Finding a gap (pt. 2): The owners of the street in Santa Cruz.

Wherever there is a high demand of parking space in Santa Cruz, you will find car watchers ("cuida autos") at the scene. Car watchers offer to look after cars in return for a voluntary amount of money. Highly frequented spots like the city centre, theatres, parks, markets or restaurants are allegedly embedded in public space, so why should citizens pay for taking use of it? Initially, thievery and other insecurities were common problems in the city, of which some people took the opportunity to make a business out of the situation by taking care of cars. Today, many Cruceños complain about the obligatory character, since denying the "voluntary" service in some cases reportedly leads to aggression or to damages of the car. Within the informality, a division of territory is established amongst the car watchers, which normally take care of a couple of streets. Although there are different views on this topic, the phenomenon of the car watchers - or also called "the owners of the street" - is socially accepted in Santa Cruz. #cuidaautos #carwatchers #cars #dueñosdelacalle#ownersofthestreet #parking #parkingspace#informalsector #informality #primeranillo #santacruzdelasierra#departamentodesantacruz #bolivia #latinamerica