Eugenio Baeza argues that many municipal politicians prioritize staying in office and climbing to higher positions, which drives patronage (hiring friends, distributing goods) and projects not strictly required by municipal law. He contrasts these political incentives with the practical urban needs of Chihuahua — paving streets, street lighting, drainage, parks, hospitals, bypasses, bridges, and schools — warning that rapid metropolitan growth (surpassing ~1 million inhabitants) and rising private investment create urgent infrastructure demands that political objectives often fail to meet.
Chapters
Politicians aim to stay and climb. So staying and climbing is the same as hiring all my friends. I have them on my payroll, they will help me with votes. I distribute blankets, I do many things that are not in the 115 constitution, which is how a municipality should operate. I build gyms, I do things that are not in the 115. So all these things at the end of the day have to do with the fact that the mayor most likely wants to be governor or a senator or a congressman. So the challenge for a politician is to stay. My challenge is to make the operation more efficient in order to do many things that are needed in the city, right? Pave streets that are not paved, install street lighting, drainage in neighborhoods that do not have it. Keep the streets painted, the parks, the gardens, security and infrastructure that keeps pace with private investment. In Chihuahua, private investment is like this. And if we do not achieve this, then the quality of life will start to suffer. If they don't build hospitals, if they don't build bypasses, if they don't build bridges, if they don't build schools, then it will be left behind. Especially in the Chihuahua area. Right? Chihuahua is becoming a metropolitan area. What happens to a city that suddenly surpasses 1 million inhabitants and 18,000 per capita income? And then you start to bring in everything that is an hour away. And, well, you see what happens in Mexico, what happens in Monterrey, what happens in Quartaro, what happens in Guadalajara, right? That's when that starts to happen. And if no solution is given to public infrastructure and private infrastructure continues to spiral out of control, then we generate a flood of jobs, housing needs, needs for everything. And it's a fact that there are all the resources and all the ways to achieve it. But it doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with the objectives of the people who are running in that area of politics. That's as hard as them trying to take me out of bfar, right?
