June 20, 2008, Cont. from front page, More big-box growth for San Miguel, By Jesús Ibarra, Local teachers invited to international literacy conference, By Jesús Ibarra, Postgraduate studies inaugurated at the Biblioteca

One group, the Colegio de Arquitectos de San Miguel (San Miguel’s Professional Association of Architects) or CASMA, has endeavored first to establish and then to improve upon construction regulations for the city in concert with local authorities. On June 12, the association celebrated its 20th anniversary with a ceremony and conference held at Bellas Artes.

According to Gustavo Vidargas Larrea, an architect from the University of Guanajuato and member of CASMA, in 1975 the local government created the Office of Municipal Planning as a means to control the growth of San Miguel in an ordered way.

A couple of years later, when the Instituto de Fondo Nacional de Vivienda para los Trabajadores (INFONAVIT, Institute of National Funds for Workers’ Housing) came to San Miguel, the local government asked for assistance from architects and engineers. “The idea was to form a group of professionals that could establish rules for the construction that INFONAVIT would bring,” said Vidargas. “So we formed the Engineers and Architects Association.”

Vidargas said that in 1988 a group of about 12 young architects, among them José Luis Rodríguez Téllez, José Luis Arellano, Fernando Liceaga, and Mariano de Anda, had graduated from the university and decided to form the Colegio de Arquitectos, to which they invited the members of the association. On June 3, 1988, the Colegio de Arquitectos de San Miguel was legally recognized as a union, and it was officially accepted by the National Federation of Architects in 1993.

According to Raúl Barrera, the CASMA's current president, in the last two decades 103 architects have been members of the Colegio, which currently has 67 active members. Barrera said that the Colegio also includes architects from other places such as Mexico City, Celaya and Querétaro.

Before 1992 construction was not regulated in San Miguel. The Colegio established building regulations in that year and revised them in 2004. According to Vidargas, some regulations are still confusing, such as those establishing maximum building height. Currently, the maximum height for construction is based on the average height of houses on the same street, but determining the average is left to the authorities.

Barrera said that the union is working to clarify this ambiguity and establish a maximum height of 8.5 meters, regardless of the average building height or elevation of the ground.

Tasks and goals

One of the main legal obligations of the union is to assign a director responsible de obra (construction director) to every single construction project in San Miguel.

“The law establishes that when a person wants to build, he or she must ask the Colegio for a construction director. The Colegio then assigns one of its members,” said Barrera, who added that to be a director an architect must have a professional certificate and must have been a member of the Colegio for at least two years. According to Barrera, the construction director is responsible for the whole project, even if he or she did not design it. “They are responsible for solving problems that arise during construction,” he said. The CASMA also supports directors if the owners try to fire them without justification. “The Colegio would protect the construction director until the problem is solved and we would not allow any other member to take his place,” he said. Barrera did note that in the past some directors have been negligent in their responsibilities but that CASMA is working with the Urban Development Department to control this and ensure the directors do their work properly.

The Colegio would like to be involved in all local decisions regarding urban development, and to that end it has proposed an institution called IMPLAN, Instituto Municipal de Planaeación (Local Institute of Planning), which would allow the Colegio to take part in decisions regarding urban development. The proposal has been presented to the city council and is to be discussed at the next session. “The Institute would be made up of members of the Engineers and Architects Association, the Colegio and non-governmental organizations. It would work along with the local authorities in all issues regarding urban development but would be completely independent from them,” he said. There are already several such institutes in cities such as León, Aguascalientes and Ciudad Juárez.

Preserving the urban landscape

Angel Arcos, an architect from the University of Guanajuato, organized a conference on urban landscape as part of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Colegio. Arcos said that the urban landscape is formed not only by the architectural style of cities, but also by parks and gardens, the people, the fountains, the sounds—such as tolling bells—and the architectural details.

“Most of the squares and parks in San Miguel, as well as in Guanajuato, have become common meeting places for residents. In Guanajuato it is said that if you want to meet someone in particular you must go to the Jardín de la Unión, where you would find the person for sure,” said Arcos. “And I think in San Miguel something similar happens in the Jardín. If people like their city, they want to care for it.”

