CHARLOTTE’S Web: The cowardly pig Wilbur, the shrewd rat Templeton and a slew of other barnyard characters from E.B. White’s children’s book Charlotte’s Web are coming to Costa Rican theaters today in the film adaptation of this classic. See the Weekend section of this Friday’s print or electronic edition of The Tico Times for a list of where it’s playing.

The U.S. hotel chain Hilton has signed an agreement to take over the administration of two beach hotels on the Pacific coast this year, according to a statement from the company.

By Leland Baxter-Neal
Tico Times Staff | lbaxter@ticotimes.net

Authorities yesterday arrested at least two people allegedly involved in a ring dedicated to trafficking Chinese people to Costa Rica, announced Francisco Segura, Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ) assistant director, at a press conference yesterday.

Officials had been monitoring the group since the end of last year, when a representative approached General Immigration Administration Director Mario Zamora and offered him $5,000 for every visa he would approve for a Chinese. With the backing of the Judicial Branch and investigators, officials said yesterday, Zamora accepted the offer, and cash payments that totaled approximately $20,000 were made to a Judicial Branch bank account. 

The two suspects were detained in western San José as they were allegedly preparing to hand over 30 Chinese passports, officials said, but did not specify to whom the passports were being given. Police confiscated the 30 passports as evidence. Authorities identified the driver of the vehicle as an employee at the Legislative Assembly, while the passenger was identified as a Chinese woman with the last name of Tan.
  
Segura said officials are raiding various locations in San José and Cartago, east of San José, and expect more arrests to come. Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal told the press he is sure Immigration had corrupt high-level officials during previous administrations, but would wait for investigations to prove him right.

By Katherine Stanley
Tico Times Staff | kstanley@ticotimes.net

Imagine a San José with a vibrant, bustling downtown business district crisscrossed by pedestrian boulevards. Imagine a gleaming convention center that serves as concert hall, conference space, technological oasis and transportation hub. Imagine the capital’s southern neighborhoods with a fresh coat of paint, a sharp reduction in crime and a dynamic economy, thanks to the jobs created by new hotels and restaurants in the city’s core.

As any josefino< can tell you, these improvements won’t appear anytime soon, but Federico Cartín, who’s studying urban planning in Montreal this year as a graduate student fellow of McGill University’s Centre for Developing-Area Studies, presented these proposals yesterday at the Federated Association of Engineers and Architects (CFIA) in the eastern suburb of Curridabat.

The project began as an initiative of the Municipality of San José; Cartín, along with fellows Andrés Baez-Rodríguez, Veronique Dryden and Gemma Peralta, developed the proposal as part of his studies. The team interviewed San José residents and government officials during the planning process.

“We’re realizing that we’re living in chaos, and it can’t go on that way,” he said of capital-dwellers.

At the heart of the plan is a convention center at what is now the Pacific Train Station in south-central San José, an economically depressed area with rising crime. The center would hold up to 16,000 people and would use the existing structures at the train station.

But the project doesn’t stop there. The proposal also calls for park-n-ride lots east and west of downtown, reorganized bus routes, a train from San José west to Juan Santamaría International Airport in Alajuela, a bike path, and a pedestrian boulevard along the north-south Calle 2 to connect the business district around the convention center and the tourism areas to the north.

Cartín emphasized that the proposal is just that – a proposal – and that extensive further study would be required before it could become a reality. However, he pointed to a similarly ambitious project in Guatemala City as an example of how placing new facilities in depressed areas can have a city-wide effect.

For more on the plan, visit http://p2plan.googlepages.com/index.html.

See next week’s print or electronic edition of The Tico Times for more on this story.

The U.S. hotel chain Hilton has signed an agreement to take over the administration of two beach hotels on the Pacific coast this year, according to a statement from the company.

As of December, Hilton will administer Fiesta Resort, in the central Pacific town of Puntarenas, and Fiesta Premier Resort & Spa, in the northwestern Guanacaste province. These hotels will change their names to Doubletree by Hilton Puntarenas Resort and Hilton Papagayo Resort, respectively.

Starting up operations in Costa Rica is “a magnificent example of the commitment Hilton has made its clients to expand its offerings through contracts with hotel owners who believe in the strength of our brand name,” said Hilton vice-president of marketing Jeff Diskin, according to the statement.

During the next few months, both hotels will be remodeled to adjust to Hilton’s style.

The Hilton Papagayo Resort will have a total 202 rooms, while the all-inclusive Doubletree by Hilton will have 410 rooms. Hilton also has hotels in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Tourism is one of the main economic drivers in Costa Rica. Last year, the industry generated $1.6 billion from 1.6 million visitors.

-ACAN-EFE