SAN JUAN PEATONAL - English Version

I. LIST OF OBJETIVES AND CONCEPTS

  1. Replace the use of motor vehicles by a pedestrian culture. The city was not made for motor vehicles.

  2. Expand public parking facilities (street parking) within the city for:

     a. residents

     b. merchants

     c. handicapped

     d. senior citizens

     e. relatives visiting residents

  3. Add an efficient multimodal transportation system using existing resources.

  4. Avoid pollution generated by motor vehicles, including noise pollution.

  5. Make our streets safer for pedestrians.

  6. Further reducing architectural barriers for persons with disabilities.

  7. Reduce the negative impact and destruction of our Spanish colonial heritage as a
     result of the continuous and heavy motor vehicle transit.

  8. Reduce negative impacts (destruction of public and private property, environmental
     noise and crime) in residential areas.

  9. Promote social integration and family-oriented activities.

10. Improve access into and out of the city for emergency vehicles. (firemen, ambulances, and other 
      emergency vehicles).

11. Remove the famous Sunday Transit Jam or traffic congestion at San Francisco, Fortaleza, San Justo,
      Recinto Sur and Calle del Cristo streets.

12. Economic boost to commercial sector.

13. Making the city more attractive to tourism.

14. Incorporate a wide range of cultural activities concentrated in commercial areas designated
      "pedestrian¨. That is, away from those more populated by residents.

15. Reduce the negative motor vehicle transit impact on the city's infrastructure such as highways, sewer
      systems, sidewalks, etc .


II. HOW TO DO IT - OVERVIEW

Definitions

For the purpose of this document and hereinafter, ¨ Tourists¨ are all persons whose motor vehicules are not authorized to access the interior city zones designated as pedestrian.

And ¨Non Tourists¨ are all persons whose motor vehicles are authorized to access the public parking spaces (street parkings) within the city.

III. INCOMING AND OUTGOING TRANSIT FOR NON-TOURISTS

Non Tourist outgoing transit will take place along the Ponce de Leon Avenue. Non Tourist vehicles will be the following:

     a. collective transportation vehicles (buses, taxis, etc.).

     b. official government vehicles

     c. emergency vehicles (ambulances, firemen, policemen, etc ...)

     d. Residents’ vehicles

     e. light cargo vehicles

     f. Merchants’ private vehicles. His or her car only, not employee vehicles.

     g. DTOP authorized vehicles for people with disabilities.

     h. all vehicles which carry any kind of delivery to residents and businesses.

     i. vehicles with a parking monthly contract at private parkings of Ballajá and La Cochera.

As an additional measure, access to any vehicle transporting senior citizens, persons with disabilities, relatives visiting residents, etc., whose destination is the home of a resident, is suggested. Such vehicles must park only at the private parking lots inside the city. That is, Ballajá and La Cochera parkings, or simply access the private parking lots outside the area designated as pedestrian, namely La Princesa, Fela, Covadonga, etc.

Non Tourist Incoming transit will take place along the Muñoz Rivera Avenue.

Unauthorized or Tourists vehicles will be all those not defined as Non-Tourists vehicles. These include all government employees’ private vehicles. As of today, government employee vehicles occupy most of the public parking spaces (street parking) within the city. Only those government employees with private vehicles which are also residents will have access to public parking spaces (street parking).

Vehicular transit areas to remain open for incoming and outgoing Tourist transit outside the city walls or pedestrian designated zone will be:

     Recinto Sur

     Paseo Gilberto Concepción de Gracia

     Paseo de la Princesa

     Calle Comercio

     Port Area - Puerta de Tierra

This means that Tourists who need to access private parking lots may use the above streets and routes.

Tourists wishing to access public parking lots (which are free of charge) will have to park at the designated places at Isla Grande.

The ingoing and outgoing flow of vehicular transit for Tourists must be exclusively through the above mentioned streets and routes.

