A Rustic Paradise, Open for Development

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/world/americas/a-rustic-paradise-open-for-development.html

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GUADALUPE VALLEY, Mexico — The doors were locked. The lights were out. When Hugo D’Acosta and 60 of his neighbors reached Ensenada City Hall after being tipped off to a nighttime vote that would open their beloved wine region to Florida-style housing and golf courses, they had to shout just to get in.

</param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="seamlessTabbing" value="false"></param><param name="swliveconnect" value="true"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="quality" value="high"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"></param></object><h6 class="credit">By Damien Cave</h6><p itemprop="articleBody" class="caption">Raymundo de la Mora, a member of the Ensenada City Council who leads the commission for governing and legislation, defends the vote to increase development in the Guadalupe Valley.

Some poorer residents said that if welcoming development would mean more jobs, they were for it. Others, like Clemente Rodriguez, 58, a sod farmer watering his grass on Wednesday morning, said subdivisions like the one planned by Mr. Lagos probably would not be as bad as critics feared.

“The people complaining aren’t even from here,” he said. “They’re from France, England or wherever.”

But many of his Mexican neighbors said they expected the worst. The website for Rancho Olivares proclaims that it will be what critics fear: “a catalyst for unprecedented change.” And like Mr. D’Acosta and Ms. Badán, many residents of all ages and classes said they worried that Mr. Lagos and others with money and connections would trample anyone whose needs did not align with their vision of a more crowded, real-estate-driven valley.

“This is the reality,” said Jose Ramirez, 79, a retired farmer. “If you’re powerful and you come here and there is only one glass of water, you’re going to get it, and I’ll get nothing.”