# Does anyone know how colonias were first setup for only teachers to buy lots etc.



## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

I see many more colonias that seem to be subdivided where certain professions all have built houses. Were they offered lots at a big discount or easy to get credit? Did the gov't. help them to get these lots? My colonia is "Maestros Estales" and all the names of the streets are Prof. so and so. We have mostly teachers there, even after over 30 years, I have been told. My house is surrounded by school inspectors, school Directors and teachers, retired and working. 

Also I see whole streets in El Centro with only one type of business in SLP and somewhat this in Mexicali also. Is this municipalities' planning/zoning years ago.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

AlanMexicali said:


> ... Also I see whole streets in El Centro with only one type of business in SLP and somewhat this in Mexicali also. Is this municipalities' planning/zoning years ago.


That is very common in Guadalajara as well. There is a section of Centro for papelerias, another for coin/gold dealers, all the sporting goods stores are on one street, all the gift/balloon/decorations stores on another. I don't know if the areas were selected or if it just grew that way as one after another chose to locate there. The latter seems more likely to me.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

The automobile and car parts section of Guadalajara is huge ... and a small musical instrument section downtown.

The housing sounds like Infonavit which is basically government financed housing. They may have different programs like for teachers but it's meant for anyone with a "real" job.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> That is very common in Guadalajara as well. There is a section of Centro for papelerias, another for coin/gold dealers, all the sporting goods stores are on one street, all the gift/balloon/decorations stores on another. I don't know if the areas were selected or if it just grew that way as one after another chose to locate there. The latter seems more likely to me.


It's the same way in the Centro Histórico of Mexico City. There's the Street of Lamps where you can buy all sorts of light fixtures and lamps and light bulbs. There's another one where you can buy fabric and thread and whatever you need to sew clothes. I have read that this dates back to pre-Hispanic times when the tianguis were organized that way. If you've ever read Bernal Diaz de Castillo's classic book on the conquest of Mexico, _Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España_, you may remember his description of the main market in Tenochtitlan (now the center of Mexico City) and how amazed he was at the variety of goods for sale and how well it was organized.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2012)

Having all the stores selling one type of thing may be a transportation issue and is part of the plan. Remember, here in MX, every house doesn't have 2 or 3 cars sitting out front waiting for their owners to go running around shopping for whatever. The average for MX may be 1 car for every two homes. In poorer areas, maybe 1 car for every 10 houses. Taxis for those folks to run around in are too expensive unless there are several family members going out together.

They either walk, or take a taxivan to where they need to go. If the store they go to doesn't carry what they need, perhaps the nearby competitor does. If so, problem solved without having to run all over the city using taxivans or walking several km. more.

Locally, we have one street with many of the local doctors' and specialists' consultorios. Another area for clothes and shoes, another for farmacias, another for larger papelerias and copy shops, etc. I haven't seen much evidence of the local city government doing ANYTHING in the way of planning or zoning for things other than industrial facilities, the rest just magically happens.

Having a colonia populated by teachers may be the result of a special financing program for teachers to be able to buy their own house in a new project.


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## PieGrande (Nov 16, 2008)

Isla Verde is absolutely correct. Tenochtitlan, the Aztec name for what is now the Centro, did indeed have common products in one area. And, they still do to some extent.

I think LETTERS FROM CORTES (to the King) also mentioned this, but that is based on my flawed memory.

Yes, at times, there will be a government project for government employees to all get houses at the same time. My niece at one time had a government job, as executive assistant for a high ranking legislator, and she was assigned exactly that sort of project, to build a development for the government employees.

And, public teachers are definitely government employees, and also get a government medical program. In my village, the teachers and their families have their own medical clinic.


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