Bella Vista, a sector threatened by its growth
Kirsis Díaz
The uncontrolled proliferation of high-rise buildings, which represent 75% of the housing of the sector at the present time, and the constant traffic tie ups, are the principle complaints of its neighbors.
Bella Vista, one of the best places of the National District in which to live, for its tranquility, economic and social development, is in complete evolution. Alarmed by some of the problems which are now becoming evident and those which, they feel, the City Government of the National District (ADN) is not paying attention to, the neighbors of the sector are beginning to reorganize themselves in order to make their voices heard.
This sector, with 15,604 residents, has the privilege of access to one of the most important parks of the Dominican capital: the Mirador Sur, which continues facing several risks, in spite of the fact that after a report regarding its decadence made by the Diario Libre in May of this year, the ADN appointed a commission to resolve them. Four months later (27 August) the commission met for the first time.
In the meantime, the uncontrolled proliferation of high-rise buildings - which at the present time represent 75% of the housing of the sector - and the constant traffic jams, will cause, if it is not stopped now, the area to lose its order and become just another distorted area of the city center.
"They build the sidewalks at the whim of the constructors! Disabled persons and the elderly cannot walk on them! The risk of going down the street with cars parked on the sidewalk; with motorcycles coming at high velocity or you find a hole which impedes the continuation of your walk, why talk!," says Josefa Encarnacion, who suffered from polio, and describes with sadness the transformation that the place where she has lived for 40 years is undergoing.
In a tour carried out by Diario Libre in the sector, reporters were able to confirm that many of the sidewalks of Bella Vista are full of cracks and with a serious lack of maintenance by the ADN, which in spite of the fact that for this purpose they have a budget of RD $6 million for the First District, to which this area belongs. So far they have not invested one cent.
"This year they have not done any construction and reconstruction of sidewalks and gutters in Bella Vista, but in other years they did," admitted the deputy director of Urban Infrastructure of the ADN, Miguel Aziza.
Encarnacion also complains that the parking lots of the new buildings are not sufficient, and that the streets become ever narrower because the people double and triple park, when they don't part directly on the sidewalk.
The case of New Horizons School
Neighbors consulted cited the case of the New Horizons School as a situation that they have had to face for years and which has increased the feelings over the last few months. The expansion project of the school and the construction of a University in the place has been the cause. For ‘F.A.', a neighbor of the sector, "it is obvious that the place is totally inadequate." "It does not have the parking that they would need nor will this stretch of Sarasota Avenue hold more traffic. In front of the School there is a new Mall, Almacenes Unidos, which will attract even more vehicular traffic for the barrio and together with the school there is a hotel. The authorities should rethink this permit, if it is true that it has been issued," he said.
It will be recalled that Sarasota Avenue is one of the principal entries to Bella Vista and the access road to other sectors equally populated, so that traffic is at all times very intense.
"At the hour of entering and leaving this School, we have some famous traffic jams. The traffic gets very complicated and we live with the worry that if an emergency occurs in a family, how would they get an ambulance?", Lucina Amparo pointed out. She is the president of the Doña Ines neighborhood board.
The members of this board are also asking to reopen the Eduardo Vicioso Street at the corner of Miguel A. Roman, which according to what they say, was closed by the mayor of that period, Manuel Antonio Jimenez (Manolin) in order to expand his own property. They point out that after acquiring this land, the school built on the lot. They demand a relocation or demolition of the part of the school that is on the roadway, since they remember that the use of the public roads is illegal and if it were removed, it would help to free the traffic.
When they were consulted, the ADN denied that a sale has taken place, since they are sure "the Eduardo Vicioso Street is a 'cul-de-sac' at that point." Nevertheless, the cadastral plans of the city of Santo Domingo clearly show how the Eduardo Vicioso Street and the Miguel A. Roman intersect, at the exact point where the school has built.
