alternative. At that time, much of the borough of Iztapalapa was undeveloped and contained farmlands, although it had been growing. City and federal officials decided to move wholesale food sales to a new facility to be built on “chinampa” farmland, with the goal of providing better entrance and egress, more space for vendors and be better for the environment. La Merced was not shut down, but rather became focused on retail sales, still mostly in food products, but not exclusively. The relatively open land in Izatapalapa meant not only a larger facility but the construction of wider and better roads for shipping. However, the land that was appropriated for the project in the 1970s, was the last of the pre Hispanic chinampas in Iztapalapa, artificial islands originally near lake shore created for agriculture. The establishment of the Central de Abastos would effectively eliminate this tradition in this part of the city. Construction of the new facility began in 1981, designed by Abraham Zabludovsky . The project allowed for large scale excavations to be held in the area, important as it was part of the Culhuacan dominion and important up until Aztec times as the site of the Cerro de la Estrella and the New Fire ceremony. There was not time to excavate everything before construction, so archeologist covered unexcavated structures with protective material called “geotextile” to preserve them for future excavations. Construction was finished in 1982 and the facility was inaugurated in November of the same year, by President José López Portillo . It was considered to be the most important infrastructure project of the decade. Since that time, the market has remained very important, but its establishment has created a number of problems. Since the 1970s, the borough of Iztapalapa around the market, has grown tremendously and now it is over 90% urbanized. This has returned the traffic related problems that plagued the La Merced market. This is particularly true on the north side which opens onto Eje 3 Oriente, which is the main access to the facility. Another problem is the amount of refuse that the facility generates. Neighbors next to the federally owned property have complained of large mounds of trash accumulating on the periphery. In some areas, such as on the Eje 6 roadway, the garbage spills over into the public venue, along with rocks and chemicals. However, the most serious problem to have plagued the