The Texas Observer

As the economic crisis unfolds arts and cultural institutions are slashing expenses and struggling to remain alive. The story is no different in Mexico, though theater groups in Mexico City have come up with a novel way to survive. In the past year a movement has started where small theater groups perform in people’s apartments or homes. The amount of money saved by not having to rent a theater is making a huge difference for theater groups trying to make it through lean times, says Mariana Garcia Franco, director of the theater group “C”.

On a recent evening I was invited to see Garcia’s group perform in a friend’s apartment. Each person attending was asked to pay $80 pesos (about $6 bucks). There were two actresses: Alicia Martin and Maricela Penalosa who performed an hour-long untitled play.

There were 17 people in the audience and we all crammed into my friend’s apartment to watch the show. The play was very abstract and also visceral and athletic at times. Both of the characters were battling some type of mental anguish and at times it made me feel uncomfortable to be so close. The actresses were so good they embodied their two characters completely. They also did not appear to be nervous at all. (No small feat when you are performing in someone’s living room surrounded by your audience.) At some points the two characters would seem to be addressing us and they would sit amongst the audience. They were firmly locked inside the play though and it was a little like being a fly on the wall in a lunatic asylum. This might sound jarring or awful but it actually was a really good theater experience.

Garcia, the theater group’s director, says they are booked just about every week performing in someone’s home. “Usually someone from the audience will ask us to come to their home and perform,” she says. “And it spreads by word of mouth.” There are also several other theater groups in Mexico City performing on a weekly basis including a group called Teatro Instantaneo where the actors write the play as they go along with the help of the audience.

It’s heartening to see that theater groups in Mexico City are thriving instead of letting the economic crisis close them down.

It’s no secret that the 18-foot steel border wall is devastating the environment and disrupting wildlife corridors along our southern border. Environmentalists and landowners have filed lawsuits in federal court — to no avail — in order to compel the Department of Homeland Security to lessen the destructive impacts of the wall.

The Sierra Club commended 43 congressional members today for sending a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. The members ask DHS to work with other agencies to lessen the impacts of the wall, fund efforts to buy comparable land for wildlife and provide environmental training for their employees.

In the letter, the congressional members wrote the following to Napolitano:
“As you are aware, hundreds of miles of new border fences and patrol roads have been constructed by DHS along the US/Mexico border in the past several years. This massive federal project has had deleterious consequences upon natural and cultural public resources, and has caused hardship for private land owners, whose lands have been condemned and livelihoods have been disrupted.”

Already $50 million has been allocated to borderlands mitigation, the congressional members note, but far more funding will be necessary to address the extent of the damage done, they wrote.

Besides the damage done there is also the cost of upkeep. We are now the owners of a 670-foot long steel wall which costs anywhere from $2 million to $11 million a mile. Besides the environmental degradation and the destruction of wildlife we will also being paying to keep it upright. The Congressional Research Service estimated it might cost up to $16,000 a mile just to  keep the wall intact.

A sign created by Mexico’s Secretary of Health on how to avoid the spread of influenza.

Just four months ago the streets of Mexico City were nearly desolate — no small feat in a city of 23 million. Schools, restaurants and other public areas were shuttered. The country was in a near panic over the spread of swine flu  (H1N1). It’s incredible what a difference four months can make. Upon arrival at the Mexico City airport I was asked to fill out a form detailing whether I had a fever or cough. Luckily, I had neither and turned my form into an extremely bored looking airport employee upon entering customs.

The only trace of the pandemic at the airport were signs created by the government advising people to wash their hands and not greet others with a kiss on the cheek as is custom in Mexico.  As I headed toward Mexico City’s massive and impressive zocalo– a huge plaza at the center of the city — I would see an occasional person wearing a disposable surgical mask. Millions of these masks  were given out during the height of the H1N1 scare. Inexplicably, I saw one man wearing the mask around his neck as if it were some kind of magic good-health talisman.

As I headed into Sanborns — a huge department store, I saw a European family wearing the disposable surgical masks and snapping photos. It was unsettling to see them walking around in masks, but after weeks of alarming news stories about the flu in Mexico it was understandable.    Of course,  in public health school I learned that these masks do little to prevent the influenza virus from infecting you — the virus is small enough to pass through the porous holes in the mask.  (I think the Mexican government was smart in passing out the masks, however, in order to quell some of the panic around the H1N1 virus.)

While the flu has disappeared from the minds of most Mexicans, there are still cases being confirmed by the government’s Secretary of Health. In the agency’s most current update — July 17th — there were 98 new cases — down from the peak of 391 in early May. To date there have been 14,861 cases confirmed and 138 deaths.  The United States has the highest number of confirmed flu cases at 40,617 and 263 deaths (24 of the deaths occurred in Texas.)