Land-use, the origin of the problem
Land-use is one of the criticisms that the bloc of city Council members from the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), has made of the current administration of the ADN for years. "Sometimes they grant land-use without the necessary requirements, and there (at the New Horizons School) the same thing is going to happen that is happening in the University del Caribe. The guilty party: the Administration of the City Government, because they cannot permit a University to build so many classrooms if it does not indicate where the parking lots are going to be," stressed the spokesman of the bloc of city Council members of the PRD, Cesar Cabrera. He indicated that there are many businesses in Bella Vista which do not comply with the requirements necessary for this change in the land use.
And it is Bella Vista which is the point chosen for new restaurants and businesses that occupied what were previously single-family houses. They don't have the necessary spaces for their clients and the sidewalks become parking lots, forcing pedestrians to the street. There is the case of the Agave Restaurant which on Sarasota Avenue uses the broad sidewalk to station a double row of cars for its clients or the case of the Pizzeria La Locanda on Pedro A.Bobea, or the Bondelic Bakery.
Garbage is a constant
In Bella Vista, it is a common sight to see the garbage cans on the avenues and streets full of garbage. After visiting the sector at different points during a three-day period, the problem did not vary.
In this sense, City Council members Cesar Cabrera and Consuelo Despradel, understand that with the garbage collection in this place the routes and necessary frequencies have not been established to improve the quality of the service.
Chaos on rainy days
The exclusive sector does not escape an evil that is common in different points of the country, the lack of drainage. "Storm sewers are something so expensive that it is difficult for a city government to take on, because in addition, it is a project that is only seen on rainy days, nevertheless, they have to start with this because it is necessary," noted Despradel.
Informal businesses
Sidewalk sales are something notable and with a growing tendency in the sector of Bella Vista, where you can now see sales of fruits, fried foods, etc. This informal commerce is also beginning to arrive at some of the stoplights.
"From the heart of the rich"
During the consultations made by the Diario Libre in the lower class sectors that exist in Bella Vista, the inhabitants cited the fact that among the problems which affect them are: gangs, drugs, assaults, a lack of security, noise contamination, the water supply, prostitution, traffic of public cars and the sewer system.
An expert suggests solutions
From the point of view of urban planner Pedro Mena, one way out of these problems would be the organization of the streets. He feels that if those that build new high-rises complied with the Zoning Resolution of Density Indicators, a large part of the problem would be reduced
Bella Vista, one of the best places of the National District in which to live, for its tranquility, economic and social development, is in complete evolution. Alarmed by some of the problems which are now becoming evident and those which, they feel, the City Government of the National District (ADN) is not paying attention to, the neighbors of the sector are beginning to reorganize themselves in order to make their voices heard.
This sector, with 15,604 residents, has the privilege of access to one of the most important parks of the Dominican capital: the Mirador Sur, which continues facing several risks, in spite of the fact that after a report regarding its decadence made by the Diario Libre in May of this year, the ADN appointed a commission to resolve them. Four months later (27 August) the commission met for the first time.
In the meantime, the uncontrolled proliferation of high-rise buildings - which at the present time represent 75% of the housing of the sector - and the constant traffic jams, will cause, if it is not stopped now, the area to lose its order and become just another distorted area of the city center.
"They build the sidewalks at the whim of the constructors! Disabled persons and the elderly cannot walk on them! The risk of going down the street with cars parked on the sidewalk; with motorcycles coming at high velocity or you find a hole which impedes the continuation of your walk, why talk!," says Josefa Encarnacion, who suffered from polio, and describes with sadness the transformation that the place where she has lived for 40 years is undergoing.
In a tour carried out by Diario Libre in the sector, reporters were able to confirm that many of the sidewalks of Bella Vista are full of cracks and with a serious lack of maintenance by the ADN, which in spite of the fact that for this purpose they have a budget of RD $6 million for the First District, to which this area belongs. So far they have not invested one cent.
"This year they have not done any construction and reconstruction of sidewalks and gutters in Bella Vista, but in other years they did," admitted the deputy director of Urban Infrastructure of the ADN, Miguel Aziza.
Encarnacion also complains that the parking lots of the new buildings are not sufficient, and that the streets become ever narrower because the people double and triple park, when they don't part directly on the sidewalk.
