Market Traders Don't Trust City Hall
Traders from Guadalajara’s Corona Market, destroyed in a fire in May 2014, have been stepping up protests outside city hall in a bid to get assurances from the mayor that they will be allocated spaces in the new market currently under construction on the original site. The vendors say they have only received verbal promises that their spots are guaranteed – with the same size puestos and rents – but demand ratification in writing. One trader, a 61-year-old woman suffering from cancer and diabetes, says she will camp out in the plaza until she receives an answer from Mayor Ramiro Hernandez.
Traders, many of whom are second or third generations tenants, are fearful that authorities will give priority to new vendors willing to pay higher rents. Some city officials have said they would like to bring in other kinds of food vendors to give the new commercial space a more upmarket ambience.
The new Corona Market is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