While public health officials monitor the H1N1 situation, Mexicans have more pressing concerns on their minds including escalating narco violence and the resurgence of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which ruled the country for 70 years. In the recent mid-term elections in early July, the PRI won a majority in Congress. Many Mexicans I’ve spoken with are despondent about the PRI’s resurgence. They blame the PRI for many of the country’s current economic and social problems.

A sign of this discord is growing in Tepoztlan, just south of Mexico City, where my husband’s family lives. In early July a candidate for the PRI, Gabino Rios Cedillo, won the mayor’s race after 9 years of the more liberal PRD serving in the mayor’s office. In Tepoztlan, political activists are working to join all of the losing parties together to overthrow the PRI candidate. Last Sunday cars with loud speakers circulated in the city enjoining residents to prevent Rios from taking office. There have been all kinds of accusations surrounding his win — including that he paid for the votes. Residents are hoping the political fracas doesn’t develop into something more bloody.

There is definitely an uneasy feeling these days in Mexico — no one can predict what will happen and there are so many challenges facing the country. Mexicans have lost what little hope they gained in their political system in 2000 when the PRI was toppled.

 A campaign to recycle plastic bottles in downtown Tepoztlan

Tepoztlan, Mexico — For decades Mexico’s beautiful rural countryside has been choked by plastic bottles and bags. Mexico has been slow to adopt municipal recycling programs because of the cost and lack of infrastructure. In one small town an hour south of Mexico City, however,  city leaders have started a recycling program to try and save money and help protect the environment.

The small town of Tepoztlan, population 33,000,  is fighting to keep it’s scenic mountains green and its waterways clear of plastic bottles and shopping bags.

Every weekend the population of the town nearly doubles with tourists visiting from nearby Mexico City. The trash generated by the growing city and its busy tourist trade brought the town’s landfill to the “brink of collapse in 2007″ said Efren Villamil Demesa, Tepoztlan’s mayor.

“We had to come up with a solution quickly because we were running out of room,” said Villamil. The town is nestled in a valley and surrounded by jagged mountains. “There wasn’t anywhere left to go,” he explained.

In 2007, the town started a recycling program. Villamil said the city has spent more than $4 million pesos (approximately $308,000 USD) from its treasury on the recycling program. They bought three trucks and designated a center for separating the trash to be recycled. The service is free, he said. The city has also invested at least $1 million pesos in educating the population about recycling.

“We’ve had people go door to door to show residents that they can recycle glass and plastic,” said the mayor. “The most difficult thing is convincing the older people to recycle because they are used to the old ways of just throwing the trash in a creek or river.”

Businesses that cater to tourists in Tepoztlan are also striving to be green. Norma Avedano, the manager of Cacao, a chocolate store, says her business only uses biodegradable to go containers. “The containers cost more but we are trying to make an effort to help the environment so it’s worth it,” she said. Avedano says her store also participates in the city’s recycling program.

Villamil said Tepoztlan and one other neighboring town are the only two cities in the entire state of Morelos that have recycling programs.  “So far we think it’s been a success,” he said. “We’ve reduced the amount of garbage going into the landfill by 40 percent.”

The millions of pesos generated by tourism are also on the line if Tepoztlan becomes another garbage strewn suburb of Mexico City. The world’s 3rd largest city of 23 million looms just on the other side of the scenic mountain peaks of Tepoztlan.

“We’re so close to Mexico City,” Villamil said. “So we are always reminded that we need to do all we can to protect the environment.”

Norma Avedano, manager of a Tepoztlan cafe, says her business pays extra for biodegradable containers to help the environment.

In a recent Observer story we reported that Texas has the highest number of construction deaths in the nation — 142 people died in 2007, according to Dept. of Labor statistics. As our story went to press three workers plunged to their deaths in Austin from a high-rise condo. Apparently, Texas’ appalling safety record finally caught the ear of Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis.

She announced yesterday in San Antonio that her agency will send additional Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors to construction work sites in Texas. Solis stated in the press announcement that the new construction safety initiative would start sometime in July. Elizabeth Todd, a spokesperson for OSHA, said they didn’t have a figure for the number of inspectors to be added or a specific date yet on when the initiative might begin next month.

Solis emphasized in the announcement that inspectors would be empowered to launch immediate investigations. “Beginning in July, OSHA will increase the number of inspectors in Texas for a concentrated effort to prevent injuries and fatalities at construction sites. When these inspectors observe unsafe scaffolds, fall risks, trenches or other hazards, they are empowered to launch an immediate investigation,” Solis said. “As I have said since my first day on the job — the U.S. Department of Labor is back in the enforcement business.”

The nonprofit Workers Defense Project in Austin which recently released a study on construction worker safety said Solis’ announcement was an important first step. Cristina Tzintzun, director of the nonprofit, said to be truly effective the inspections would need to be unannounced. Currently, many inspections are often announced in advance.

