Fake "tolerance" signs in Mexico

A reader says:

Fake street signs declaring the Mexico City neighborhood of Itzacalco a "Tolerance Zone" for prostitution and murder. Nice use of graphic design. It's not know who put these up, or whether they're intended to encourage or protest such activty.

Link

• [Teresa Nielsen Hayden/Moderator]

  You mean Mexico City’s problems have nothing to do with its staggering growth rate, overburdened infrastructure, or widespread unemployment?

  Darn those free school supplies!

• [54N71460]

  The news article also says Mr.Ensástiga’s cops will now be watching the streets to prevent anymore of this outrageous posters to be pasted again. What the f**k where they doing before?
  It would be ironic if it wasn’t so sad.
  Also, Mr.Ensástiga also says this is some kind of diffamation campaign organized from above, because the signs are clearlly “to well done”.
  I mean come on, give the artist some credit!
  It’s not surprising he is appalled by the quality of this works, considering how lame and overpaid the graffic designers employed by his party are (I know a couple of them, personally, and they go way beyond sucking).

• [Sam Pera]

  Iztacalco is one of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs, and contains some of the highest crime rates in the city. This borough is governed by the PRD, a left-wing party,who has been utterly incapable of doing anything about the situation. Their populist ways (free concerts, free school supplies, etc.) give them a stronghold on local politics, but the sad fact is that murder and prostitution are rampant in this area of the city. Erasto Ensástiga, the borough head, has the gall to say that this has not been a problem under his administration. It saddens me deeply to see how these fools can so utterly ruin in 10 short years a city that has survived 700 years of war, foreign invasion and mother nature and was one of the world’s great cities. It is often said that we Mexicans elect the governments we deserve, but nobody deserves to be governed by such incompetence.

  I am happy that this is getting coverage outside of Mexico. Maybe this will encourage the authorities to do something about it.

• [Anonymous]

  For some reason, my mind interpreted the first sign as a woman leaning on a hippopotamus. The nose of the hippo being near her foot. After reading the article, the realization came that the hippo’s nose was a car tire, and that this was not a sign promoting tolerance for women who want to talk to hippos. (Though I’m sure that the Tolerance Zone would approve).

• [Teresa Nielsen Hayden/Moderator]

  No excuse for that. Mexico D.F. has some excellent graphic designers.

• [Sam Pera]

  Yes, the ‘segundo piso’ is an elevated stretch of freeway on Mexico City’s west side. Property prices have dropped dramatically where construction took place, and it has done little to alleviate the north-south traffic, it has helped somewhat on the east-west because it joined two previously unconnected freeways. However, this could have been done as part of a smaller-scale project.

• [Sam Pera]

  @Moderator: The population in Mexico City is actually leveling off, and in many areas of the city it is actually in decline. While I concede that the outlying suburbs are growing rapidly, putting a strain on the infrastructure in the whole metropolitan area, the local government prefers building expensive and useless white elephants like the ‘segundo piso’ rather than improving the subway system or building new roads. Mexico City has the highest GDP per capita in the country and fairly low unemployment (6.4%). However, this has increased every year since the PRD has been in office and now is at its highest levels since the Peso crisis of 1994/1995.

  Free school supplies may not seem like much, but the government focuses on providing this kind of short-term benefit rather than increasing investment in infrastructure, improving police pay and training or instituting a more business-friendly regulatory and fiscal policy.

  There are great graphic designers in Mexico City, I personally know several of them. They are usually vocal and are critical of government in general, regardless of political party. To claim that these creative individuals are part of a conspiracy against Mr Enástiga and his boss, the ‘legitimate president’ Mr López, only distracts attention from the real issues.

• [Teresa Nielsen Hayden/Moderator]

  I looked up Segundo Piso. I get the impression that it’s an elevated freeway circling the city. Is that correct? If so, something is seriously rotten. Urban planners have known for ages that those things blight neighborhoods without significantly alleviating traffic congestion.