Burger King in the Center of Oaxaca: Tell me it is not like that

For a decade, Oaxacan celebrity chef Esperanza Chavarria Blando operated Quickly Restaurant, a traditional Mexican restaurant one block from the Zócalo in Macedonia Alcalá, the high-traffic pedestrian walkway. Quickly was not only praised in most of Mexico’s travelogues, but was patronized by local merchants, bank employees, street vendors, and artists, including at times Oaxaca’s current native son, famed artist Francisco Toledo, who makes a few years he led the successful opposition to McDonalds. inauguration in the Zócalo.

With no apparent opposition, in mid-September 2005, Burger King inaugurated its signage at M. Alcalá 100B, the former Quickly location, after having apparently clandestinely carried out the remodeling of the location. A week earlier there was no idea that the fast food giant was going to open.

The landlord, a wealthy Oaxacan gentleman with other downtown properties, had been significantly increasing Ms. Chavarría’s rent. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the demand for an increase of 5,000 pesos per month that would take effect in January 2004. He could no longer afford to stay in business… the earthquake of the late 1990s and 11 September had already taken its toll, and the continuous increase in menu prices was not what she wanted or believed the market could support.

Word spread on the street with Quickly gone, the landlord now looking to double the previous rent. After several months, he opened Appetite, a sterile fast-food joint. I never saw many people in the place, for good reason. During the summer of 2005 it closed its doors, presumably as a result of a lack of business and the owner misunderstanding the extent to which her hankering for him for the best price would pay dividends. A couple of months later, voila, The Whopper showed up.

So what happened? Shouldn’t we be looking to protect the entire Historic Center? Is the Anador Turística much less worthy of conservation than the Zócalo? Were Burger King and the owner in cahoots, to the extent that they kept the plan secret? Was Mr. Toledo out of town? Surely the landlord must feel that since Oaxaca, a tourist mecca in part due to its quaintness and old-world atmosphere, has allowed him to lead a comfortable lifestyle, he has a duty to preserve even what the State and City apparently do not. have ordered. do you have a priority? Apparently not.

There is enough guilt to go around. I don’t blame Burger King, my own left-wing anti-capitalist politics evaporated decades ago. It is greed defeating altruism and pride in one’s own city, along with an indifferent government, for being generous. There is a solution, although it would mean another layer of bureaucracy… but it is well worth the cost and effort. Any business that intends to open its doors in the Historic Center must submit an application to the municipality answering a simple question: Is there a parent company, affiliate, subsidiary or franchise, either US-owned or with multinational interests or outside of Mexico? All negative answers would result in a rubber stamp. Otherwise, the request would go to a panel made up of a wide diversity of people. Without a unanimous decision, public hearings would be held.

Sam’s Club, Pizza Hut, Sears and more have a place in our city, and to that extent the area outside of the city center known as Plaza del Valle plays an important role. But if what is happening now is left unchecked, the tourist dollars will evaporate and we will have no patrons with funds to support such an undertaking, anywhere. The next time we pass a downtown building undergoing renovations or construction, we should be concerned that Wal-Mart is ready to open.