Mérida, Yucatán — A candidate hoping to reclaim his role as the city’s mayor is acknowledging that noise is a problem in the Centro.
Renán Barrera Concha pledged to address this problem if elected on July 1.
Residents in the Centro have lost sleep because of noise generated by nightclubs that have been given approval to open next to private homes. City officials have said little to comfort them.
Barrera, 38, is a member of the National Action Party (PAN), and was Mérida’s mayor between 2012 and 2015. He says that when he first assumed office, the Centro was quiet, for better or for worse.
“When I got to be municipal president in 2012 the problem was that the center had no activity,” he said. “Today … with all the investment that the Centro Histórico has had, the problem is totally opposite, that is to say today the problem is the excessive cultural and tourist activity that exists in the Centro, which implies challenges such as the decibels coming from the businesses there.”
The winner of the election takes office on Sept. 1. If he prevails, Barrera promised to create regulations that will restore order and he will bring businesses into compliance.
Neighborhood complaints about the high noise levels coming from bars and canteens try to attract customers should be taken “very seriously” before the problem gets worse, he said.
Source: La Jornada Maya
