San Nicolás de los Garza

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San Nicolás de los Garza
Coat of arms
Nickname: San Nicolás
Motto: In Unum Progedientet
Location of San Nicolás de los Garza in northern Mexico
Coordinates: 25°45′N, 100°17′W
Country	Mexico
State	Nuevo León
Founded	5 February 1597
Government
- Mayor	Zeferino Salgado ( PAN)
Area
- City	86.8 km²  (33.5 sq mi)
Elevation	512 m (1,679.8 ft)
Population (2005)
- City	476,761
- Density	5,493/km² (14,226.8/sq mi)
- Metro	3,664,331
Time zone	Central Time zone (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)	Central Daylight Time (UTC-5)
Website: http://www.sanicolas.gob.mx

San Nicolás de los Garza, sometimes known only as San Nicolás, is a city and coextensive municipality in Nuevo León, Mexico that is part of the Monterrey Metropolitan area. It has become basically a city for residencies and family houses, although it still has several factories that tend to relocate to the periphery of the metropolitan area. It is the third-largest city in the state, behind Monterrey and Guadalupe.

It houses the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (Autonomous University of Nuevo León), one of the most prestigious public schools in Mexico and Latin America.

According to Mexico's national development index, people that live in San Nicolás are among the happiest in the country, and have the greatest quality of life standard in the nation. San Nicolás, although less populated than Monterrey, has the higher population density.

Contents 1 History 2 Government 3 Economy 4 Education 5 Famous people 6 Sports 7 References 8 External links

[edit] History

San Nicolás de los Garza was funded on 5 February 1597 and given the name of Estancia de Pedro de la Garza (Pedro de la Garza's Establishment), then Estancia de San Nicolás (Saint Nicholas' Establishment) and finally Estancia de San Nicolás de los Garza. The first people that inhabited the terrain were natives, mostly nomads and savages. They were the Alazapas, the Ayalas and the Alincheños.

San Nicolás was funded right after Monterrey, when Diego de Montemayor gave permission to his secretary Diego Díaz de Berlanga, Pedro de Iñigo, Domingo Manuel, and Don Pedro de la Garza to inhabit the area. The members of these families are considered the first settlers of the city.

Diego Díaz de Berlanga was the person that redacted Monterrey's Foundation Act, and authorized the first land permissions to its first settlers.

In 1830 the area was declared to the category of village, with the name of San Nicolás de los Garza, in honor of the Saint Patron of the town. On 12 May 1970 it was declared a city.

[edit] Government

San Nicolás de los Garza is a municipality governed by a democratically elected Presidente Municipal (Municipal President or Mayor) for a period of 3 years with no right to reelection. The political environment is one of civility. Since the decade of the 80's, the PAN has remained in office.

The City Council of San Nicolás de los Garza (Cabildo de San Nicolás de los Garza) is an organ integrated by the Mayor, the Regidores and the Síndicos. The Mayor is the executor of the determinations of the City Council and the person directly in charge of the public municipal administration. The Regidores represent the community and their mission is to collectively define the city policies in all the subjects affecting it. The Síndicos are in charge of watching and legally defend the city interests, as well as in charge of watching the City Treasury status and the municipal patrimony.

The current Mayor of San Nicolás is Zeferino Salgado (PAN), who was elected in the past municipal election on July 2, 2006 and will remain in office until 2009.

The political parties with representation in the city are the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, the National Action Party or PAN, the Party of the Democratic Revolution or PRD, the Labor Party or PT, the Green Party, Convergence, Social Democratic and Farmer Alternative and Nueva Alianza.

[edit] Economy

In the first part of the 20th century, several important Mexican companies built factories in the municipality, making San Nicolás primarily an industrial center. Companies like Cemex (concrete), Vitro (glass), Peñoles and Hylsa (steel) were known for their large facilities in the city.

In the 70's, San Nicolás increased its reputation as a good place to live, and the municipality experienced a tide of house construction. This house construction boom was possible due to the fact that there were a lot of lands available within the territory of the city. In the 80's several industrial facilities moved to other municipalities, mainly to Apodaca, which is still within the Monterrey Metropolitan Area, but farther from downtown.

At the end of the 80's and beginning of the 90's, huge commercial centers or malls were constructed to serve the large population. The first economic activity became commerce instead of industrial production. The most important malls are La Fe (east), Las Plazas Outlet (northwest), Sendero (North) and Universidad Avenue.

[edit] Education

The main campus of the UANL, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (Autonomous University of Nuevo León) is located in this municipality. This university is the third largest Mexican university and is among the most recognized schools in Mexico, ranked by the Reader's Digest-AC Nielsen Survey 2005 as the top university (both public and private) in the northeast region of Mexico ^[1]. Its main campus is called Ciudad Universitaria (University City) with an approximate area of 67,630,000 square meters ^[2]. The UANL system comprises 26 colleges (faculties), 22 post-graduate divisions, 24 high schools (throughout the metropolitan area of Monterrey), 1 center of bilingual education and 3 technical high schools.

[edit] Famous people

• Petrita Domiguez de Avila
• Alicia Villarreal, singer
• Grupo Pesado
• Edgar Gonzalez pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks

[edit] Sports

This municipality is also the house of the University's First Division team, the UANL Tigres, which is rivaled by a competing team, the Club de Fútbol Monterrey.

[edit] References

• Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática
• Nuevo León Enciclopedia de los Municipios de México

[edit] External links

• Gobierno Municipal de San Nicolás de los Garza Official website

Coordinates: 25°45′N, 100°17′W