Another question is whether OSHA will increase its fines for worker safety so that they actually force a contractor or developer to change their work practices. The average work safety violation ranges between $750 to $4,000. As we pointed out in the Observer story, when construction worker Omar Puerto died in 2006, his employer was fined a pittance — just $4,950.

The heat index is 115 today and the ozone action level is high — sounds like the best time to talk about Texas’ dirty air. The Environmental Protection Agency released its national assessment yesterday of air contaminants across the country.

The I-35 corridor (San Antonio, Austin and Dallas) and Houston had the highest number of respiratory and cancer causing contaminants in the state. The EPA looked at 80 cancer causing agents from industry, autos etc.. People living in these hot spot areas had a 100 in 1 million cancer risk whereas the national average is 36 in 1 million.

The data comes from 2002 — the most recent numbers the federal agency had to work with. While this is an interesting barometer on the state of our air quality– the real news is that the Environmental Protection Agency is finally starting to crack down on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

On June 12, Lisa Jackson, the new director of the EPA came personally to Dallas to speak with Texas environmental groups including Sierra Club, Environmental Defense and Public Citizen. Jackson said that Texas’ environmental regulation had become a major concern, according to a Dallas Morning News report.

Neil Carman, a policy expert in air quality for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the EPA is especially taking issue with Texas allowing companies to have flexible permits. Passed by the Texas Legislature in 1995, Carman characterizes these flexible permits as a “license to pollute.”  Essentially the permits allow companies that may have several episodes of toxic releases to average out the number of pollutants over a period of years. This makes it appear that they are polluting less.

Carman contends that the permits are illegal under the federal Clean Air Act. Environmentalists hope that the EPA will revoke TCEQ’s authority over the Clean Air Act which they find woefully lacking. For example, TCEQ’s commissioners allowed the Asarco copper smelter in El Paso to renew its controversial air permit. Environmentalists and the city of El Paso celebrated when the EPA — just days after the Obama Administration took over — nixed TCEQ’s renewal of the Asarco permit.

Today Sierra Club applauded a ruling by Administrative law judges to put more stringent restrictions on a new coal-fired power plant. The New Jersey-based NRG Energy Inc. is planning to expand the power plant in Jewett to burn an additional 4.3 million tons of coal every year. The plant would emit up to 10 million tons of carbon dioxide a year. We already lead the nation in carbon dioxide releases.

Controlling air toxins sounds like a good idea, however, the matter will now come before the commissioners at the TCEQ.  These same three commissioners approved  Asarco ’s permit to emit lead and mercury into the air surrounding El Paso. Ken Kramer, director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, said the ruling underscores once again  the failure of TCEQ to draft air permits that protect public health and the environment.

“The TCEQ has a chance to redeem itself by denying the permit when it comes before the three TCEQ commissioners,” he said in a press release today.  “Now is the time for Texas to look forward to a clean energy future by rejecting the dirty energy sources of our past.”

About 30 people observed World Refugee Day Saturday by staging a protest outside the T. Don Hutto immigrant detention facility in Taylor. The T. Don Hutto facility has been one of America’s uglier answers to our broken immigration system. A re-purposed jail, the facility was converted under the Bush Administration into a detention center for families awaiting their day in immigration court.

In the past, children were treated like prisoners in lockdown and threatened with separation from their families by the detention guards if they made too much noise. It took a lawsuit by the ACLU in 2007 to improve things inside the facility. Not to say that it still isn’t a prison — just a prison with children’s paintings on the walls and shower curtains in the bathrooms. To learn more about the detention facility check out the documentary “The Least of These” online.

It was about 95 degrees in the shade. Protesters gathered across the street from the facility with signs. A stage was set up where music was played and organizers gave speeches from a diverse group including Border Ambassadors, Amnesty International and LULAC.

Antonio Diaz from San Antonio has been going to the protests for two years.  Diaz said he doesn’t want to see his government locking up children in prison. Today there was no sight of any of the families in the yard surrounding the facility which is ringed with a chain-link fence. It used to be topped with razor wire but that was removed after the ACLU settlement. Diaz said the detainees were not allowed to come out while the protesters were there.

“When we are here protesting they put the families in lockdown,” he says. “They tell them they are not safe outside with us here.”

Jose Orta, a chapter leader for LULAC in Taylor has been protesting against the detention facility since it opened in 2006. His goal is to see the immigration facility closed, although he thinks the facility will be converted back into a regular prison. “It’s no place for a 6-month old baby to be living,” he said. “I’d love to see it close down but it’s been here a long time before the CCA took it over.”

The facility is operated by the private Corrections Corporation of America and funded by our tax dollars. One of only two facilities in the nation — the other is in Pennsylvania — that holds children in detention. Let’s hope the Obama Administration finally reforms our broken immigration system so that the first thing a child sees in this country isn’t a jail cell.