We celebrate our independence… But when will Bosque Panul have its?
In the face of the shameless and insolent Zoning Plan amendment promoted by Mayor Rodolfo Carter, we raise our voices:
After more than five years of fighting against the companies that want to destroy Bosque Panul, and against the political authorities who allow them to pursue their business, the will of La Florida's residents and friends of the forest has been categorically expressed. We will not accept any real estate projects whatsoever in Panul; we must eradicate real estate profit from this place and build a gathering point for the community — with the community and with nature together — promoting a sovereign citizenship that builds the common good.
In the face of the shameless and insolent Zoning Plan amendment promoted by Mayor Rodolfo Carter, we raise our voices:
After more than five years of fighting against the companies that want to destroy Bosque Panul, and against the political authorities who allow them to pursue their business, the will of La Florida's residents and friends of the forest has been categorically expressed. We will not accept any real estate projects whatsoever in Panul; we must eradicate real estate profit from this place and build a gathering point for the community — with the community and with nature together — promoting a sovereign citizenship that builds the common good.
Following the January 2012 citizen consultation, which captured the will of 98% of participating residents, the current mayor committed to initiating a Zoning Plan amendment that would definitively protect Parque Panul by declaring it a construction-free zone.
But the mayor did not keep his promises, and it is now certain that in November of this year the forest will be left unprotected and a new real estate project may begin — governed by the old rules that permit its destruction.
After 19 months without progress, the mayor has presented a plan that aims to create a new construction zone in Panul — one that only reduces the number of housing units and converts a unique place that belongs to all of us into a collection of 5,000 m² plots, destroying the forest and further privatizing whatever survives, under the false premise that this would protect the ecosystem.
We have reached this grave danger because both the mayor and the other authorities have been excluding residents from the design of solutions, preventing the participation of all stakeholders involved, proceeding in an ambiguous and unclear manner when it comes to justifying plans and actions — leaving the door open to suspected secret plans or deliberate actions in favor of private interests.
We demand that once the festive days celebrating our "independence" are over, an immediate and permanent working roundtable be formed, with full citizen participation — with the authorities and officials involved, on equal terms — as the only way to bring a minimum of transparency to the process of amending our zoning plan. It is time to honor agreements and do things seriously, openly before the residents.
We will not tolerate the abuse of power. All our energy is focused on building TODAY the Community Park we need — on driving a social process in which we all take responsibility for and enjoy our connection to the territory we inhabit.
ENOUGH OF BUREAUCRACY AND PROMISES NOT ONE LESS NATIVE FOREST COMMUNITY PARK NOW! www.redprecordillera.cl
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