Pro Sayulita General Public Meeting Minutes: Nov. 30, 2017

Board members present: Jack, Janet, Charlie, Billie, Laura, Cap, Marcie, and Carol

The Pro Sayulita meeting on Thursday, Nov. 30th was held upstairs at Tierra Viva. It was very generous of the owners to allow us to use the space. Janet introduced the board and the infrastructure committee, and welcomed everyone who attended.

• Victor Payro, from the Infrastructure committee, discussed the Gaviotas project. The work is on time and on budget. This work has been difficult because of old water lines and sewer pipes. The roads will be completed in approximately 2 weeks. There are 2 lines being installed – one for rain water and one for sewage. This will reduce the amount of water going into the treatment plant. Oramapas is the project manager and they will be gaining access to the plant for hookup and building a below ground collection tank.
• Charlie, our treasurer, will be posting financial information on our website. There are 2 funds now – one for Infrastructure projects and one is the General Fund that pays for local projects. The Infrastructure fund with generous donations from individuals paid for the Gaviotas project with no government financial help. Hopefully in the future, government agencies will contribute to these projects.
• We need to increase our membership to raise money for the General Fund. Charlie encouraged everyone to make an effort to solicit neighbors and friends to support Pro Sayulita by becoming members.  

Lina Weissman, chairman of the infrastructure committee, discussed working with GIRSSA, the private company for garbage pickup. She reported that they have improved the pickup in different barrios (neighborhoods) in town. They are starting to communicate with residents on pickup times. There will be a GIRSSA truck in a few weeks that will be parked at the secundaria on the Punta de Mita highway from noon to 2:00pm daily so residents can bring their garbage to this location. This information will be distributed by paper in Spanish to households.

• A new Recycle Centre will open in January, so residents are asked to save their recycling until then instead of adding it to the trash. 
• Lina also encouraged people to post only the facts on social media.
• Jack Jones, the president of Pro Sayulita talked about our “dream” with local government. We wanted more control over water and sewage. We are the first non-profit organization to get a permit issued for work on the Gaviotas project. It is possible that we will be forming a partnership with Domo, a construction company, for the continuing infrastructure projects.
• Jack also discussed the child street vendors and reported that many of them come from Chiapas. Their parents have given them to vendors to come to Sayulita where they work long hours for very low pay. There are government officials who are looking into this situation.

Oswaldo, our government liaison, discussed the Transito situation. The government has promised Sayulita 2 Transitos who will be stationed in Sayulita. There will be an extra 4 transitos during the Christmas holidays to control the traffic and parking. These extra people will be supported by ProSayulita.

• They have started to paint curbs for parking restrictions. White is for parking, yellow for no parking, and blue is for handicapped.
• No tour buses are supposed to be coming into town. There is a sign at the Pemex station about this, but more enforcement is needed. They are still coming into town and having difficulty turning around. 
• Jennifer Culp discussed the street cleaners who are keeping the downtown core very clean. Pro Sayulita is supporting this endeavor but more local businesses need to support them as well. They are happy to receive tips to supplement their pay.
• A representative from the Campamento Tortuguero discussed their project of protecting turtles. Due to warmer oceans, the turtles now have more malformations. If there are less turtles, then there are more jellyfish in the water. This project is very important and we can support it by attending turtle releases and making donations. They have a web page.

La Granja fundraiser – this very popular event will be held on Jan. 25. Many thanks to Ruben who is sponsoring it and providing the location, Quintas Trujillo. There will be activities again and a silent auction. Donations are needed for the auction. Janet and Carol are organizing this event so please contact them if you are able to procure a donation. Tickets will be sold at Ruben's Café and at the Mercado del Pueblo on Fridays. Thanks to Mimi Buffetrille, Janice Parker, and Suzanne Gravelle for all your work at the market. 

• Gala Dinner Fundraiser – Damien Porter from Don Pedro’s has generously offered to sponsor this event on March 8, 2018.  More details to follow. Thanks Damien.