Vidargas thinks that overall the urban landscape in San Miguel has been maintained. “San Miguel residents have always been concerned with taking care of their city, and people who come to live here immediately adopt this sense of caring,” he said.

Almost two years after Mega and Gigante (now Soriana) opened, a third supermarket, Bodega Aurrerá, a Wal-Mart subsidiary, is under construction at the corner of Calzada de la Estación and Libramiento Manuel Zavala.

More than 40 old mesquite trees were cut down to clear space for the new store, but according to Francisco Peyret, head of the Tourism, Economic Development and Foreign Relations Department, and Xavier Ezeta González, vice-president of Wal-Mart’s real estate department, 150 trees will be replanted in the area.

Peyret said that the local government plans to construct a median with trees and plants on the Libramiento Manuel Zavala.

Bodega Aurrerá will take up 6,500 square meters, including the store, parking lot and green areas. Ezeta said that the building conforms to construction regulations established by the Urban Development Department.

Wal-Mart will modify its traditional signage to better fit the landscape. He added that construction includes a grey water treatment plant to supply water for irrigation and restrooms.

Bodega Aurrerá will generate 185 direct and 145 indirect jobs, and the project is estimated to cost more than 100 million pesos. According to Peyret, Wal-Mart has a one-year construction permit but they intend to finish the store by the end of the year.

Aurrerá was originally the name of a chain of supermarkets founded in Mexico City in 1958 by the Arango brothers, Manuel, Plácido and Jerónimo.

Over the years, the brothers’ empire expanded to include Superama, a supermarket; Suburbia, a department store; Bodega Aurrerá, a lower-priced supermarket; and restaurants VIPS and El Portón. The word Aurrerá means “forward” in the Basque language. The chain was bought by Wal-Mart in 1997. Currently the Arango family has no connection with Wal-Mart Mexico.

Local teachers invited to international literacy conference
By Jesús Ibarra

Presentation
US Education Seen by Mexican Eyes
José Isabel Ramírez & Martha García Rangel
Wed, June 25, 10am
Sala Quetzal, Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25

Two educators from San Miguel de Allende, José Isabel Ramírez and Martha García Rangel, have been invited to participate in an international literacy conference in San José, Costa Rica, July 28 to 31.

Ramírez, a principal for several public schools in San Miguel, and Rangel, a teacher in mainly rural communities, developed a program whereby first-grade students learn to read using product labels and handmade cards.

Traditionally, instructors teach the alphabet letter by letter, first the vowels, then the consonants. In this alternative method, instruction is tailored to each child’s reading level. “This methodology is already present in educational programs, but teachers have not been trained to use it,” explained Ramírez.

“We are trying to popularize it and train the teachers who are interested in it.”

Both teachers were invited by American teacher and educational researcher Diane Sharken Taboada, who heard about their project, to visit schools in San Francisco to exchange educational experiences and reading methods with the teachers there.

“The difference between schools in Mexico and San Francisco is that the US classroom walls are covered with reading material, and they have a lot of books in the classroom itself. Here in Mexico, in most schools the walls are almost empty and there are barely any books,” said Ramírez.

Taboada suggested they present a project combining their reading method with the methods they learned in San Francisco schools. The result was a project called “Education in the US Seen by Mexican Eyes.”

The two submitted a successful proposal for the Congreso Mundial de Lectura (World Reading Congress) in Costa Rica, which is sponsored bi-annually by the International Reading Association and attended by many top literacy educators.

Postgraduate studies inaugurated at the Biblioteca

Last Tuesday, June 17, the UNAM Economics Faculty, the local government of San Miguel and the Biblioteca Pública inaugurated the “Centro de Investigación Académica” (Academic Research Center) in the upper floor of the Biblioteca Pública facilities, next to the Atención offices, with the assistance of Mayor Jesús Correa; Roberto Escalante Semerena Ph.D., principal of the UNAM Economics Faculty; Ali Zerriffi, former president of the Biblioteca’s board of directors; and Gregory Diamant, current president of the Biblioteca.

The center will offer postgraduate courses and seminars, both in person and online, as well as other academic activities, with the support of the Economics Faculty, which would involve, to begin with, the Professional Studies Department, the Open-University System and the Economics Postgraduate Studies Department.