Following a three-week hiatus in California enjoying refreshingly cool weather, creature comforts and the love of my family, I am so relieved to be back in Vallarta.

Living extremely modestly and alone (well, with eight-plus cats), I ask myself, “Why?” – especially when niggling frustrations are the norm, like returning to find my phone still dead a month after workers cut my line while giving my neighbors a new one. And like having airport immigration stamp my working papers with the wrong date of exit and now having to line up to deal with their mistake. And on it goes …

Yet, this beautiful, wacky and never-a-dull-moment place tugs at my heart the way an outrageously spontaneous lover can thrill you and make you crazy at the same time.

A journalist and avid reader, within moments of landing I was eagerly soaking up the local newspapers the office had saved for me. I was pleased to see that we’ve learned to take precautions when hurricanes threaten and delighted, albeit bemused, that those unwieldy and dangerous turnstiles are coming off buses mere weeks after being welded onto 19 of them. What an exercise in futility! I don’t know of one passenger or driver who liked them from the beginning! When we at Producciones Viva spotted the first one, we immediately called the powers that be to voice our concern about the wisdom of barring people from quickly getting on and off of our all-too unpredictable buses. “It’s been well considered,” was the immutable tenor of the response. Now, “The Times” reports, “State law prohibits the use of barrier-type obstacles on public transportation for safety reasons.” Okay. “Whatever,” as the grandchildren I was visiting would say.

The 11-year-old has the disconcerting habit of barraging everyone with verbal bombs that shock and horrify, suffixing them with “Just kidding.” “So why say it if you don’t mean it?” I’ve asked him repeatedly. Seeing the surprised look on his face, I realize he no more knows the answer to that than our officials seem to – especially when it comes to plunging into highly touted projects that end up as embarrassing wastes of time and money. Take the hastily erected Paso Ancho and Los Muertos bridges, for example. The former has sunk 15 centimeters in mere months and the later has sat 90% completed, ugly, and an accident waiting to happen for just about as long. And while lifeguard stands on beaches full of amateur swimmers are a good thing, why plop them down just to have them removed days later for lack of permits?

I must admit, the city’s recently presented 25-Year Urban Plan for Puerto Vallarta is an encouraging wish list calling for more green areas, bike paths and finally getting the buses out of downtown, which now has 1,100 public parking spots. Plans call for nearly 5,000 more and nine new parking lots.

It estimates the resident population will be 543,000 by 2025, about double what it is now, and already traffic’s a problem. Plans also call for a new highway between Guadalajara and PV and making Vallarta a homeport for cruise ships, so passengers will spend additional time and money here. As it stands, about 95% of those of us who work here do so in tourism-related industries.

Our watchdog ecology group pretty much gives the plan the thumbs up, while stressing how vital it is to ensure that land next to steams and estuaries remains unsold and undeveloped so water is not diverted and the environment adversely affected.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about what you’re reading, you’re encouraged to let me know at heather@mexmags.com.