Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — Businessmen along 10th Avenue have requested the mayor reconsider the pilot project of turning the busy roadway into pedestrian-only.
The delegation of the Employers’ Confederation (Coparmex) has given its support to the Business Coordinating Council of the Riviera Maya (CCERM), making an energetic call on the government of Laura Beristain Navarrete to fully open Tenth Avenue to vehicular traffic and prevent it from becoming pedestrianized.
The request was made in writing earlier this week by both the Confederación Patronal de la República Mexicana (Coparmex) and Consejo Coordinador Empresarial de la Riviera Maya (CCERM) who have called the project they once supported, a suicidal act.
The business councils have requested an immediate reopening of the street to vehicular traffic 24-hour-a-day, seven days a week and discontinue the afternoon closure to vehicles, making it pedestrian only.
In their letter, the Coparmex Quintana Roo Business Center requested from the mayor “…the immediate reopening of avenida 10 norte (Tenth Avenue) to vehicular traffic, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so as not to transform Av. 10 in pedestrian or restricted traffic roads.”
The request was made due to the onset of the health contingency, which has generated severe economic damage. During the pandemic, 10th Avenue, along with the entire center of Playa del Carmen, was closed to prevent mobility and infections, however, during the recent economic recovery process with the yellow light, the business sector considers it a suicidal act to think of closing this avenue to vehicular traffic, which they point out, is the backbone of the supply of hundreds of businesses on Fifth Avenue and perpendicular streets to the beach area.
They added that the partial closure of Tenth Avenue, added to the economic crisis caused by the slowness and poor quality of the remodeling work of Fifth Avenue and Founders Park, has affected the economy of small and medium-sized businesses in the area, generating heavy economic and job losses.
Coparmex partners, including Sergio Leon, president of Coparmex Quintana Roo, supports the refusal to convert this road into a pedestrian area of the CCERM that brings together the most important associations, chambers, schools and business unions of Riviera Maya.
The proposal to transform 10th Avenue into a pedestrian avenue comes from the success of Fifth Avenue as a tourist walkway, and according to the municipality, had the endorsement of the majority of businesses.
