Dear Tico Times:
Wow, Thomas Spurr (TT, Nov. 16) is so articulate. And he even quotes Dickens! Wow! I see he is a licensed real estate agent from the U.S. I wonder if he is licensed to sell real estate in Costa Rica. He certainly has his wrap down! Sounds like he is trying to sell some high-end condos.
Unfortunately, with his beautiful prose and poetry he is trivializing Tamarindo’s problems. I doubt that he lives in Tamarindo, probably in some multi-million dollar condo off in the distance and comes to Tamarindo to seek his fame and fortune selling real estate.
Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner were chasing banditos in Mexico, not Costa Rica, and if you want to have a nice dinner alfresco on the beach in Tamarindo, good luck finding a beach front restaurant that doesn’t have sewage run off within spitting distance. And by the way we do have a soccer field that we had to take back from a thieving municipality.
London and Paris in the same breath as Tamarindo… he’s dreaming.
“The Ticos who work here live in surrounding towns,”Mr. Spurr says. Guess what, they used to live here. Now they can’t afford it. The development is pushing up prices for everything from housing to toilet paper.
“Small year-round population of 4000,” he says. For the lack of infrastructure we have, that’s already too many people.
Development continues without anyone knowing how much this place can handle. “The local periodicals tell stories of unscrupulous developers, unsavory people and activities,”says Mr. Spurr.Well, it’s the truth and those stories also appear in the national and international press.
“No local government,” he says. The developers have the municipality and central government big shots in their back pockets.Who needs a government?
“Multi-million dollar homes” he says, not until you sell one does it become a multi-million dollar home.Million-dollar homes aren’t flying off the racks. Most of the stuff being built here is sub-million-dollar condos, adversely affecting the multimillion- dollar home market he dreams of.
“Private capital actively addressing Tamarindo’s infrastructure needs,” he says. I hope they have deep pockets. “Work on the main road to begin on Nov. 15th,” he says.
Guess we missed that date. “Don’t let tales of infrastructure problems and rampant growth frighten you” for “they are often exaggerated,” he says.Who is he kidding?
“Come back in a year and the change will dazzle you,” he says. If cement and concrete dazzle you then Tamarindo will be the place for you. If not, you can have your deposit back! Because the only thing green left in Tamarindo will be $$$$$$.
“If there’s anyone or anything to blame for what’s happening in Tamarindo, it’s God.”
Mr. Spurr says.Mr. Spurr thinks we are in God’s hands.Well maybe close, greed is a deadly sin. I think we are all playing God here and this problem we have propagated is purely human or un-human in nature.
If Mr. Spurr wants to do some good for Tamarindo he should be calling for a moratorium on construction until the government can enact the laws and building codes necessary to allow Tamarindo to sustain some type of planned growth before another building permit is issued.
But first I think Mr. Spurr should take off those rose colored glasses.
Jerry Hirsch
Playa Tamarindo
