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Out with the Old: A worker from the San José Municipality symbolically broke up a chunk of sidewalk yesterday to inaugurate a project to replace old, crumbling sidewalks with attractive brick-like pieces of concrete. |
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Mónica Quesada | Tico Times
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| Felix Blows Heavy Rains To Costa Rica |
A man crossing a creek on motorcycle was swept away by strong currents produced by heavy rains in Alajuela, northwest of San José, yesterday afternoon.
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| San José Municipality Overhauling Sidewalks |
Wearing a suit as he symbolically ground a sledgehammer into a sidewalk in downtown San José, San José Mayor Johnny Araya yesterday inaugurated a project to rip up crumbling sidewalks and replace them with new brick-like squares of concrete. |
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| Plane Veers off Runway at Juan Santamaría |
A small plane that veered off track at Juan Santamaría International Airport, just outside San José, yesterday caused flights at this busy airport to be suspended for most of the day.
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| September 4 |
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Newcomers Club Meeting
9:30 a.m., home of Isis de Oca, Bosques de Doña Rosa, Ciudad Cariari, La Asunción de Belén. Info: 266-1548, marleauxr@gmailcom.
Screening of Documentary “Victor Jara, El Derecho de Vivir en Paz”
Directed by Carmen Luz Parot (in Spanish), about Jara's life and social transformations in Chile, 7 p.m., Chile Cultural Center, Los Yoses.
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Edited By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net |
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Felix Blows Heavy Rains To Costa Rica |
Manuel Valdes
editorial@ticotimes.net
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A man crossing a creek on motorcycle was swept away by strong currents produced by heavy rains in Alajuela, northwest of San José, yesterday afternoon.
He was able to hang on to a tree and was rescued, said Red Cross spokeswoman Noemy Coto.
“He was wet, but overall OK,” Coto said.
This was the first incident reported from the latest heavy rains that pounded the country yesterday. More wet weather was expected to blow over to Costa Rica late last night as Hurricane Felix -- a category 5 storm – headed toward Honduras.
The National Meteorological Institute (IMN) expects at least 80 millimeters of rain to fall over the San José area, said meteorologist Freddy Calderón. Felix's arrival is also likely to cause heavy rains along the entire Pacific coast.
Although National Emergency Commission (CNE) president Daniel Gallardo said the hurricane is not likely to directly hit Costa Rica, his commission placed the entire country under a yellow, cautionary alert, according to a statement.
The committee also preventively evacuated two families from their homes in the port city of Golfito, where a landslide wiped out four houses last week, and set up 200 shelters along the Pacific coast.
A very wet rainy season has already left many parts of the country's infrastructure saturated, and Felix's arrival is expected to make the situation worse, Gallardo said |
San José Municipality Overhauling Sidewalks |
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net
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Wearing a suit as he symbolically ground a sledgehammer into a sidewalk in downtown San José, San José Mayor Johnny Araya yesterday inaugurated a project to rip up crumbling sidewalks and replace them with new brick-like squares of concrete.
This ¢124 million ($240,310) project is part of San José Posible (San José Possible) a municipality initiative to turn the city around by making it more attractive and pedestrian-friendly.
Sidewalks are being replaced in a 6,000 square meter area, running east to west from Calle 7 to Calle 1 and north to south from Ave. 1 to Ave. 4, explained San José Municipality spokeswoman Teo Dinarte.
The pieces of concrete workers will lay in this area are the same as those pedestrians now trod along Ave. 4 on a blocked-off stretch spanning west from La Soledad Church to the area behind Banco Popular.
“This is an important effort to renovate the center of the city,” San José Mayor Johnny Araya told The Tico Times, adding that wheelchair ramps will be added to the new sidewalks to comply with a law mandating them in public places.
As part of San José Possible, the municipality is also working with the Public Security Ministry to put more police on the streets to make the city safer for pedestrians taking advantage of these new walker friendly sidewalks, he said.
The sidewalk project is expected to be completed in December. Next year, the municipality hopes to revamp another 5,200 square meter stretch and also expand the Ave. 4 walking boulevard farther west to the Diario Extra office.
Regarding the new Ave. 4 pedestrian boulevard, San José resident Alberto Salas said he appreciates the improved walking conditions but isn't so pleased with the traffic gridlock created by blocking off this main thoroughfare.
“It's a project to beautify this area and it's nice aesthetically, but in terms of traffic flow, it's not such a good thing,” he said |
Plane Veers off Runway at Juan Santamaría |
By Amanda Roberson
Tico Times Staff | aroberson@ticotimes.net
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A small plane that veered off track at Juan Santamaría International Airport, just outside San José, yesterday caused flights at this busy airport to be suspended for most of the day.
The plane, carrying four passengers, ran off the runway as it was taking off, according to Firefighters' Corps spokesman Luis Ramírez.
One of the four passengers, a woman who is five months pregnant, was taken to nearby México Hospital and is in stable condition, he said. No injuries were reported.
Firefighters arrived at the scene to clean up a minor fuel spill caused by the accident, and Civil Aviation authorities began investigating its cause, which had not been determined at press time.
All flights leaving from and arriving at Juan Santamaría were suspended yesterday afternoon as officials investigated the accident, said María González of Alterra Partners, the company that runs the airport.
Alterra assistant director of operations Jean Marc Boureau told the wire service ACAN-EFE flights were scheduled to resume at 7 p.m. last night.
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