{"id":4856,"date":"2022-09-28T04:11:09","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T02:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/?p=4856"},"modified":"2022-09-28T04:20:35","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T02:20:35","slug":"michael-chen-colon-is-the-best-designed-city-in-central-america-and-has-the-potential-to-be-an-old-town-on-steroids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/2022\/09\/28\/michael-chen-colon-is-the-best-designed-city-in-central-america-and-has-the-potential-to-be-an-old-town-on-steroids\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Chen: Colon is the Best Designed City in Central America and has the Potential to be an Old Town on Steroids."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

He arrived at Colon Chamber of Commerce at only 22\nyears, to dynamize it. After 12 years as an active member, he runs for\npresident of the union and becomes the youngest president of the oldest Chamber\nin the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Micheal Chen is convinced that\nPanama has a promising future due to its privileged location and The Visitor \u2013\nEl Visitante thinks alike. For that reason we have invited this young leader\nand visionary that has a lot to offer to Colon Province and Panama for a two\npart Special Report. This is the first one…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Michael Chen<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why has the\nCity of Colon been abandoned by all Panamanians? The only thing that works is\neconomics but it still doesn’t reach all the province.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThree fundamental words:\nfocus, will and convenience. Why? We have focused so much on the free zone and\nthe ports that we have lost focus in the other areas. We have not put our eyes\non the most important asset of Colon, which is the people. Due to this, there\nis a lot of talent leaving Colon to go to other latitudes in search of a better\nfuture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By not paying attention to Col\u00f3n City, Costa Abajo and\nCosta Arriba, insecurity grows, lack of investment, lack of maintenance, lack\nof everything and people decide to go to other more “convenient”\nplaces. This opens the window for illegal activities to take over spaces that\nare forgotten. We are still in time to change Colon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Michael Chen<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Insecurity\ndoes not allow people to visit the City, although projects have been carried\nout with the gangs, this perception continues and is becoming more acute. What\ndo you feel you can start running to achieve quick and positive results?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am not an expert but I can\ntell you that when people think about security, they only focus on police,\nweapons, etc. but security goes much further. Security also has very important\ncomponents such as prevention, training and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, we propose a Security Committee for\nColon that involves civil society, private companies, local government, the\nnational government and the international community to help solve the different\nsecurity problems in Colon. In this way, the different representative actors of\nColon\u2019s society can help each other to mark the line to follow and to\ncounteract the effects caused by insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, every time a government comes, plans\nand approaches change. There is no security monitoring for Colon. This is why\nthe committee is important so that it does not matter which government comes,\nthe approach and the plan are the same and sustainability can be guaranteed\nover time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously it will not be possible to completely\neliminate insecurity, but innovative and creative measures can be created to\nminimize it and offer other benefits (jobs, entrepreneurship, tourism) that are\nnot organized crime and gangs. An example of this is Medellin where people now\nlive and earn more from tourism than from drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Michael Chen<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The history of Colon, the world renowned\npersonalities that have passed through its streets, are its most important asset,\nbut it has been locked up between the worn buildings. How can we do now to\nraise the in-depth stories of Columbus to collective attention?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen people think of Colon, they think of the Free\nZone and the ports, but it is much more than that. It is also history,\ngastronomy, culture and most importantly: its people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, I make a mea culpa and say that all of us\n(civil society, businessmen, government) have not done a good job of\nhighlighting what is good about Col\u00f3n. We have fallen into a culture of\nreluctance, of a “I don’t care a bit” and of neglect for a long time.\nThe years have passed and we have been waiting for \u201csomeone\u201d to do something for\nus. The truth is that true sustainable change in Colon must begin with ourselves.\nWith a change of ATTITUDE and WAY OF THINKING.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why the only way to raise the collective\nattention of the best of Colon is through ourselves. Through creative and innovative\nthings, initiatives that seem insignificant (properly disposing of garbage,\ngood manners, following the law, being proactive in finding solutions, etc.)