The Malecon of Santo Domingo is probably the most important tourist attraction in the capital city of Santo Domingo. Dominican city and Tourism authorities, nevertheless, need to be made aware of the threats underway to this would-be protected area.
When late merengue band leader Johnny Ventura was mayor of Santo Domingo from 1998 to 2002, he backed a resolution to ban the construction of motels on the Malecon. He was aware that quick sex motels bring prostitution and are not the place you want to walk around. The resolution was a firm NO to Chinese investors in the motel business on the Malecon.
Mayor Roberto Salcedo respected the ADN resolutions, and motel construction was not allowed from 2002 to 2016 beyond the km 11. City Mayor David Collado had prestigious architect Amin Abel Santos in charge of Planning and it again was a firm NO to motels on the Malecon from 2016 to 2020.
But enter Carolina Mejia in 2020 and matters seem to have gotten lax. Her Urban Planning director Maxobanex Suazo gave permission for the “remodelling” of Cabañas Turísticas K-G (the local name for quick sex motels) and for the construction of a second administration floor. Interestingly, permission was given where there was nothing built (how could there be remodelling?) and for the construction of a second floor when there was not a first.
Just months before the start of construction, City Mayor Carolina Mejia had been in the neighborhood to inaugurate a children’s playground. And then, construction of the motel begun. Only a fence divides the motel from the children’s park.
The motel owners were not available to be interviewed when Diario Libre reported on the illegal construction.
Now, Mayor Carolina Mejia and ADN secretary general Ricardo Ayanes admit to neighborhood groups that the permission should never have been granted and say a procedure (Declaración de Lesividad) needs to be implemented to revoke the permission that violates three resolutions of the city government. A court order is needed to revoke the wrongly given consent. Lawyers say the city government has the authority to temporarily suspend the construction.
The construction has been suspended on three occasions due to demands from neighborhood groups after their multiple visits to the city government. The builders, nevertheless, resume with full force two or three days later. It would seem that the builders want to get to the point where they can correctly say they are “remodeling” and building the second floor for which the ADN Planning Department gave them the “no objection.”
The city government of Carolina Mejia just doesn’t get it and is delaying taking legal actions to revert the “mistake” and stop the construction.
Mayobanex Suazo, director of Planning for the ADN says he did his architectural thesis on the Malecón and its importance for Santo Domingo. But despite the three resolutions banning the construction, he signed the permission. He has failed to implement a stop to the construction that Secretary General Ricardo Ayanes ordered after meetings with the community. The neighborhood groups that oppose the construction don’t understand what is going on and who is so powerful.
Lawyer Julian Roa, who represents the neighborhood groups, warns that the construction of the motel on the Malecon would open doors for the construction of more motels on the few available lots left on the Malecon.
Efforts otherwise are underway to lead the Malecon, the city’s sea-fronting street, to be the most important avenue in Santo Domingo. The Malecon of the city government of Santo Domingo East under Mayor Manuel Jimenez has renovated km of sea front, with family-friendly spots. Contrastingly, on the western side of the Ozama River, the construction of the motel seems to be a vote from the Carolina Mejia government in favor of sleaze instead of urban renewal.
In the meantime, the city of Santo Domingo, and hundreds of thousands of Dominicans and tourists that love their strolls on the Malecón, are the biggest losers with the decision of the present city authorities to illegally favor the construction of the quick sex motel on the iconic Caribbean Sea boulevard.
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El Matutino Alternativo
Diario Libre
13 June 2023