The case of New Horizons School
Neighbors consulted cited the case of the New Horizons School as a situation that they have had to face for years and which has increased the feelings over the last few months. The expansion project of the school and the construction of a University in the place has been the cause. For ‘F.A.', a neighbor of the sector, "it is obvious that the place is totally inadequate." "It does not have the parking that they would need nor will this stretch of Sarasota Avenue hold more traffic. In front of the School there is a new Mall, Almacenes Unidos, which will attract even more vehicular traffic for the barrio and together with the school there is a hotel. The authorities should rethink this permit, if it is true that it has been issued," he said.
It will be recalled that Sarasota Avenue is one of the principal entries to Bella Vista and the access road to other sectors equally populated, so that traffic is at all times very intense.
"At the hour of entering and leaving this School, we have some famous traffic jams. The traffic gets very complicated and we live with the worry that if an emergency occurs in a family, how would they get an ambulance?", Lucina Amparo pointed out. She is the president of the Doña Ines neighborhood board.
The members of this board are also asking to reopen the Eduardo Vicioso Street at the corner of Miguel A. Roman, which according to what they say, was closed by the mayor of that period, Manuel Antonio Jimenez (Manolin) in order to expand his own property. They point out that after acquiring this land, the school built on the lot. They demand a relocation or demolition of the part of the school that is on the roadway, since they remember that the use of the public roads is illegal and if it were removed, it would help to free the traffic.
When they were consulted, the ADN denied that a sale has taken place, since they are sure "the Eduardo Vicioso Street is a 'cul-de-sac' at that point." Nevertheless, the cadastral plans of the city of Santo Domingo clearly show how the Eduardo Vicioso Street and the Miguel A. Roman intersect, at the exact point where the school has built.
Land-use, the origin of the problem
Land-use is one of the criticisms that the bloc of city Council members from the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), has made of the current administration of the ADN for years. "Sometimes they grant land-use without the necessary requirements, and there (at the New Horizons School) the same thing is going to happen that is happening in the University del Caribe. The guilty party: the Administration of the City Government, because they cannot permit a University to build so many classrooms if it does not indicate where the parking lots are going to be," stressed the spokesman of the bloc of city Council members of the PRD, Cesar Cabrera. He indicated that there are many businesses in Bella Vista which do not comply with the requirements necessary for this change in the land use.
And it is Bella Vista which is the point chosen for new restaurants and businesses that occupied what were previously single-family houses. They don't have the necessary spaces for their clients and the sidewalks become parking lots, forcing pedestrians to the street. There is the case of the Agave Restaurant which on Sarasota Avenue uses the broad sidewalk to station a double row of cars for its clients or the case of the Pizzeria La Locanda on Pedro A.Bobea, or the Bondelic Bakery.
Garbage is a constant
In Bella Vista, it is a common sight to see the garbage cans on the avenues and streets full of garbage. After visiting the sector at different points during a three-day period, the problem did not vary.
In this sense, City Council members Cesar Cabrera and Consuelo Despradel, understand that with the garbage collection in this place the routes and necessary frequencies have not been established to improve the quality of the service.
Chaos on rainy days
The exclusive sector does not escape an evil that is common in different points of the country, the lack of drainage. "Storm sewers are something so expensive that it is difficult for a city government to take on, because in addition, it is a project that is only seen on rainy days, nevertheless, they have to start with this because it is necessary," noted Despradel.
Informal businesses
Sidewalk sales are something notable and with a growing tendency in the sector of Bella Vista, where you can now see sales of fruits, fried foods, etc. This informal commerce is also beginning to arrive at some of the stoplights.
"From the heart of the rich"
During the consultations made by the Diario Libre in the lower class sectors that exist in Bella Vista, the inhabitants cited the fact that among the problems which affect them are: gangs, drugs, assaults, a lack of security, noise contamination, the water supply, prostitution, traffic of public cars and the sewer system.
An expert suggests solutions
From the point of view of urban planner Pedro Mena, one way out of these problems would be the organization of the streets. He feels that if those that build new high-rises complied with the Zoning Resolution of Density Indicators, a large part of the problem would be reduced
Kirsis Díaz
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