From the Publisher's Desk
HAPPY NEW YEAR
We hope that all of your hopes and dreams come true this year!
Congratulations, Mazatlan!
Last month, The New York Times named Mazatlan twenty fourth on a list of the fifty three best places in the world to visit in 2008. Of Mexican destinations, Mazatlan was second only to Vallarta. The article described Mazatlan as having transformed itself from “a faded spring-break haven on Mexico’s Pacific coast, Mazatlan has been drawing American retirees and second home buyers to its less-crowded beaches and cheap real estate.”
 
Tourism 101, Economics 101, Sales & Marketing 101, Taxes 101
 
This year will see approximately 500,000 cruise ship passengers, 500,000 air and land arrivals from the north, and 700,000 national tourists, according to Secretaria de turismo statistics. That’s about one million seven hundred thousand tourists that come and wade through our town spending their hard earned money. The City needs to try harder to make a better first impression on visitors. I have been here for over 23 years, and the roads and sidewalks in the Golden Zone haven’t changed for the better. Some of the stores, restaurants and hotels have beautified the areas in front of their places. Kudos, but that’s it. We see big holes in the streets, sign posts and telephone poles right in the middle of the uneven and unlit sidewalks, guide wires and cables strung around haphazardly, a lack of handicap ramps and pedestrian crossings, also occasional flooding problems and a parking shortage which results in cars being parked on the sidewalks.
 
Our new mayor recently stated that yet another new facelift for the downtown area is in the works. We hope that he will also keep the Golden Zone in mind when it comes to renovation and beautification. The Golden Zone, from Valentino’s Fiesta Land all the way up to the Marina Mazatlan, is where the businesses that pay the most tourism taxes are located. It is the place that most tourists visit, and the most tourist dollars are spent. We need to make a good first impression on these visitors, so they will return and spread the word that Mazatlan is an even greater place to visit. We need decent, safe sidewalks, clean streets, better lighting, street names on signs, handicap ramps, real billboard regulation, crosswalks, PARKING, power and cable lines buried, and the potholes patched. If more attention is paid to the Golden Zone, more tourists will come back and stay longer, generating more growth and development, the citizens of the town will benefit from increased employment, the increased tax base will help pay for City Hall and everyone will be happy and prosper.
Michael J. Veselik
Publisher