Letter of Protest:

Year after year, and I have witnessed it for over 15 years, officialdom in San Miguel has failed to stop commercialization that is running the character of the city and will, without doubt, destroy the values that made San Miguel famous and worth living in for many. This does not mean that commercial interests are to be strangled by 'good deed' people who have what they want and want to enforce their interests on those trying to make a living and improve their economic well being. Hardly!

It means to make some sense from this seemingly unbridled attempt to make San Miguel into a commercial city, like so many elsewhere. As an urban planner in 'another life' let me say that if you visit the history of other cities that have taken the path of selfish commercialization and 'quick buck' developers for guidance, you will easily see the final results in these cities: of 'crime' ,'pollution' ,'ugly commercial sprawl'; and you will see them deteriorate to become places no longer visited and enjoyed.

Well, I have argued this before, as so have others: and it seems that the government, and it is patently clear in San Miguel ,is incapable of stopping its own disaster. SMA people might consider another path, may rise up in arms; yet mostly failure has been shown and only in one or two instances has success ever happened!

Words, just don't make it! Action, comprehensive planning, balanced growth by a 'growth ordinance' that states that developers must prove that the development can be supported by the infrastructure of the city; housing development limited to and care sown to size and density. Well, stop here: the sad tale is that it will probably go the wrong way.

It is up to the people of SMA to decide and try better and they need to do so now; it is almost too late already!

Roland Salazar Rose