On people and places
By Ali Zerriffi March 21, 2008 San Miguel de Allende

Urban centers are experiencing a phenomenal growth all over the world and the challenge for architects and city planners, as well as ordinary citizens, has become an effort to provide a living environment that is human and convivial. 

Economic growth, technological change and increased availability of private vehicles have turned once quiet and enjoyable communities into congested urban centers, sometimes threatening to choke the very causes of their success. 

A number of original initiatives, some spontaneous and some planned, have emerged in communities around the world to reclaim public space for the enjoyment of the residents and to create environments where people can congregate and be comfortable and safe. 


Most people by now have heard of the Slow Food Movement, which came to mean more than avoiding franchise food eaten on the run. It has developed into a “prise de conscience” around the world that to live healthy one must not only take a break from the hustle of modern life in order to enjoy life but also one must avoid fabricated and altered food and try to eat organic and, preferably, locally produced food.

Now the Slow City Movement is spreading around the world. It also started in Italy and, alas, most communities are already beyond the recommended ideal of 50,000 inhabitants but the principles of the movement make sense for any locality and can be applied to the neighborhood level.

The Italian mayors who started the movement committed themselves at their first meeting “to a series of principles that included working toward a calmer and less polluted physical environment, conserving local aesthetic traditions and fostering local crafts, produce and cuisine. The goal is to foster the development of places that enjoy good food, healthy environments, sustainable economies and traditional rhythms for community life.” All of the above principles would not be complete without a commitment to implement “a range of programs from the promotion of organic agriculture, the banning of genetically modified foods and organisms, urban revitalization and historic preservation, alternative energy systems and the preservation of local traditions and heritage, signage and light regulations.” 

Project for Public Spaces (www.pps.org) is a nonprofit organization “dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build communities.” It quotes Enrique Peñalosa, (ex-mayor of Bogotá and now professor at Columbia University): “Public space is for living, doing business, kissing and playing. It can’t be measured with economics: it must be felt with the soul.” 

By public places the organization and the ex-mayor mean parks, squares (or jardines), waterfronts, public markets, transportation, civic centers and, of course, libraries. 

We here have recipes for healthy environments used almost along the same principles by both large modern cities that are trying to engineer solutions for better living and old traditional communities that are trying to preserve a way of life that is based more on quality than modern global consumerism.

The underlying controversy regarding the future of San Miguel has more to do, except for the adepts of rearview mirror nostalgia, with preservation of what made San Miguel special and the management of its growth from a sleepy little town to a successful community with a multicultural dimension but also with “traditional rhythms of community life.” 

Progress and growth, concepts too often and too readily confused, might very well be unavoidable but they can be channeled in at the right pace and along the right trends.

Urban planning in a relatively small administrative entity like the Municipality of San Miguel de Allende takes on a totally different dimension if one envisions growth and development as a project that will not only capitalize on the assets of the city itself but would integrate the social and economic development of the surrounding rural communities. A master plan should include education, infrastructure, alternative methods of agricultural production, complementary lightweight and non-polluting industry (canning, for example) and non-pervasive activities like eco-tourism.

The city itself needs the collaboration of every sector of society to define its future in order to preserve its uniqueness. A tighter application of zoning and construction rules will be a major first step but more importantly a concerted effort to revive traditional meeting places like public markets, community centers, waterfronts and green spaces. The size of San Miguel and the willingness of many of its residents to get involved in projects benefiting the community should make participatory commitment to a consensual overall plan an easy thing to organize. Projects involving specific neighborhoods should have preliminary consultations with the residents to weigh short-term inconveniences against long-term benefits for the colonia directly affected and the community at large. 

On the very promising side the present government has initiated several projects that go in the right direction toward an integrated economic and social development plan. Consultations with and assistance to organic farmers, artisans and tourism operators have led to important actions from developing business plans and co-op organizations to planning of eco-tourism infrastructure and cultural festivals. The implementation of educational facilities thanks to a project between the government, UNAM and the Biblioteca Pública will give our town not only the resources needed by the students of the region but also add an academic dimension to the cultural life of our community. 

