Tourism Village vendors prohibited from selling in certain areas
Pamela Reynolds
There was commotion at the Tourism Village this afternoon when a man attempting to sell his wares was roughed up by the police and taken in custody. His detention was followed by that of another vendor. It raised the ire of other vendors who claim they are being prohibited from selling in certain areas.
Pamela Reynolds, Vendor
“Weh happen today da mi wahn slow day, the young man stall deh right side ah mine so he ker wa three piece ah carving right round the lane deh. So they tell ah ih can’t sell deh, when he turn back the police gaan grab ah and eh start beat up ah, they hand cuff ah and ker ah da station. We d rail up out ya they come and they arrest wahn next man because he d talk, he noh the say nothing out a the way. He just say this da chance and thing and they ker he fi that. We da Belizean and we sell out ya, people could just come and go round deh go sell but we weh sell ya can’t go round deh. That da the problem weh we got out ya. Anybody could come, people way from Corozal come and go sell tamales round deh. We can’t even go sell a piece ah carving round deh. So we noh like that because we da Belizean, we born ya and grow ya. While they the arrest the man two man pass pan cart gwen go sell chips and thing down yonder. So why we can’t sell nothing?”
I knew this was eventually going to be a problem from the time I visited Belize and saw was being done to Memorial Park and the park by Princess. Yes, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with beautifying the place. We need to modernize and look decent. However, when I saw these boots being constructed in both parks I expressed some concern, specifically about the construction of the boots in Memorial Park. One, who was going to get access to those boots, two , it took away too much space from the park and also took away from the culture of what we once knew as Memorial Park. Also, I had a gut feeling that that entire area would cater to tourism, hence, making the streets more congested and cutting a lot of the hustle for the small vendors. Nothing against progress, but your ambitious mayor has become too overambitious without analytical thinking and no sense of micro nor macro economics. He has hurt Belize significantly by the senseless cementing of these streets, which are in disrepair and will have to be dug up due to lack of proper irrigation and engineering. He, his playboy dad and Juliet have visited Chetumal one time too many and is patterning Belize off downtown Chetumal. He forgot that Chetumal was planned and adequate measures were taken.