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"Real evidence of the sidewalk in Guácima Centro. If you plan to buy a tricycle for exercise, to move around with greater comfort and safety, or if you plan to use this sidewalk with baby strollers, tricycles, or simply run or walk on it, open your eyes wide. At any moment you could crash into a pole in the middle of the sidewalk, come across a snapped power line hanging over it, or be struck by lightning hitting one of the transformers. The sidewalk is obstructed by poles and high-voltage cables, conclusively proving that the municipality built an inaccessible and dangerous infrastructure for people with reduced mobility."Core Message
The most critical danger in public works planning is building sidewalks directly underneath heavy high-voltage cables, transformers, and lightning rods, exposing citizens to severe electrocution during storms or earthquakes.
Extended Message
While walking along a newly constructed public sidewalk, the Holy Spirit granted me a powerful and sudden wisdom that forced me to look up. Because I use a cane to walk, I always look at the ground to avoid falling, but today my eyes were guided upward toward the sky, and I discovered an alarming and lethal danger that represents a complete lack of planning and a total disregard for the human life of the pedestrian.
Directly above the pedestrian path hangs a huge, heavy bundle of high-voltage cables, along with dangerous electrical transformers and lightning rods. This severe electrical risk is the most significant technical problem of all, far more serious than any physical obstacle that may be on the ground.
Pedestrian reference point shortly before reaching the Automercado, where the alarming accumulation of poles and wiring over the sidewalk is already noticeable.
Walking under these active transformers during a storm, a heavy downpour, or a sudden earthquake puts the life of every pedestrian at risk of immediate electrocution.
I am no fool, and I clearly perceive a heavy climate of fear among the inhabitants of this town, who see everything that happens but prefer to remain silent. People notice these irregularities perfectly well, but they stay silent or quickly abandon conversations when talking about poor municipal planning.
Although we live in a country with freedom of expression, fear silences them while, behind the scenes, they avoid using that sidewalk and prefer to cross and walk on the other side of the street where there are no poles or electrical wiring for safety.
I flatly refuse to stay silent because I will always denounce poorly planned public projects that endanger human life. Elementary logic dictates that an official sidewalk should never be built on the side of the road that is loaded with high-voltage infrastructure. As the Gospel of Luke 16:10 teaches us, whoever is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
If municipal planners cannot show basic faithfulness toward safety on a sidewalk, they are completely failing the entire community. Future projects must be built exclusively on the opposite side, away from transformers, or double sidewalks must be created so that the community can choose to walk safely. We must use our voice to reveal these dangers, as public works must protect life and not expose pedestrians to a tragedy.
Where the arrow points was the ideal and hazard-free sector to build the sidewalk for pedestrians; the line was already formally measured and marked by engineers from The Municipality... [Nota: Esta es la foto que explica el desvío del diseño original hacia el lado peligroso].
Context of the Project in La Guácima
In La Guácima, the sidewalk section built from El Automercado to Calle El Limonal was constructed on the side where all the poles, transformers, and electrical wiring are located, putting the lives of pedestrians in total danger. The sidewalk had been marked on the opposite side, which was the safest, but it was most likely due to corruption or influence ("argollas") from influential families and their businesses that they moved the sidewalk to the most dangerous side, risking pedestrian lives.
Real evidence of the extremely dangerous bundle of high-voltage cables at the Automercado intersection, the critical point of the municipal work.
It is unacceptable that Municipality engineers and surveyors did not conduct a study on this, or if they did, a completely mistaken political or commercial criterion was applied, which ended up directly harming the safety of pedestrians.
In conclusion, those who planned and approved this work from the Municipality of Alajuela should ask themselves: Have they ever been pedestrians in their lives, or do they only know how to move on wheels? The person who travels comfortably in a car will never notice the dangers lurking for those of us who walk.
True pedestrians have had their eyes trained since childhood. Our parents taught us to walk alert: not to walk under transformers during high winds, to watch out for poles during an earthquake, to look at the ground with caution, and to avoid puddles of water due to the latent risk of a snapped live wire making contact with the ground. The pedestrian knows how to dodge holes, protect their shoes, and analyze the terrain; they have real street experience.
Therefore, it is unacceptable to ignore the community's voice. Did the Mayor come to personally check if the sidewalk was made in the right place, or did they pull the wool over his eyes? Only by listening to pedestrians—those who truly risk their lives in the canton—can correct, safe, and humane urban planning decisions be made.
Digital illustration symbolizing the conceptual danger of the work.
Biblical Verse
"Whoever is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much." — Luke 16:10
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