IV. MASS TRANSPORTATION AND INTEGRATION OF EXISTING RESOURCES.

The use of Marine Transportation Systems from Hato Rey and Cataño─ Lancha de Cataño and Acuaexpreso─ to and from the Old San Juan Pedestrian area must be an integral part of the mass transportation resources in the implementation of the San Juan Peatonal project.

The bus routes of the Metropolitan Bus Authority (AMA in Spanish) that were changed in order to increase the number of users for the Tren Urbano must be restored, and the itineraries improved.

The use of trolleys and other transportation vehicles that may be added to complete the service inside the city will need to operate in coordination with the general mass transit elements already mentioned.

V. IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE AT OLD SAN JUAN

San Juan Peatonal needs to be a balanced project. The daily needs of San Juan residents must be served. Commercial trade and cultural activity promoting social integration must be guaranteed and increased. But above all, the Spanish colonial treasure and heritage that the Old City represents must be protected.

Any plan proposed by the private or public sector, must go through a process of public consultation or social dialogue, with due citizenry representation, so that the public interest is met. All decisions must be carried out by general consent.

This draft seeks to enumerate a list of objectives and concepts that should be discussed in order to reach that consent. The requests and demands of all sectors must be addressed before the implementation of a balanced plan.

It is a known fact that no plan or system is perfect. However, it is also true that unilateral decisions by government bureaucrats alone will not provide the right answers for the multiple needs of our City. The people living in Old San Juan are entitled to decide how this urban center should operate, in order to serve the public interest. And it is of utmost importance to emphasize that Old San Juan residents are the predominant element of the public interest. Therefore, planning and decision making processes must include us. This is the present state of the law.

In order to achieve the general objectives set out herein, the Urban Planning Department, in representation of the Municipality de San Juan, will be responsible for establishing specific and detailed plans concerning routes and means of mass or collective transportation.

At some previous moment, we had discussed and proposed some ideas for such routes or means of transportation. Nevertheless, we then decided that at this moment, said details could cause some degree of confusion or difficulty in setting the broader goals and general design for a formal plan or proposal.

For now, the important thing is having a clear vision of the big picture instead of getting lost in the details. The issues on how to meet the objectives already set by consensus, regarding operability, functionality, logistics, and financial viability details, among others, would be worked out by the urban transit and city planners at the Municipio de San Juan, always in accordance with the conceptual framework.

Living in Old San Juan is not an easy task for its residents. This is a major tourist, government, and economic center, with a very complex social system and multisectorial interests mostly at conflict.

During many years, the residents of Old San Juan have been the social component with the greatest responsibility for the city. A floating population has stretched to a limit the infrastructure necessary to meet the basic needs of the permanent population. The inability of governmental administrations to respond to demands from all sectors for the provision of convenient parking spaces within the city has created a highly unsatisfactory situation which has made Old San Juan less attractive for new residents and caused a continuous decrease of population in the city.

We should keep in mind that the core of an urban center is precisely its inhabitants. Nothing of what has been achieved up to now could have been possible without this element. We often forget the huge amounts of money and private investment which residents contribute to keep our city as a tourist attraction. This private investment brings forth government income and public rents. The government only maintains an important but limited amount of public buildings and infrastructure. Old San Juan residents maintain the rest.

Therefore, we have gained the moral right to less environmental pollution, greater safety in our streets and especially, protecting the infrastructure and Spanish colonial heritage that gives the city its unique character.

Finally, I invite you to support the San Juan Peatonal Project, but, above all, to participate in the definition of its design and to protect the right of future generations to their historical memory. They are entitled to the preservation of this living witness, which is the Old San Juan City. A witness awaiting for its designation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, as a World Heritage Site.

A HERITAGE FOR ALL GENERATIONS.



Jaime J. Altieri
Pro Rescate Viejo San Juan (To Rescue Old San Juan)

Doris Angleró
Editor and Traduction Collaborator

September 10, 2010