United Sates Embassy Facebook photo       Over 500 Ticos will join this large group of runners for one of the most well-known marathons in the world.
500 Costa Ricans will join in on the Chicago marathon in October
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff Over five hundred Costa Ricans will be running in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 8. According to a statement from the U.S. Embassy, the Ticos will be one of the six largest representations worldwide and third in Latin America following México and Brazil. The embassy said that the number surpasses participants from Germany, France, Spain and India.	Leading the charge will be José Jiménez of the Coopenae Atletismo team and will also be the only Latin American representative in the wheelchair category. The group will participate for the fifth consecutive year. “The Chicago Marathon will celebrate its 40th edition and is one of the World Marathon Majors,” a statement from the embassy said. “About two million people will support in the streets along with thousands of volunteers who will shout ‘Pura vida Costa Rica!”

San José Centro announces the construction of municipal theater

By Rommel Téllez of the A.M. Costa Rica staff The Municipalidad de San José plans to build a Municipal Theater in the district of Hatillo. The architectural plans are ready and the municipal council has accepted them as a donation to start to take further steps. This was confirmed to A.M. Costa Rica by Luis Diego Miranda, a member of the municipal council who also said the project has a lot of support from the other members. According to Miranda, the Municipalidad de San José has already set aside about $900,000 to kickstart the development of the theater during the second half of 2018. He also explained the project includes only the construction of the building and not a staff theater company, as was true in the past with the creation of the Compañía Nacional de Teatro during the 70s. “I believe the amount budgeted will suffice to get the idea going,” said Miranda. “Normally those constructions take a lot more money than that.” The property on which the theater would stand belonged to the Instituto Nacional de Vivienda y Urbanismo, but it was transferred to the Municipalidad de San José after an agreement over some debts was reached.

Zürcher Arquitectos is the firm who donated the plans, as confirmed by Fabián Rivera, its director. However he declined to provide details as of the style, capacity and purpose of the new theater. These same questions were sent to Marta Araúz, the general manager, but she did not respond. Despite some apparent secrecy from the communications department at the Municipalidad and also from other workers related to the project, A.M. Costa Rica learned that this past Monday, an audience to discussed the best way to manage a theater and a possible feasibility study took place in the third floor of the building at 9 a.m. The audience is a tool provided by the law when a public organization needs to buy a good or service but does not know much about the subject. The information provided by the participants may then be used to create an official public bidding of the project. Most of the theaters located in San José belong are administered by the government through the Ministerio de Cultura and the Teatro Popular Melico Salazar. Smaller ones belong to private enterprises.