They're Gonna Get You

If You Don't Watch Out


         July 30, 2012

The graph below was initially posted on this site in 2005. The data was from a 1992 atlas.


Twenty years was a long time ago and things have changed, right? Yes, to an extent, but not nearly as much as some might want to believe. Here is a plot from current figures.


So who is it that our gate, its guards, their pepper spray, signing in and out, and barbed wire protect, from whom, and why?

Mexican laws, our bylaws, and board minutes comprise a hierarchical set of legal documents. Actions contrary to them are crimes. If those of El Pargue's administration were appended to the graph as a separate line and on the same scale, its length would dwarf those of the others.

Somebody shouted from the back of one of our informal meetings a few years ago "Mexico begins outside our gate". There was some murmured disagreement, but unfortunately, he may have been right. And, in that could lie the very crux of our problems.

We have met the enemy and he is us.



I really do not understand what you are on about. Agree some of the current bylaws are a little over the top but, so what? Do you want to volunteer to clean them all up? (whatever that implies) If you are the individual suggesting the bylaws be comprehensively reviewed by an "independent" lawyer, are you going to pay for it and what would be the point in any case?

posted by Anonymous: 8:32 PM, July 31, 2012



Upon reading the 8:32 pm blog that was posted July 31st, the blogger made a point that, in his/her own words, reveals a disturbing thought process. The idea suggests that even though rules are dictated by a board, that may be "a little over the top", the blogger goes on to say "so what".

The problem with that thinking is that no matter the rule, no big deal. Sticking one's head in the sand only makes the problem worse given that an over the top board, can and will eventually, impinge on the rights of this and other homeowners.

Rule do have consequences, intended or otherwise, whether it is to maintain order amidst the "potential for chaos", right a wrong, protect people from harm, or simply to ensure fairness.

Rules are important when they protect us from "the most extreme of potential damaging consequences". However it is not rules, but rather our Principles that guide the average person in making the right choices.

Rules do not help us make our decisions. In fact, they dictate a decision regardless of what our principles indicate.., "this just doesn't make sense".

It is our principles that guide us and give people the courage to take a stand for "doing the right thing", whether there are rules, or sometimes in spite of them.

The unintended or perhaps the intended consequences of dictating rules that are sometimes "over the top", is too cast a cloud over those who question the importance of such rules, and why they needed to be imposed in the first place. It is obvious that there are some who still believe that at our advanced ages, we need rules imposed by others, and are willing to follow them blindly

posted by Terry Gibbard Casa 90: 9:30 AM, August 08, 2012



To the "so what?" poster. It is obvious that your so what question would have been more appropriately put in the form of this statement, "I don't care. In fact, if the so what question were answered clearly and reasonably, your personal reaction would probably be "I don't care." Answering your "so what" would simply be a waste of time.

And YES, I believe the homeowners should volunteer to "clean them all up" at the expense of the aggregate of homeowners. I have to assume you are one of the "so what" homeowners who had no objection to paying your share of the $35,000 USD it cost this year to "clean up" the board's incompetence in handling the Mexican law suit issue. Could it be that access to a thorough knowledge of Mexican laws and customs might have saved all of us that expense?

All El Parque homeowners live, full or part time, in Mexico and are subject to Mexican laws and customs. There is a VERY REAL possibility that the Mexican version of our bylaws was originally and has continued to be misinterpreted and/or distorted by successive boards to reflect what a group of Canadians and Americans believed they would like to see.

I could, of course, be wrong but the only way we will ever know is to get a competent unbiased professional to "clean them up" (authenticate them). If this seem unreasonable to you, I am not in the least surprised.

posted by Anonymous: 7:52 PM, August 11, 2012




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