In January 2020, Mayor Cynthia Viteri spoke of her intention to take over the administration of this space again from 2021. It did not materialize.
It’s Wednesday and at 4:00 p.m. more families and couples arrive at Parque Forestal, the largest and most traditional recreational and green space in the south of Guayaquil. Some users enter through the semi-open door of Av. Quito and El Oro, while others do it through the semi-open door of Guaranda and Bolivia streets.
Parents accompanying their children to games; some photos that they take of a birthday girl as if she were picnic in one of the green areas; Couples who walk through the park and adults who are simply sitting on the benches contemplating the artificial lagoon or the rest of the landscape are part of the panorama with the greatest movement of the park that occurs on the side of El Oro and Bolivia streets and that contrasts with what It happens at the other end, which faces Calle Venezuela.
There, on the side of Venezuela Street, from Av. Quito to Guaranda Street, that afternoon you see two young people who jump quickly over the bars (on Quito Street) to enter, taking advantage of the fact that some are damaged and shorter than the rest. A few steps ahead are other young people who inhale or use narcotics, while sitting in green areas or under trees and plants.
On that side there are also small cement infrastructures that at first glance seem to be empty, and moving further south are what were once pools of international competitions, with Olympic measures, built for the 1982 Swimming World Cup.
There are two swimming pools, one 50 meters long (Olympic measure) and another 25 meters long (semi-Olympic), and of that training space (for athletes) and recreational (for the public) today only mold, dust, stagnant water from the rains, part of the damaged concrete, weeds … and some gray bleachers, also moldy and deteriorated where the applause or encouragement that at the time the relatives gave to their athletes can no longer be heard.
“This (before) was nice. They were the pools in this whole area, the pools in the south where you paid your entrance fee, $ 1 or $ 2, and had an excellent weekend. In the afternoons (Monday to Friday) children and young people also came to train and the whistle, the strokes and the directions they were given could be heard. Here athletes were trained … And see how it is now, abandoned, swimming pools are useless. It serves smokers, those who take drugs… ”, says Milton Cedeño, a resident of that area.
He used to take his grandchildren to these pools before they closed in 2014.
That afternoon of a Wednesday in November, the pruning and cleaning of the weeds had not reached the area of the pools as, on the other hand, it was seen in other areas, where there were even mounds and dry leaves due to the clearing or cleaning that had been accomplished.
But after the first rains in December, stagnant water predominates in these pools, on the afternoon of Friday, December 17.
That day, December 17, in addition, among the undergrowth of this sector were several trophies that, it is understood, one day were won.
The Civic Center Theater (whose construction began in 1970 and was inaugurated in 1990), which was designed for the presentation of concerts, plays, exhibitions and other cultural events, is also part of the Forestal, as well as the Plaza de Artes y Oficios , the lagoon, the La Patria Joven monument, which the Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamín made while he was alive, and other spaces.
Before the pandemic, in January 2020, there were repeated complaints about the deterioration of some of the areas of the Forestal park, due to insecurity, and the lack of lighting at that time, which once again scared off tourists and visitors. The Ministry of Culture was and is the entity in charge (by loan) of the administration of this space, except for the pools that were in the hands of the Sports Secretariat.
After those publications and citizen complaints, at the end of January 2020, the mayor Cynthia Viteri confirmed the intention that the Municipality of Guayaquil assume the administration of the Forest Park and gave the date: from January 2021. This was after the proposal that did the then Minister of Culture, Juan Fernando Velasco, to return the concession, so that it can once again be administered by the Buenos Aires city council.
Guayaquil council hopes to take over the Forestal park in 2021
At that time, January 2020, Viteri said that the annual budget for the maintenance of the Forestal park amounted to $ 800,000 and that the Municipality of Guayaquil expected to develop a self-sustainability plan (so that it does not depend exclusively on municipal resources) so that it space becomes a center for family entertainment, with theater, cinema, art, private business ventures and advertising.
However, the unforeseen COVID-19 pandemic arrived, at the end of February 2020, and that was relegated by the priorities that had to be addressed given what was happening in Guayaquil.
But after a year and ten months after that announcement by the mayor, this newspaper asked what happened to that offer, if the Municipality assumed the administration of Forestal, what is the self-sustainability plan, among other details.
“As a background it is important to remember that on October 9, 1980, by public deed, the Municipality of Guayaquil delivered, as a bailment or as a loan for use in favor of the Central Bank of Ecuador, the Centro Cívico Theater with all its facilities, equipment, as well as green recreation areas and other similar ones in order for said institution to carry out the necessary work for the operation of this complex for a period of 90 years ”, he explains, via e-mail, Alexandra Rivadeneira, director of Green Areas of the council.
And he adds that in 2010, by provision of the National Assembly, by means of an amendment to the Organic Law of Monetary Regime of cultural and non-cultural assets of the Central Bank of Ecuador, they were transferred for administration to the Ministry of Culture.
“Due to the aforementioned, the maintenance of the Forest Park of the Eloy Alfaro Civic Center is under the administration of the Ministry of Culture of Ecuador,” says Rivadeneira.
Deterioration in areas of the Forest Park drives away visitors
Currently the park, according to its users and visitors, is of great help for the recreation of children and also of adults, who can practice sports such as walks or contemplate the landscapes and species, since many of them spent long months locked up at home for fear of contagion of COVID-19.
“It’s nice to come even for a walk. It’s outdoors and you get a little distracted. And while my daughter makes my granddaughter play, I walk for a while, it is not a closed place, with so many people. It has helped my granddaughter a lot now that they bring her to play two or three times a week, ”says Magaly Ortiz, 57.
Other visitors hope that the place will be given more life and promotion and that forgotten spaces will be used and recovered. They also ask that issues such as toilets be fixed. “In the women’s bathroom, there are two damaged bathrooms, out of four there are. And there are times when there is no water, and now with COVID-19 there should always be water (to wash your hands ”, explains Elena Bajones. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