Collaborating efforts of NGOs and government in San Miguel and the Bajío region in general, as well as devising plans for proper use of publicly or semipublicly owned spaces will help us turn renovated old buildings and available green spaces into centers of learning and recreation, and much-needed conservation areas that will balance the growing urbanization of our environment. 

The opinions expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not reflect those of Atención San Miguel or the publishers, the Biblioteca Pública.

Goodbye to a friend
By Carol Potter

Ken Stanton, one of San Miguel’s colorful characters—friend to many and to the community—died recently at his home in Los Frailes. He fought a valiant fight against illness, enduring difficult medical treatment, but never giving in. In his last months he continued to sell real estate, entertain friends and play his beloved game of bridge almost up to the time of his death.

Ken moved to San Miguel in the eighties from Brooklyn, leaving behind a successful career as English teacher, realtor and antiques dealer.

Like most gringos who come to San Miguel and decide to stay, Ken fell in love with the town immediately and was soon caught up in its life and culture. Not only did he lead an active social life, entertaining lavishly and becoming known as a fabulous cook, but he was an active contributor to the Mexican community. He sent those who worked for him to school and some to university, conducted fundraisers for charitable organizations, taught English to children at an orphanage outside town and, until his health began to fail, was working enthusiastically on plans for a memorial orchid garden in memory of Stirling Dickinson. Among Ken’s favorite organizations were the Garden Club and the Duplicate Bridge Club. He was an active participant in both.

Ken’s friends will remember his generous heart, his eagerness to help others and, of course, his cooking.

An hour on Saturday feeds 4,000 children
By Dianne Walta Hart

On Saturday mornings in San Miguel, baggers are at work. They labor quietly and efficiently as they weigh and bag sugar, lentils, beans and soy. Occasionally they make jokes about being professional baggers, or about who is the most senior bagger, or whether seniority means age or time on the job. All the time they keep their eyes on the scales and computer-driven stickers—Los Ricos de Abajo, two kilos, Clavellinas, ten—and after weighing the proper amount, they pop a sticker on the bag and seal it.

These are not your average run-of-the mill baggers. In earlier periods of their lives or at other times of the day, the baggers are journalists, management consultants, nurses, realtors, engineers, marketers, artists, TV programmers and community support staffers. There is even a self-professed former beach bum among them. They hail from California, New Mexico, Florida, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New York, Canada and parts of Mexico, but at this moment they’re baggers in San Miguel. 

For one hour, these baggers get together at the Feed the Hungry headquarters at the corner of Las Moras and Cinco de Mayo and go about their business in the first-floor warehouse. Each person participates for a slightly different reason. Rosa María Gonzales wants to help her own people and Bob Thomas says, “We share their village, so we want to give back.” Others add that they will do anything to help children and Valarie Coon says, “It makes me happy, makes me smile and what could be easier than giving an hour on a Saturday morning?”

Once the food is bagged, it is taken to plywood carrels lined up in an adjoining room. The rustic carrels look like they belong in a country library, but each one has the name of a different kitchen on it: Peñón de los Baños, Palo Colorado, Hogar de los Ángeles, Centro de Crecimiento and other sites among the 31 supplied by Feed the Hungry. 

Five supervisors make weekly visits to each Feed the Hungry kitchen to determine its needs and then enter the information into a computer. By Saturday morning, a list is generated, posted in the individual carrels and the baggers respond to the requests.

Into the carrels go other bags—some tiny, some large—that hold mustard seeds, cinnamon sticks, oatmeal, pasta, garbanzo beans, salt, pepper, powdered cilantro, cumin, sesame seeds, baking soda and chile de arbol. The bags are followed by jars of cooking oil, bars of hand soap, pot holders, colorful plastic plates, stove lighters, produce disinfectants, pot scrubbers, first aid kits, buckets, chlorine and cans of cleanser. 

