Sunday, November 30, 2003
Being a public bar in a very public culture we tend to be witness to or engaged in all kinds of fair… in fact acting as a sort of public assistance bureau. The other day was a case in point. We felt very much as if the scene was temporarily transferred to Philadelphia, because it was by way of a number of good customers emanating from that fine city, including ex-members of the Philadelphia police department, who were trying to help out a poor woman from the neighborhood here who had been robbed of her most valued possessions – her credit card and cellular telephone… the credit card being her financial lifeline and the telephone her communications lifeline. She had been given the credit card and the telephone by her husband who was resident in, of all places, Philadelphia Detention Center. After quite a discussion over whether a detainee at such a place had access to receiving fax or telephone messages and after an internet search did not come up with a fax number, it was decided by this willing group of Philadelphian helpers that a phone call would not get through as this was obviously one of the privileges denied to such residents. The woman then presented a readymade letter explaining her situation and was prepared to post it to her husband, but was concerned that it could take either 3 weeks by snail mail… or would cost an exorbitant 900 pesos to send by air courier.
After all aspects were thoroughly debated, the collective decision was made to provide a clean crisp envelope, address it to the PO Box number that went with her husband’s name and detention number and give it to the member of the assembled group who was due back in the States first to put in the regular mail.
The woman was exceedingly grateful, for she believed her husband would now be able to cancel his credit card and order another one for her – that is if Philadelphia Detention Center inmates are allowed to contact their bankers of course. Time will tell!
So folks,... take your problems to Playa Vista and we will work it out with a little help from our friends!
Posted by Playa Vista @ 11:17 AM CST
Monday, November 24, 2003
Uncertainty is rather a certainty in these parts. We try to maintain at least a modest level of efficiency in our daily operations but we are unbelievably often thwarted by the irregularities of other over-imposing agendas. That might be due to accident, someone’s illness, new requirements from officials and last but not least all kinds of totally unreasonable demands from all kinds of passers by… but there is another more sinister reason that rears its head from time to time that has other worrying undertones as we were reminded again recently. This particular story relates to our good man - beach and bar helper Carlos alias Flaco. His uncle turned up the other morning to tell us that we would have to get along without Flaco because he had been arrested the night before in the adjacent town of Andres. His “crime” was nothing more than being present in the area where the police chose to conduct a raid to round up young men so that they could demonstrate they were doing something in order to combat a shooting that had taken place in the neighborhood that same night. He was rounded up with about 30 others and spent the night cooped up in a room no bigger than about 12 feet by 12 feet just enough for him to rest on his haunches… no sitting and certainly no lying down. For those of us who are used to different systems of “criminal” investigation and treatment it is a shocking revelation. The whole thing is based on the, to us, strangely topsy-turvy legal code here ordaining that one is guilty until proven innocent. On that premise it is easy to see what can eventuate. The police are permitted to hold anybody for up to 48 hours without charge… for “investigation”, and in reality they can even extend that because they just have to transfer the person to a prison in another location and they can continue for another 48 hours, and so on and so on.
We will pass on, with no further comment, past the obvious point that this procedure is so commonly known by all that it is highly unlikely any culprit would linger in the vicinity of any crime, making it even more ludicrous that the police round up people based purely on location. Anyway in our man Flaco’s case - once the police had satisfied themselves that they didn’t have the man they were looking for, they released him along with all the other ’inmates of the night’ the following morning. Flaco promptly went off to catch up on his sorely needed sleep and is now back to take care of business on the beach as usual. The moral is: Don’t visit your girlfriend in Andres when there are crooks on the run?
Posted by Playa Vista @ 11:17 AM CST
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Very quiet on the beach during the week at the moment. Our visitors from the cold north are now back to their daily routines with the summer vacations behind them but so far with the temperatures not yet biting enough to drive them to warmer climes. We are used to this and take the time to take stock of our situation and carry out the usual necessary repairs ready for an increase in activity in December when people journey down in greater numbers again to enjoy our near-perfect temperatures. Very relaxing, especially now… why not buck the routine trend and come see for yourself.
Posted by Playa Vista @ 06:47 PM CST
Thursday, November 6, 2003
The theme of the last blog entry has subsided from the front pages of the national newspapers but not from the attention of people who live on or promenade along the beach in Boca Chica due to the constant eyesore of the continuing erosion of the sand in certain parts.
Regrettably the answer to our question of how the situation could be allowed to deteriorate to such an extent when so many have identified a commonly beneficial goal has not been answered, but we surely still would like that answer and here and now promise to deliver an objective reports along the way if and when we hear reliable news.
Meanwhile we do note that a dredger still sits moored in the bay, waiting for common sense to prevail and get the job done to the benefit of all in Boca Chica.
Posted by Playa Vista @ 06:32 PM CST
