Cement vs Nature

With all due respect, please get over yourself Rob! When I strolled down that "cement road to nowhere" yesterday, I saw dozens of Mexican families enjoying the walkway, many heading to the pathway along the rocks to Playa Las Gatas. Many stopped to take photos of themselves in front of the statue.I saw "2" gringo tourists strolling by. Everyone else: locals!

I'm glad you're not the mayor of Zihuatanejo because you sound like you want everything left the way you found it some 30+ years ago when you arrived. Local graft and corruption aside, Zihuatanejo is NOT the sleepy fishing village that you apparently pine for. It's a thriving mini-metropolis that serves locals and tourists. As I said, I've been coming here since 2007 and it's hard to miss all the changes (good and bad) that have occurred over that time. I remember the decrepit walkway from Playa Principal to Playa LaMadera (upgraded). Or, when the road by La Rana Rene restaurant at Playa LaMadera used to allow cars to park there (Banned, upgraded). How about La Cancha? (Refurbished, Upgraded). Or, the completed "Parque Lineal" bike/pedestrian pathway from Zihuatanejo to Ixtapa?

My point: Infastructure improvements is the lifeline for thriving cities. But, the character of Zihuatanejo remains quintessential Mexico. Zihuatanejo Bay remains spectacular to view and sail on. Miles of unspoiled beaches are still here for everyone to enjoy. Friendly, cheerful people remain. But, changes are inevitable. Zihuatanejo is STILL authentic Mexico.
Admittedly, it IS slowly becoming more commercialized. Domino's yes...but still no McDonald's or Starbucks...yet. Go with the flow!

You mean those tourists walking to save money because they're too poor to pay the water taxis? Those are the tourists driving Zihuatanejo into the ground. You really don't understand our tourism.

You like the new downtown walkway that paved over 3 to 4 meters of beach? Where the mayor also for the first time, against decades of tradition and civic agreement, built concrete structures on the beach, the palapas, so that now you can't tell the successful restaurants from the cheap ones since no restaurant has to pay for and maintain their own shaded areas on the beach like they used to. I prefer protecting our beaches and continuing to ban constructions on beaches, because allowing them opens up a Pandora's box and deteriorates the beaches for everyone.

As for the walkway to La Madera, after the majority of citizens let the former mayor know we just wanted the walkway maintained after he and other mayors simply allowed it to deteriorate, he abandoned plans for huge cement shaded structures and planters (that no one would've maintained) and gave us what we asked for, with some minor modifications. But then he ignored the citizens when it came to the downtown beach, cut down all the tall palm trees, put some short sickly palm trees, and turned our main plaza into a coconut grove so now it cannot be used as we had used it for the previous 50 years. The plants he planted along the Madera walkway all died the first year. You keep mistaking corruption for some kind of urban planning.

The "parque lineal" is one thing, converting popular walking paths to bike paths is another, and we're not happy about getting run over by bikes, especially electric ones that shouldn't be on any pathway, while strolling about, walking our dogs, or going to and from work as we now must contend with. Never mind all the beautiful trees that died after having the surrounding area of their root systems paved over. There are several stumps left you can see along Canal "La Boquita".

First and foremost, Zihuatanejo should be for the locals. But most locals no longer go to any of the Blue Flag beaches because we don't feel welcome there, we don't like being treated like criminals having our belongings searched, and we don't like being forced to use the services of the expensive tourist-trap restaurants. When locals can no longer continue enjoying their community as they have for generations, then something is wrong, I don't care WHAT tourists think. They can pose in front of all the cement letters and statues and take all the photos they want. All I see is the Disneyfication of what used to be a true paradise that we should've taken better care of instead of allowing it to become overbuilt and overpaved, something land speculators from other places understandably won't agree with.