It seems we elect people who, in their pursuit of their own ambitions, continue using their position for their benefit but not necessarily doing what the people most affected want. In this case expressly ignoring what we've already had meetings on and discussed: banning pets on beaches.

The government, of course, has access to all kinds of resources paid for by the people, especially its media budget and capabilities that can drown out anyone with no such tools at their disposal nor the time to dedicate to the matter. But they know and I know that residents, both foreign and domestic, have moved away first from Ixtapa and later from La Ropa over the ability to walk their pet on the nearby beach. They know and I know that beachfront business owners and operators have all expressed their opposition to banning pets from beaches. Now the local government is dressing it up and calling it something else as if it were some kind of award, which it isn't. This fools a lot of folks not accustomed to critical thinking, especially those expecting to be "noticed" by the political powers that be for their "loyalty" in order to receive their own "reward", such as a job being a Guardiana de la Playa or whatever the folks are called who harass you at the beach entrance but otherwise serve no purpose other than to collect their paycheck. But hey, they're better than aviadores, people on the public payroll who get paychecks but who don't actually do anything.

The local government can of course go to its base, all those people on the hillsides who have been rewarded already or are still awaiting escrituras for the lands they stole, and "ask" them what they think while telling them how good Blue Flag is for Zihuatanejo and they'll jump right on board with anything hoping to be rewarded for their loyalty. The few of us who are most affected by this and who suffer the loss in the purchasing power of our visitors don't have that luxury. We are much fewer though generally better educated and more prosperous. Many of us even employ people from the hillsides and outlying communities. But we can't win a media campaign or a beauty pageant (what passes for "democracy" nowadays). The damned epidemic has more people than usual depending on "favors" from the local government.

I don't see a "win" for locals here unless they speak up loudly and with one voice (again). Otherwise we are committed to turning our community into just another Disneylandia, a plastic paradise for tourists (and a big boondoggle for politicians) where locals no longer feel at home in their community.