Saturday, March 14, 2009

Day 2: Santa Tecla Visit

SANN visits the municipality of Santa Tecla just outside of San Salvador. Santa Tecla became a sister city to San Francisco in 2001 through the work of now Assemblyman for the 13th Assembly District, Tom Ammiano. Santa Tecla has over the past decade emerged as a model municipality, working hard to improve the lives of its community members by investing in community projects. The mayor of Santa Tecla, Oscar Ortiz, has been attributed with making these changes possible through his leadership in the last ten years. (Picture to left: The newly remodeled municipal palace that has been opened up to the public for educational activities, performances, and a local cafe.) (Picture below: A Santa Tecla Board of Supervisor gives the SANN delegation a tour of the municipal palace and explains that a new art exhibit will be opening up soon.) (Picture: Art room in the Santa Tecla municipal palace, one of various rooms dedicated to supporting youth creative arts, including music and dance.) (Picture: Central plaza in Santa Tecla, one of several parks that the municipality has worked on cleaning up to promote safe areas where community members can come together. Nearby is a market that was recently established in order to support the economic activities of community members.)

1 comment:

  1. The case of parks in Santa Tecla is really interesting. Santa Tecla is the only city in El Salvador where violent deaths have declined markedly over the past few years, and this is in part due to improving and protecting public spaces. When Mayor Ortiz was elected ten years ago, there were only three small parks in the city, and now there are 63, strictly enforced as safe community areas. http://iddbirmingham.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/violence-cohesion-and-public-space/

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