Border Mayors meet in Cananea

By Trisha Maldonado
Douglas Dispatch
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, March 20, 2013 12:00 PM MDT


Mayors from both sides of the border gathered together to discuss tourism at the mayors meeting held March 8 in Cananea, Sonora.


Several members of the Douglas contingent that were in Cananea March 8 for the Border Mayors meeting took time to tour a local mine. Pictured above in front of one of the huge dump trucks are, left to right, Cristian Ramos, Alma Andrade, Carlos de la Torre, Luis Greer and Mayor Danny Ortega. Submitted Photo

Douglas Mayor Danny Ortega Jr. mentioned that Douglas is currently moving forward with the expansion of the Douglas Port of Entry Project.

The meetings participants support the expansion of the new port of entry in Douglas.

They feel this will increase Economic Development in the region, Ortega said.

While discussing ways to promote tourism the possibility to extend the “Only Sonora” program to all cities of the State of Sonora was presented.

The program covers visitors traveling to the interior of Sonora. They can drive directly to cities such as: Guaymas, San Carlos, Hermosillo, Bahia de Kino, Caborca, Father Kino Missions, Magdalena, Puerto Penasco and Santa Ana without the time consuming process of obtaining a car permit.

With the movement of the "Only Sonora" vehicle checkpoint, visitors to the state will no longer have to obtain a car permit in order to travel south of Nogales.

The “Only Sonora” has existed since 1996. The state government launched an attractive free zone on Dec.14, 2006 that requires obtaining a permit if traveling further than kilometer 98 of the federal highway No. 15.

The Mayors agreed to send a letter of support of the program to the Mexican Consulate in Douglas. The Consulate will forward the letter to the Mexican Government, asking them to extend the “Only Sonora” program to cover the entire State of Sonora.

The City of Arizpe Tourism Committee purchased a bus for sports/travel events.

They would like to schedule tours to explore and visit the main tourist points of Cochise County.

Mayor Ortega provided an information packet from Cochise College which states that all Sonoran students will pay the same tuition fee as Arizona students.

The Sonora Mayors were pleased to hear about the tuition reduction for Sonoran students.

Furthermore, the Mayors agreed to have each city create a border security brochure and will make it available to both sides of the border at their visitor’s center, chamber of commerce and or hotels.

The next Arizona/Sonora Border Mayors Meeting will be May 3 at 10 a.m. in Agua Prieta.

Copyright © 2013 Douglas Dispatch

Comments

    QUESTION wrote on Mar 28, 2013 5:47 PM:

    " Who were the Border Mayors that met in Cananea? Was Douglas the only Border town represented, reading the Dispatch it appears that way. Don't misunderstand us, we are for the Border Mayors meeting, we all benefit from networking on both sides of the border. We question the number of representatives from Douglas. The Mayor and Council are the elected officials to represent Douglas which is us , the citizens , at all the meetings. When our Manager is talking about furloughing, and laying off our city workers, Why, because we are $700,000,00 DOLLARS IN THE RED. Why was Ms Andrade who is the Secretary present? Ms Andrade is not an elected officials, if Ms Andrade wants to go to CANANEA, fine, but do so at her own expense, she doesn't represent us, did we pay her for the day she was absent from work, if she didn't have any work to do at CITY HALL, maybe we have to many SECRETARYS. We would like to have a report on what Border Cities attended and what was accomplished, that would be classified as transparent, and good reporting. "

    Peter wrote on Mar 21, 2013 10:21 AM:

    " Trisha,
    there is an error in your article...

    It is the Free-Zone (or No Hassle Zone) that you are describing. Efforts are underway to extend that to ALL of Sonora.. like the Only Sonora permit.

    Presently, with the Free Zone you can only travel as far south as KM98 and as Far East as Cananea.

    The "Only Sonora" permit does allow you to travel the entire state...as far south as Navojoa/Huatabampo and Far East like Yecora, Los Alomos, etc...

    All of Mexico permits you to travel everywhere in Mexico. "

    Dave Verner wrote on Mar 21, 2013 8:46 AM:

    " I fully support the idea of making all os Sonora a free zone. At present it is so confussing. A lot od people from San Carlos would love to go to Alamos and Yecora, but don't because of the paper work on their autos. What is the purpose of the zone ending at the 98?? Also if you can buy the permit at the 98, why can't you return it at the 98, instead of taking it all the way back to the 21 to turn it in, why not the 98?? We have a group that goes to a resturant at mile marker 92 and it is a real hassle finding cars with stickers to go that extra 6 kilos. The restaurant loses! The tourist is frustrated!! I have heard many say this is so silly, all we want to do is go eat at the Shack. "

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