On 2/20/2012 5:57 PM, Andrew Fildes wrote:
> Around here it would disappear and be reincarnated as backyard sheds, garden
> walls and chicken coops.
>
> On 21/02/2012, at 12:42 PM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
>
>> Could be there are no willing buyers of construction equipment even at
>> scrap prices. :-)
May I assume the smiley means you are joking? Otherwise, I have to get off the
floor after falling down laughing.
Andrew is partly there. Mexico has huge numbers of people living in serious
poverty. Every city of any size has barrios
full of ramshackle living places made by the residents without land ownership,
zoning, approvals of any kind and largely
of stolen/scrounged materials.
The kind of materials shown in Nathan's pics would have rapidly disappeared,
even if guards were hired. Guards might
save the roofing tiles already in place and the ends of rebar sticking up, but
not the loose stuff. Most likely, the
guards would rapidly sell off the easily movable stuff, make a little money to
feed their families and make the longer
term job of keeping the built part intact and free of a new settlement easier.
Unguarded, a place like that in Mexico
would soon be a new little city.
I suppose the big difference in this is the general European problem of
inadequate birth rates and falling populations.
I gather Spain is one country whose incentives have been working to stem the
decline. Still, the occasional shots Nathan
has posted of abandoned building in the countryside would never be seen in
Mexico. Either the building would have be
scavenged for free materials or would be inhabited by squatters. Mexico has NO
such problem - quite the opposite. When I
was there, I believe the estimate was that half the population was under 18,
maybe even younger. A HUGE problem.
I don't know if you recall the big earthquake in Mexico City years ago. In the
vast southern part of the city, some
buildings fell down while others apparently similar didn't. There were many
theories I heard. Mine is different. When
staying with my late wife's grandmother there, we watch over a couple of years
as a building was constructed next door.
It took forever to build. The workers and their families lived free on-site, so
their true incentive was to make it take
as long as possible. All the concrete was supposed to have rebar in it. I have
no idea whether it was there in the
correct amounts in this particular building. I'm not so foolish as to pry.
But I'm quite certain that at least some of the many similar construction
projects had much of the rebar sold out
through the fences in the night. Insufficient rebar - earthquake - all fall
down.
Don't get me wrong. I love Mexico and the Mexican people I've known. But it's a
country with huge economic problems and
an enormous number of the really, really poor who have to do whatever they can
merely to survive. The US drug war and
big drug cartels weren't anything like as big a factor when I was visiting
family, vacationing and doing work there. So
I can't imagine things are much better overall now.
Hasta Luego Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
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