Job Discussion Forums

[amaranto]

That's a great place to look for an apartment, and you have a very good rent for the area. I think I pay as much as I do because I am right across the street from Roma and the place is new. It's also one of the few places I've found for (what I consider) a reasonable price in a central location.

My apartment is very-well maintained, I have good landlords, and it also has two bedrooms. I use the extra bedroom as an office.

I hope my first post wasn't construed as advice to the OP about how much he/she should or shouldn't pay. I was just providing an example of how I paid less rent in Condesa (a super-trendy neighborhood with inflated rents) than I do in Doctores (a supposedly scary neighborhood) because I looked hard and didn't listen to what other Chilangos told me.

Another good example of this is San Rafael. I personally love this neighborhood and would rent or buy there, but a lot of native Mexico City dwellers I know think of it as a dangerous area. People's eyes get wide when I tell them I live in Doctores, which I love to do because it's funny to see their reactions.

Other centrally-located neighborhoods with which I am familiar and like are Tabacalera, Escand�n, Anzures, Nueva Anzures, and Ju�rez.

I think you'll encounter a lot of opinions when you ask locals where you should and shouldn't live, and these opinions will vary a lot depending on the person you ask. They obviously know their own city to some degree, but sometimes their information is outdated.

[Isla Guapa]

Amaranto, I'm glad that you have found a place to live where you feel safe and comfortable. That's one of the keys to enjoying life anywhere in the world! It sounds like you have a good deal, in a new building (mine is old and rather ugly on the outside) and with two bedrooms. Having a good landlord is important too. I'm lucky to be renting from an American friend who has lived in Mexico for many years and is totally honest and trustworthy.

[Isla Guapa]

[amaranto]

[Guy Courchesne]

[amaranto]

[Phil_K]

The problem with places such as Santa Mar�a la Ribera is that you can change the building but you can't change the people. I see it very difficult that this becomes a boom area.

I have an investment in the neighboring Col. Guerrero, but that's for family reasons, and I certainly don't expect any capital gain.

[amaranto]

[donato]

I've only rented rooms and utilities were always included. Different situation than renting an actual apartment.

[Guy Courchesne]

[Phil_K]

... I see it very difficult in those areas. Downtown is a different story, as it is heavily policed and by definition, the government has an interest in investing (or finding investors) for touristic reasons. In places like Sta. Mar�a and Guerrero, the culture (or lack of it!) is just too deeply ingrained and property has been in the same family for generations.

Do you think that the delegation would allow someone to open an auto repair business downtown that didn't have a proper workshop area? That's what happens in these places, so the street itself becomes the workshop.

These places are cheap, even for new apartments, so they attract the same kind of people. People who have little pride in their colonia. I live in a fairly respectable colonia (as owner of an apartment) and the minute I see someone selling food outside their house, or leaving abandoned cars on the street, I am on to the delegation, and guess what? There are no abandoned cars, and those who tried to sell food, no longer do.

While there are people who only complain that the government "never does anything in our colonia", but never do anything about it themselves, or don't even realize their colonia is a s**thole, it will remain that way. I don't see any amount of new condos changing that.

How exactly do you see Sta. Mar�a, Doctores and Guerrero breaking that cycle and rents and property values rising, Guy?

[Guy Courchesne]

[MotherF]

Phil your last two posts are spoken like a classic conservative. They ought to give you a medal or something for service to the party.

Of course you can change the people. It just takes a good leader. If given the chance anyone would want to be proud of the place they live. But the vast majority don't know how to go about promoting change.

And what's wrong with people selling food in front of their houses at night anyway? If you want the neighbors to work together for the betterment of the colonia--they need a place to congregate casually and talk to each other. When coworkers go out for drinks together it's very hard to keep the conversation from turning to "shop talk" because that's what they all have in common. When (if!) neighbors get together in similiar situations, like all sitting around dona Carmen's anafre eating tlayudas, the conversation turns naturally to neighborhood issues. If you want to build a community, people need to socialize in causal contexts. It doesn't work to only have those conversations at delegation offices or assemblies.

[Phil_K]

[MotherF]

I probably should have stayed out of it, since the place I live is so different from the place you all have been talking about.

Where I live it is perfectly possible to sell food in front of your house without blocking the sidewalk. Wheel chair or other acessess would not be infringed any more than it already is by the poor public sidewalks. Most people sell dinner from their garage space, off street.

Where I live the customers would only be the neighbors, so it's the neighbors who would make or break the business by patronizing it or not. I don't live in a place where outsiders would happen by.

Related to the above point, if someone got sick or saw unsanitary conditions we'd all know about it pretty quickly and avoid eating there and it would quickly disappear.

To carry your tree anlagy-hiring an outside expert never works in the long term. The only thing that will work is if the people who see that tree on a day to day basis and have a vested interest in it's survival get motivated to study tree care and take charge of the tree themselves--top down governement decisions have never lead to lasting change. You said it yourself, the roots--but now I'm not sure you know what roots mean.