April 2nd Vote Planned to Form a Development Association for Pavones' Infrastructure

How would you have spent 80 million colones...$160,000.. to improve Pavones, Costa Rica?

Bring your identification -- residency card or passport or cedula -- to a meeting this Saturday, April 2, 2011 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. to form the Asociacion de Desarrollo de Pavones (Association for the Development of Pavones), at Escuela Las Gemelas, by the fishermens' center.

101 votes are necessary for the association to become a legal entity. This gives Pavones the legal ability to request government funds for local infrastructure improvements and have direct oversight and accountability for funds... like the $160,000 which was spent 2 years ago (more below). We're told expats can vote as long as you're in Costa Rica legally, i.e. with a visa stamp in your passport.

As things stand today, no one can be certain where money goes, and all requests go through the apparatus of the Municipality of Golfito.

Who can vote? How?

Everyone who lives in Pavones can vote -- Costa Ricans, foreign residents and expats on a tourist visa. To vote, you must bring identification -- passport, residency card or cedula -- and be 12 or older. There will be 2 confidential ballots, one for the Presidency of the association, and another for the board of directors. 

2 Candidates
Vela Miles:  Vela helped revise the boulevard construction so that vehicles could not drive over the fragile area at Pavones Point.  Vela also spearheaded several important projects, including the construction of the children's playground, the provision of high-speed internet service in town, garbage pickup service and the maintenance of the Pilon area for a potential airport.

Miriam Lobo:  Miriam has represented Pavones for many years.  She gets credit for the building the vending stand at the soccer field, which is especially popular during soccer games, expanding Las Gemelas school with new buildings and restrooms, and initiating the original Boulevard design.

Back to the c 80 million…


How would you spend it?  A rhetorical question, since this is what was "to be spent" on infrastructure improvements 2 years ago...


This is the amount allocated 2 years ago for the Boulevard. The mayor at the time, Jimmy Cubillo, first detailed the Boulevard plans to a somewhat puzzled of Pavones residents at a meeting at Escuela de Gemelas.

The plan detailed a palm-lined paved boulevard from Rancho del Mar to Pavones Point, replete with cement benches and cement picnic tables.

When presented, the plan was criticized for the lack of any public restroom facility for tourists, and after the meeting many residents vocally complained that this was not the best use of money.

Today, from this Boulevard Plan, Pavones has a raised gravel walkway around the Point with benches, a vendors building and garbage bins.

If you'd like more of a say in setting local priorities, this is your chance.

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We will publish all corrections.  Please add your comments, corrections and clarifications below or send us an e-mail.  Thank you.
Community activists in the town of Pavones, Costa Rica are trying to form an association for community development at a meeting scheduled for April 2, 2011 at 2:00 p.m., at Escuela Las Gemelas.