opinion

City Hall and the economic crisis
by Miguel Antonio Bernal

Santiago Niño Becerra, tenured professor of economic structures at the Ramon Llull University economics department, said in October that: "The first symptom of economic recovery will come in 2012." On December 8, International Monetary Fund general director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said: "2009 will be a hard year, [but] we at the IMF see possibilities of getting out of the crisis at the end of 2009 or the beginning of 2010." Strauss-Kahn said that "there is no possibility that any country, in any part of the world, can escape from this crisis." He added that the consequences of the crisis can be especially hard for people with low incomes. He thinks that the prices of foodstuff will continue to increase in the coming months.

According to Lin Huanquan, director of the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises in China's Guangdong province --- where the majority of China's export industry, which accounts for one-third of the country's Gross Domestic Product, is located --- more than seven thousand businesses shut down in the first nine months of 2008.

In Panama, the construction sector has begun to see itself affected by the world economic crisis. According to the Panamanian Chamber of Construction (CAPAC) the time needed to sell a house increased to 15 months. CAPAC economic director Michael Fernández said that "It's the highest figure for the past two years. In 2007, the average was 10 months." In September the value of construction permits approved for the district of Panama diminished by some 41.6 percent with relation to September of 2007, that is, nearly by one-half.

How many unemployed will we have in the capital when the crisis hits us with its full force? The middle class and the poor don't have the necessary savings to protect themselves during the crisis. Protective public policies, in which businesses and society collaborate, are thus required --- not only as a matter of justice but to avoid an aggravation of the already unsustainable lack of public order.

According to the International Labor Organization, the growing income gap is marked by more crime. Both residents and visitors in the capital suffer from the insecurity that reigns on the streets and in their homes, where assaults, "express" kidnappings and murders are ever more frequent.

In the face of this scenario, it's imperative to adopt emergency preventive strategies to promote and defend the quality of life in the neighborhoods. From City Hall, we'll take action to accomplish this objective.

When making the decision to run an independent candidacy to be the capital's mayor, my supporters and I asked ourselves two questions: Which problems can we address, and which works can we advance? What are the answers and solutions that we can offer in these instances?

We know that the problems include --- even if it's not easy to summarize all of them in a list --- the following:

• Insecurity and corruption

• The public transportation disaster

• Deficient garbage collection

• An educational system that's badly thought out and run even worse

• An inefficient health system

• Environmental pollution

• Billboards, ads and aerial cables everywhere

• Non-compliance with laws and regulations

• Inadequate and badly used infrastructures

• The lack of maintenance of parks and public spaces

• Insufficient sidewalks and street signs

• The failure to conserve our historic buildings

To resolve these problems and accomplish some socio-economic development, I believe that we must start by rediscovering the productive potential that we have and put it into action. In a city this potential is found in the citizenry, in its civic spirit and in the quality of its organizations. This is the start of a better-run city, which is our commitment.

We will work for a more efficient, more effective and more participatory city. We know how to accomplish this. We know that it's possible with the participation of its people, its businesses and the good will of its organized sectors. To move to a better-run city, we have responded with a Panama City Development Project --- a project that's our promise, not only as a government but as a better municipal administration --- that we now submit for your consideration. In our term in the mayor's office we'll apply the following strategies, summarized in seven fundamental points:

1. The execution of an effective administration, which works for results, with human resources capable of acting upon the opportunities to meet the community's requirements.

2. Economic reactivation, by way of the development of productive projects as well as incentives to develop micro and small businesses.

3. The creation of mutually beneficial strategic alliances with private enterprise and the organized sectors for the capital city's socio-economic development.

4. The promotion of an open, participatory, tolerant and plural municipality, one that identifies with its ancestors and with those elements of modernity that mark a society of knowledge.

5. Environmental responsibility and the recovery of our urban surroundings.

6. The promotion of cultural and sports activities, for which we will create municipal organizations to promote these in all of the neighborhoods.

7. Solidarity, understood as the commitment to fight for social equity alongside the most vulnerable among the population.