He first year of Cecilia Patrón Laviada in front of the Merida City Council has more positives than negatives, although it faces serious problems, such as the disorderly growth of the city, says the Dr. Luis Ramírez Carrilloresearcher of the Uady and political analyst.
He also considers that the municipal president has taken off the shoulders of the former governor Mauricio Vila Dosal and? She would be the natural candidate of the PAN to seek re-election in the mayor’s officewho would win if the election were held right now.
However, it warns of a possible operation of the entire national and state machinery of the 4T with the sole objective of capturing the Merida City Council in the 2027 elections.
He Dr. Ramírez Carrillo didat our request, an analysis of the mayor’s first year at the head of the City Council during an interview at the central offices of the Diary.
“I would begin in chronological order. The first point that seems interesting to me to discuss is the very meaning of the choice of Cecilia Patron in a context in which we inaugurate a state government of a new party, such as Morena,” he indicates.
“I think that the arrival of Cecilia Patron In the context in which the PAN lost the gubernatorial elections, it has a double force and importance. On the one hand, it showed the existence of an electoral base, let’s say PAN supporter in general terms, but in particular terms consistent with the candidate and with the candidacy of Renan Barrera”.
“He vote for Cecilia Patron It was a boost and a positive approval to the previous PAN administrationsfundamentally that of Renan Barrera, that with its highs, lows, whites, blacks and grays was finally evaluated positively by the Merida electorate.
“Mauricio Vila operated largely against Renán Barrera and supported the candidacy of Cecilia Patrón. The PAN apparatus was divided between supporting the candidate and not supporting the candidate for governor.”
“She was emerging strongly and appeared in the campaign as a much more mature politician, with more skills, more charisma, more self-confidence, and the Merida electorate liked her.”
The mortgage of the previous administration
“However, he charged the Mauricio Vila’s mortgage and part of that mortgage led her to eliminate from her work team (already as mayor) some of the officials from the previous administration who would have been very useful and would have avoided a learning curve for the City Council in several of its departments and general directorates,” says Dr. Ramírez.
“He got rid of too many people and I feel that that was a concession to the support received from Mauricio Vila, but in various areas it lost highly trained personnelas for example in Culturein areas linked to the management of access to land, permits to open businesses or not, the management of markets, etc.
“There were already very particular setbacks at the beginning of this administration, which were largely the result of having eliminated very important cadres.”
“In each direction of the City Council, after several administrations of Renán Barrera, there were at least four or five people, among the entire team, who were indispensable and who were fired.”
Points in favor
“In this first year I highlight something that is a strength and that perhaps could become a weakness in the second, but especially in the third year. The strength is that the municipal president put enough tokens in each of the fields that serves the Merida City Council to seek to overcome this learning curve at the end of the year and reach the end with interesting interventions in all fields.”
For example, in credits and support for small businesses and small business ownersthe program Home Doctorlas scholarships for educational support for young peoplethe intervention in parksthe intensive patching program, the reforestation. Resources are distributed in all these fields.
“In the field of culture, existing programs were maintained, but new options and alternatives have not been sought. What was successful remains, which was fundamentally designed during the management of Dr. Irving Berlin, and it is a shame that this has not been maintained in the Directorate of Culture.”
Areas of attention
The researcher also indicates the following:
“In general terms, the municipal administration as a whole has been distributed trying to attend to as many areas as possible that are the responsibility of the City Council.”
“This has had an advantage in all aspects and there is a presence everywhere. But that also has a disadvantage because the resources, which are insufficient, are pulverized and the visible impacts at the level of a city like Mérida are not as noticeable or are not as massive.”
“Perhaps the most massive thing remains the patch program and cultural program in terms of citizen perception and recovery of action of the City Council in the imagination of the people of Merida.”
“They serve very specific sectors of the population and turn out to be more like patches for bigger problems, or successful but very limited interventions. The cause is the lack of resources.”
“It is impossible to address all the fields and all the needs of a city like Mérida with the same force. There are certain types of activities that have a general, massive impact. And there are certain types of activities that, even if one were to inject all the money and the budget of the City Council into them, will end up impacting a neighborhood in particular, a very limited sector of people.”
“There are steps in the right direction in the women’s care program, which in this first year of Cecilia Patrón has been successful. I hear the voices of many women, activists and permanent critics of the PRI, PAN and Morena governments, and the general evaluation, comparing with the women’s program of the state governmentis that in the City Council there is much more openness to listening to the voices of the interested parties themselves; that is, of those affected, and much more sensitivity to care for them, perhaps due to the fact that Cecilia Patrón is a woman and because of her personal experience,” he points out.
Repaving
“There are challenges that are difficult to solve, such as the city’s potholes. Mérida needs a total repaving and it is very expensive. The total three-year budget of the City Council would not be enough to repave even a quarter of the city.”
“The Merida expansion It is already so large that suddenly the paving needs have exceeded the City Council’s capabilities to carry it out.”
“There are problems that are almost impossible to solve in three years with the current City Council budget.”
“Something that has to be done from the beginning of the administration is the programming, not only of the budget allocation, but of the strategies to clearly identify which are the critical, important and urgent problems, which are not the same.”
“We have to start to see where Mérida’s long-term problems are. A very serious one, perhaps the most serious, is the expansive growth of the city, the permissibility of land uses and the obsolescence of urban development regulations.”
“This is a structural problem in urban terms that puts at risk the viability of the city of Mérida and the metropolitan area so that they have sustainable urban development in the medium and long terms.”
“This sustainability has to do with connectivity, with roads, with travel times, with deforestation, with water capacity, with the ability to maintain control and security,” he explains.
“These are fundamental aspects that, if they get out of control, would affect a very large percentage of Merida residents. Here the challenges are very great and greatly exceed the resources that the City Council has. More than the legacies of many previous administrations, there is the situation that has been generated in recent years. 10 years”.
“The Mérida that we are observing now, with all the challenges it represents for the City Council, is a city that has been transformed in the last decade. This Mérida is new on the surface“, in type of construction, in number of vehicles and people, it is new in terms of foreign population and gentrification.”
“In an evaluation of Cecilia Patrón’s first year, in terms of the person, strictly as the public official, I think she has gained a lot in terms of political weight within the citizens of Mérida. I am not a PAN member, nor a PRI member and much less a Morenista. I would say that I abhor political parties and I say it upfront and in front of everyone.”