On June 1 The Voice of Guanacaste (VOG) published a statement by Mayor Marcos Jimenez about me that was both incorrect and damaging. The VOG did not give me an opportunity to respond to the allegation in the same article, as is the custom in most newspapers around the world.
Here are the facts:
On June 26, 2013 Mayor Jimenez invited Bobbi Johnson and me to meet with him, Nosara syndic Marco Avila and the Nosara Development Association (ADIN) board members, the municipality’s attorney and several department heads at a luncheon at Hotel Cielo Azul in Nicoya to discuss parklands and environmental issues in Nosara, based on a complaint by Avila relating to local access to the NCA parklands.
The meeting ended with an agreement by the Mayor to include MINAE in the discussion and to form a Nosara Environmental Alliance to further explore community projects. The mayor subsequently refused to sign the letter to MINAE. (see letter attached)
Later in 2013, and as a follow-up, I asked Marco Avila (since the mayor refused to sign the Alliance letter) to tell me what ADIN wanted to do in the parklands; that is, to give us a proposal. They shared with me (also Bobbi Johnson and Ethel Araya) their ideas for building a zoo and restaurant within the parklands (nether which are permitted uses under the MINAE laws that NCA follows). The matter was discussed with NCA at two ADIN meetings, which we brought to the next NCA board meeting. The proposal was rejected by the NCA board as illegal.
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