Consulate and meeting

There is a meeting this Saturday at Sharon Stark's House. I would like to have it at 2:00pm because of work at 5pm. I will have to leave at around 4:30pm.

This is an update about the consulate from Sharon Stark-

Ah, the Mexican Consulate will NOT be in the Pink Baskin Robbins trailer at 3500 S University, but in a beige brick house across 36th street that is behind a strip shopping center that contains a Bank of America branch. Presently the new Mexican Consulate has signs that warning of ASBESTOS. (I could think of a couple more:Premises Dangers to Liberty and Freedom. Report Illegal Activity. Sharon Stark, Little Rock

Mexican Consulate sees delayAsbestos removal slows move to University Avenue offices
BY DANIEL NASAW ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEThe discovery of asbestos in the future home of Mexico’s Little Rock consulate has further delayed the office’s opening, now expected early next year, a Mexican official said Wednesday. Mexican Consul Andres Chao and his staff are working in an office in downtown Little Rock, where they moved last week after leaving state government office space provided virtually for free by the administration of Gov. Mike Huckabee. Chao said he had hoped to occupy the light brown, bungalow-style building in a strip mall at 3500 S. University Ave. in November, but legal difficulties and the asbestos removal have pushed back the opening until late January or early February. “When I came here, I tried to [move in] as soon as I can, to get to working with the community,” Chao said. “It’s a little complicated.” The Mexican government is renting the new building, and Chao said the owners were unfamiliar with the legal processes involved in contracting with a foreign government. The Mexican office is the first foreign consulate in the state, and Chao said attorneys spent six weeks hammering out the agreement. “It’s a little difficult to understand that the consulate is going to be part of Mexico,” Chao said. “We wasted a lot of time trying to put together, in the same communication channels, the lawyers for the owner and the lawyers for the foreign ministry of Mexico.” It took workers three weeks to remove the asbestos, a job completed last week. Now they’ve begun the remodeling. Huckabee in 2004 announced the plans to open a consulate in Little Rock, in part because of the growing Mexican presence in Arkansas.

Last July, Mexican officials moved into a small vacant office in a Little Rock building used by Arkansas Rehabilitation Services. The chief of that agency, Robert Trevino, had been Huckabee’s economic development adviser and point man on the consulate project. The space was to be unoccupied until November, and Trevino offered it after discussions with Chao’s assistant, Jorge Campos. The Arkansas Building Authority, which handles leases for state agencies, valued the office space at $572 per month. The consulate signed an agreement with Trevino to pay $1 a year. Trevino and Huckabee described the move as an intergovernmental courtesy, but others complained that a foreign government was using state space at below market rates. The Mexican Consulate will provide services to Mexican nationals and act as a liaison between U.S. and Mexican businesses. The consulate will supply consular ID cards to Mexican nationals, a service that provoked Republican complaints during the election campaign. Attorney general candidate Gunner DeLay of Fort Smith and lieutenant governor candidate Jim Holt of Springdale, both of whom lost to their Democratic opponents, said illegal aliens would abuse the cards, which can be used to open bank accounts. Holt and DeLay also said they were concerned about illegal aliens obtaining fraudulent cards. Chao said Mexicans seeking consular ID cards must produce their Mexican birth certificate and other original identification from Mexico.

This story was published Thursday, November 30, 2006