\nbut that have a great impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Colon Chamber of Commerce we have started a\nvery good campaign called “The Change Begins with Me” to influence\nyoung people from Colon and our population. To let them know that Col\u00f3n is a\ngreat province and that each one of us from our trenches can help our province\nchange. Only with civil society and private enterprise initiatives true\nsustainable development will endure over time. In this way, no matter what\ngovernment comes, we already know what we want, how we want it and why we want\nit. It is up to us Colon people to put ideas into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Michael Chen<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Education is vital, perhaps a project like the\none carried out in Medell\u00edn to resocialized a large population that lived in\nthe most violent city in the region during the 1980s could help?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe that the urban renewal of Colon City and\nthe Alto de los Lagos project had noble intentions but was very poorly planned,\nmanaged and executed. I think they forgot the most important thing: our people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ask these questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the use of having the best city with the best\nbuildings if we are not going to take care of it ourselves? What is the use of\nhaving the best economic reactivation with tourism, if we are not going to\noffer an excellent service. What is the use of having the best education if we\ndo not apply it with values \u200b\u200band principles?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is why it is very important not to reinvent the\nwheel. There are other examples of cities like Medellin and Guayaquil that we\ncan use and apply in Colon. Obviously we have to adapt these initiatives to our\nrealities but we can get the good out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In those cities, everyone (private company, civil\nsociety, local and national government) understood that they had to collaborate\nto move the cities forward, always putting people as a priority. In this way,\neveryone works together to reactivate the economy in a creative and innovative\nway. By reactivating the economy, more trained people are needed who can occupy\njobs and thus also encourage education and by reactivating the economy and\neducation, you also help improve security. It took Medellin more than 20 years\nto go from being the most violent city in Latin America to being the most\ninnovative and touristic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is the\ngreatest tourist asset that Colon has, why is it, and how can we empower it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe greatest tourist asset of\nColon is a sancocho and mixture of many things: culture, history, gastronomy,\nhistorical infrastructure, coasts, beaches and most importantly: the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only way to empower the province is through an\norganized plan that reactivates the economy, promotes investment, generates\njobs, rescues spaces and involves the people of Colon. That plan exists through\na law called Colon Free Port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Colon Free Port Special System is a law that is\nmore than 28 years old that makes the 16 streets of Colon a giant Duty Free\nthat promotes the sale of duty-free retail products. This promotes investment\nand the arrival of national and international tourists. Other places like Aruba\nhave implemented this and it has worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately this special system has not been well\napplied. It takes 3 things to make it work: will, marketing and technology. For\nthis reason, the private company is making efforts so that through the new\ncruise port of Colon 2000, Colon Free Port becomes a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cruise season begins in November 2022 and there\nare already shopping centers that are going to start operating “tax\nfree” in order to reactivate the Colon economy and promote niches that\nhave not been exploited such as traditional tourism and shopping tourism. In\nthis way you encourage investment and open the way to exploit and enhance the\nother benefits of Colon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Michael Chen<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Not including the most popular places like\nPortobelo, Isla Grande, and Fort San Lorenzo, \u00bfWhich is the tourist place with\nenormous potential that no one talks about?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my personal opinion, Colon City (16 streets) has\nthe greatest tourist potential in the country that nobody pays attention to. It\nis the best laid out city in Central America and has the potential to be an Old\nTown on steroids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I imagine Col\u00f3n City completely restored, full of\nlife, with recreational areas, with an economic reactivation promoted by\nnational and foreign capital and most importantly with its happy, joyful and\n\u201cecha pa ‘lante\u201d people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope that before reaching an old age I can see a\nrenewed city where we can all enjoy that \u201clittle cup of gold\u201d that my\ngrandparents experienced when they first came to this country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He arrived at Colon Chamber of Commerce at only 22 years, to dynamize it. After 12 years as an active member, he runs for president of the union and becomes the youngest president of the oldest Chamber in the country. Micheal Chen is convinced that Panama has a promising future due to its privileged location […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[33],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4856"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4865,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4856\/revisions\/4865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}