Tourism official sues when parking spots at his hotel vanish

El Conquistador Hotel on the Paseo de Montejo, Mérida. Photo: Lee Steele

Jorge Carrillo Sáenz, president of the Yucatan Tourism Business Council (Cetur) and the Paseo de Montejo Foundation, filed a protective order with the court after two flower beds replaced street parking in front of his hotel.

The cement islands, meant for greenery, demarcate bike lanes while preventing vehicles from serving guests by Hotel El Conquistador’s front entrance. The eight-story 159-room hotel specializes in welcoming tour groups that arrive by bus, and taxi drivers have historically congregated around the lobby entrance waiting for fares.

Carrillo Sáenz said that members of the Paseo de Montejo Foundation were never consulted about the state-city massive bike-lane project.

He told Diario de Yucatán that he is not against bicycle lanes per se, but they would be more relevant elsewhere, such as the Periférico, where cars and bikes exist in chaos.

Along the Paseo, bike lanes would have been better off placed somewhere on the walkways, he said.

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