Idioma

 

Miguel Angel Mancera has chosen the topic of reforming Mexico City as the moment to send the message that he is all for political inclusion.  Choosing a different path from his PRD predecessors – who were highly dogmatic and only interested in advancing their own party’s goals – the future Mayor of Mexico City called everybody to a very wide-ranging and plural discussion about Mexico’s diverse and contrasting capital city, a discussion without political wrangling in which all were encouraged to express their point of view.

Mancera gave an ample demonstration of his democratic thinking and easy-going, generous character to the heads of the PRI, PRD and PAN parties, but more importantly, to different social leaders from all walks of society.

No one present at the discussion was really able to elaborate on what the reform was all about.  What was it and how would it be carried out?  What were the objectives?  After listening to the legislators speak and watching a video presented by various writers and reporters, all present were struck by the same doubt: does anyone know the type of reform that Mexico City really needs?  Could anyone explain to the person on the street, the shoe shine guy, the taco vender, the housewife or the blue-collar worker why turning Mexico City into another state-like entity was necessary?

If the reform is going to be backed by a lot of people, it will be necessary to translate what its importance and impact will be, into a language understood by all.  It must be readily comprehended by the 27 million inhabitants of Mexico City and the surrounding metropolitan area that live, suffer from and contribute to the anarchy of the capital city.

Mancera explained that a new fiscal and legal definition of how Mexico City is related to the rest of the country is being sought.  “What we have to do”, he said in an interview, “is realize that this is a Capital City where the federal government will continue to operate, a city that will be responsible for looking after tax collection and security”.

He also mentioned that Mexico City should have access to federal money reserves and the possibility of making its own laws, as do other states in the Mexican federation.

Mancera pointed out that one of the reform’s major objectives is to give the capital city its own Congress and Constitution and the necessary legal and administrative autonomy to be able to choose its own destiny.

At this point, we need to get down to a level of philosophic, but essential, simplicity and ask: what is this all for?

The Mexico City reform must go hand-in-hand with important human and social goals.  If this political reform is going to transform Mexico City in a more human and inhabitable living-space, it will have to not only be the work and focus of legislators and political parties, but also something that is known about and defended by the person on the street.

Really, a law of this magnitude, that could have a major impact on the country’s largest city, must be taken up with ownership by the city’s inhabitants.

But, to reiterate one more time, the question must be asked: how is a more independent Mexico City to my benefit?  Am I going to have access to better public transportation?  Am I going to have a better trash collection service?  Am I going to have drinkable water in my house and streets that actually get paved correctly?  Am I going to have a new level of inner-city highway that is actually operational and not – as many projects of this type have been – the result of corrupt political agendas?

Fixing the capital’s social and human situations is one of the biggest challenges that Mancera will have to face as mayor.  Besides the legal and administrative changes which are needed to be able to give different municipal areas more independence, another reform is highly necessary: the civic reform of Mexico City.

An urban center as gigantic and complex as Mexico City is in dire needs of a new type of citizen.  It cannot be denied that men, women, children, senior citizens and handicapped people do not have it easy on the city’s mean streets.

However, on the other hand, it is also true that there are a lot of careless pedestrians, aggressive bus drivers who seem to be on a lower level of the evolutionary scale and piles of garbage made bigger and bigger by thoughtless, irresponsible members of the community that do not have a clue what it is to live respectfully with others.  Will the Mexico City Reform really enable us to build a better city and develop a new type of citizen?

To be able to sell this new reform to the public for general consumption, it will have to made into a taco or quesadilla first and then given lots of cream and salsa.