Guadalajara may be one of the world’s fastest developing metropolitan areas but staging the Pan American Games in a city still with many deprivations did not sit comfortably with some folks.
The cynics considered it the height of vanity, gross political expediency or just another way to milk the federal cash cow.
The kingpins of the public University of Guadalajara, when they realized that organizers preferred to deal exclusively with the state government and private sector, became fierce critics of the event’s legacy.
In some respects the academics had a point. Sadly, finding a consensus on creating a strong legacy for the athletes village in a rundown area of Guadalajara proved impossible. Much of the new infrastructure – although needed in many instances – is essentially cosmetic (bridges, tunnels, etc.) and a good opportunity was lost six years ago not to have used the games as the motive for a massive overhaul of the metro area’s transportation system and mobility paradigm.
In the countdown to the games, prickly and inevitable questions started to surface: Could the traffic infrastructure cope? Would the new venues reveal imperfections? Were the 6,000 young volunteers up to the task? Would Tapatios warm to the games? Would the stadiums be full? Would the city be safe? Had the whole caboodle been over-hyped?
The jury will be out for a long time after the games have ended but one week into the event several things are clear, apart from the obvious fact that the ceremonial and sporting side of the games are very well organized.
The long lines for non-existent tickets at many venues and the excitement generated inside them confirm Tapatios’ passion for witnessing top quality sporting events.
The frequent sight of blocks of empty seats at events supposedly “sold out” confirms that patronage is still alive and well in Guadalajara (presumably the seats went to sponsors, hangers-on or scalpers who didn’t use them.)
The overwhelming feeling that despite its size, Guadalajara is still one of the most welcoming and friendly “provincial” cities in the world.
That Guadalajara needn’t ever again suffer from an inferiority complex because few cities south of the Rio Grande and north of Tierra del Fuego could handle such a massive competition any better.
And finally, that even when the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, Mexicans always have the resourcefulness to somehow make things happen.
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