Well, I've just finished my Google Earth photo tour of Tijuana. (Note: you need to download Google Earth before this is of any use to you...). The pictures are part of an essay about the trip, about the economics of exploitation, about NAFTA...
You can download the kml file by clicking here:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=401334
And here's a link to the bbs posting:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php?Cat=0&Number=401334&page=0&vc=#Post401334
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3 comments:
I just checked out your google earth essay of TJ. I'm wondering where you got your facts on some of these things? In particular your middle class housing writeup is horribly inaccurate! I live in this area and drive by those postage stamp 700 sq. feet homes every day. In actuality you need to have a job in either a maquiladora, for the government, grocery store or any other "formal" sector employer for 7-10 + years. Then you take out a government sponsored Mortgage at about US$80-120 dollars /month. In 20 years- it's yours. fully paid. They cost about $35,000-65,000 outright to buy. It is upper working class homes, to get folks out of ramshackle houses into something safe, with equity.
Your welcome.
Hi, anonymous. Thanks for the comment. You say: "They cost about $35,000-65,000 outright to buy. It is upper working class homes, to get folks out of ramshackle houses into something safe, with equity."
Well, I'm not sure I know the difference between "upper working class" and "middle class" here. If those are the terms you prefer, then I will abide by them.
I also do not dispute that the houses are safer, cleaner and better than the ramshackle housing found all over Tijuana.
I will say that the conditions you list for owning the home are rather rigorous:
"I live in this area and drive by those postage stamp 700 sq. feet homes every day. In actuality you need to have a job in either a maquiladora, for the government, grocery store or any other "formal" sector employer for 7-10 + years. Then you take out a government sponsored Mortgage at about US$80-120 dollars /month. In 20 years- it's yours. fully paid"
I just want to point out that 7-10 years employment in a single maquiladora is not the norm. These factories close and workers move on. Most poor people in Tijuana also have to travel long distances to the factory they work in, so it makes it hard to keep these jobs when problems arise. So, to me, steady employment and the ability to get a loan make these people "middle" class, especially in Tijuana, whose population is exploding with immigrants from other parts of Mexico and central America.
Anyway, I don't think we should get hung up on terminology. I like Tijuana, and I think many people lead wonderful lives there. However, I am not sure that this type of housing--without major improvements in worker protection and public transportation--is viable in the long term. Building density within the city and providing better services of water, sanitation and electricity to the shantytowns would be a good start.
Of course, the future of Tijuana will have many aspects to it, so I don't mean to intimate that it should all be one type of housing or another. It's just that, for many, many people in Tijuana, the "middle" class, however you define it, is a long way away.
I also want to say that I spoke with the sales person at "Versailles" (I think that was the name) and she stated very clearly that the prices were 80-120 thousand dollars. She also stated that almost all the people living there worked across the border in the U.S.
I am only stating what I was told by the salesperson.
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