Chancellor Worried That Visitors Will San José as Dirtiest City
May 8 may the only time that Josefinos (residents of San José) will see they city clean and deplete of smells, as the city is readied for the transfer of presidential powers.

Roberto Tovar, Costa Rica's Chancellor, confirmed the alarming dirtiness of the downtown city streets and sidewalks and is troubled that the international guests visiting the country will have a bad image of Costa Rica.

So, Tovar is asking the Partido Liberación Nacional (PLN) to put aside some of the ¢100 million colones (us$1.9 million dollars) it will spend on the festivities, for a "general cleaning" of the city.

Tovar added that perhaps president-elect Arias has not tought of this, he thinks it would nice to present San José's better and cleaner face.

"I am worried that we present ourselves as the most dirty country that anyone can know, with streets and sidewalks filled with garbage", were the words of Tovar.

The comment did not sit well with San José mayor, Johnny Araya, who firmly said that that is not the case with San José. "Not only do we pick up garbage daily, we have some 10.000 children and groups of women organized in cleaning up the city", said Araya.

"There are some problems in some areas, especially in empty lots and home to indigents, but we are beefing up our cleaning program over the next several weeks because we know the city will be ost to a great event", added Araya.

Given that, Rafael Arias, an official with the Municipality of San José, revealed that, coincidentally, during the coming week, every evening they will be be washing down sidewalks and storm drains. Arias said the work is part of an ongoing program by the city, that includes the removal of vendors on the sidewalks and crusades to rescue indigents in the city core.