years, has never been such a mess in Cabarete in the field of construction. It has seen many ministers of environment, tourism during that time but what Lifestyle is doing, nobody managed to do it as they are doing now.

The rumor goes that officials of the province of Puerto Plata will receive a strong sum to be silent for all the violations committed by important investors.[/QUOTE]

To make matters worse, the road shown in the picture is right opposite the entrance to ProCab, which is already an extremely dangerous junction due to lack of visibility. With the road currently partially blocked, you take your life in your hands every time you enter the main road from ProCab.

 

[visitante]

The photo in posting #9 IS NOT Lifestyles. The photo is the new Cabarete Ayuntamiento which is being built by the same contractor as Lifestyles. (Does anyone smell anything funny, after the 5 story Lifestyles main building?)

Wrong. It is part of the Lifestyles project. No guest rooms, but an administration building. If Lifestyles favors local and provincial officials for their cooperation it goes in the pockets, not in the form of a public building. I live close by and have talked to the engineers. In fact, Lifestyles is in the process of acquiring the lot between the two construction sites, leading to an eviction of the pharmacy, Pablito's surf board repair shop, and the pescaderia where the local fishermen unload their catch. Lifestyle owners have also been in discussion to purchase San Souci hotel. Regarding the rumor of Barrio Blanco eviction, I believe the poster who attributed the concern to someone waving a questionable title is correct. Both the sindica and the regional director of tourism have been pressed on whether either knows anything about a possible eviction of Barrio Blanco and both have denied it. Either one could be involved if the rumor were true, but they probably wouldn't flat deny it if it were true. Barrio Blanco, like La Cienega, Callejon de la Loma and ProCab, all involved filling the Lagoon. ProCab was not included in the national park when it was created, but the others involve "invasion" of the national park. A poster mentioned that the guy claiming to have a title for Barrio Blanco is the same involved in the eviction of Albertico's. The march was primarily in response to the Albertico eviction, but the Barrio Blanco folks joined in out of solidarity and a residual concern that the same could happen to them. False titles have been the plague of development in Cabarete. The marchers believe that false titles are at the heart of the Albertico's eviction and behind the fellow claiming to have a title to a part of Barrio Blanco.

 

[windeguy]

visitante, I spoke to someone very active in Barrio Blanco who is at the very center of this issue. It is definitely a third party who is trying to claim the land in Barrio Blanco.

As for it potentially being the same person who also forced the evictions at Albertico's etc, I had not heard of that until it was posted in the thread above.

It is rather hard for anyone to have real title on filled in wetlands like Barrio Blanco, Callejon de la Loma or La Cienaga, but it all really depends upon how much money is involved as to how this turns out.

(As for the building supplies in the road in the picture, it definitely is for the Lifestyles project, you are correct about that.)