The workers continue to pad silently over the tile floor, quickly distributing the food they’ve just bagged. Then they return with clipboards and big red marking pens to begin checking off the supplies. Someone comes along behind them and double checks their work. There’s no asking what to do, no wondering what’s next. There’s a hum as people count and talk to themselves—two bags of lentils, one bag of soy, three cinnamon sticks. 

The person responsible for such an organized production line is Duane Eriksmoen, a North Dakota native and Feed the Hungry’s director of food distribution. Though the volunteers come from all walks of life, Eriksmoen prepared for this job almost as if he knew Feed the Hungry would be waiting for him in San Miguel. During his last assignment in international development, he managed a program involving the importation, warehousing and distribution of US$21 million worth of surplus food throughout Uganda, which proved to be a natural transition to stocking, warehousing, allocating and distributing food to Feed the Hungry’s kitchens. 

When the volunteer drivers leave with the food on Tuesday mornings, they make a stop along the way for fresh vegetables and fruits at Super San Francisco II (commonly known as Martin’s) on Salida a Celaya, where they load up produce bagged by the vendor’s employees. The drivers then go to their Feed the Hungry kitchens, all attached to schools. Some are close by in San Miguel and others farther out, taking some drivers several hours to make the trip over rocky terrain and dry river beds.

When the food reaches the kitchens, Feed the Hungry cooks start their work. Soon 4,000 schoolchildren are eating, completing the cycle that started with volunteers in a quiet warehouse whose only compensation is knowing how important Feed the Hungry is in the lives of the children. As the volunteers would tell you, that reward is more than sufficient.

Some of the warehouse workers are: Valarie Coon, Jean Depperschmidt, Kathleen Ellsworth, Jenny Formanek, Beverly Gandy, RosaMaría Gonzalez, Rosa Harrop, Jim and Robin MacKenzie, Susan Moore, Gigi McLaren, Arden O’Rourke, Kent Slade, Sam Stoltzfus, Bob Thomas, Arturo Vidales, Lynn Weisberg, Eschwan Winding and Glen and Julie Zipp. 

Feed the Hungry is an independent nonprofit corporation in the US (Federal Tax ID # 20-1193434) and in Mexico. It provides hot, nutritious meals every school day through 31 kitchens attached to schools in San Miguel de Allende and the surrounding rural communities. If you are interested in volunteering, contact www.feedthehungrysma.org.

Dianne Walta Hart is a member of Feed the Hungry’s Board of Trustees.

Cactus blooming
By Walter L. Meagher

Cactus Walk
Walter Meagher
Thu, Mar 27, 9:20am 
El Charco del Ingenio
Members 70 pesos, nonmembers 100

In welcoming April, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote:

“As soon as April pierces to the root
The drought of March, and bathes each bud and shoot
Through every vein of sap with gentle showers
From whose engendering liquor spring the flowers;”

Most plants need a good dowsing before they unfold their flowers, but not Opuntia cacti. They flower before the rain; it is in their genes to do so.

On the other hand, as the average rainfall for February is 3 mm, for April 20 mm, and for May 30 mm, why not delay flowering? That, it seems, would be prudent.

A cactus plant stores water in a semi-arid environment. More than any other plant, it knows how to limit and conserve expenditure of water. Having reserves, it doesn’t wait till April-May: it can flower before all plants that need a good soaking to break dormancy. Opuntia cacti thus can win the full and devoted attention of nectar-hungry pollinators—bees, wasps, thrips, beetles and butterflies.

Having one competitive edge is not enough; the Opuntia has another. The Opuntia fruit, the prickly pear, is growing when April showers come to El Charco. Rain is needed for fruit to grow and become juicy, delectable for birds and mammals, the natural agents of seed dispersal. 

See Opuntia, and more, in bloom with Walter Meagher on a morning walk in El Charco. Enjoy Wayne Colony’s lovely slides. Please reserve a space at nzerriffi@yahoo.com.