Picketers protest fibreglass boatyards
It’s a controversy that just can’t seem to be resolved through normal channels. So today a handful of irate citizens hit the pavement in front of the Belize City Council to protest what they claim is an environmental time bomb planted in their backyard. Jose Sanchez reports.
Jose Sanchez, Reporting
The picketers were upset about the presence of boatyards that they say are polluting their neighbourhoods. Francis Pollard claims that his constant illness is a result of inhaling fibreglass dust.
Francis Pollard, Protester
“Well the medicine is from when I was going to the doctor for five years. Every doctor I go to can’t tell me what’s wrong with me because sometimes I feel my skin itching me, sometimes I feel my chest hurting me. So when I went lately, one of the doctors told me, asked me where I was working, I told him where I worked and he said there is something near you that is affecting you. When I went I met another doctor, who told me that the fibreglass that Mr. Bradley is doing, you inhale it. You inhale it and it sickens you.”
Sonia Turner, Protester
“When Mr. Bradley got there, he had a small backyard. All of a sudden he had people come in a clean the boat. He never had fibreglass. Sudden now, when we looked we saw the fibreglass coming, we always go to Mr. Bradley and explained to him, but he never gave us any kind of satisfaction. But now he gone pass the mark because it is affecting the children and also us. When you look at us, sometimes we are sick. This young man and I, the two of us went into the bush. This poor man sometimes he can’t even go to work, some days he goes to work, some days he doesn’t.”
Jose Sanchez
“What about the children, exactly what happened to them?”
Sonia Turner, Protester
“Well, because of the fibreglass that messes up the children, they can’t even sit down, their buttocks have sores and also their feet. You go right now to the house, one of the baby has the biggest of sores, and can’t even put on shoes.”
The group is protesting against Bradley’s boatyard in Lake Independence and Belize Fibreglass Products at Bradley’s Crescent in Belama Phase II. Lindy Bradley, co-owner of Belize Fibreglass Products, says that her kids spend a lot of time on the compound and they have never been affected.
Lindy Bradley, Co-owner, Belize Fibreglass Products
“As you can see I have two of my kids here with me and they are pretty much young. If I thought this was all that health hazardous as she claims to the kids I wouldn’t even bring my kids to a location like this. I myself am an athlete, I have been working under these condition for the past six years and to date, I have had no kind of skin irritations. I must say for a fact whenever somebody works in something new if you are not used to any sort of work, sure there will be skin irritations, but it’s just lasting for a week and since then I haven’t had any kind of itches or anything on any part of my body.”
Part of the problem is that with a lack of zoning laws it is not an issue of who is right or wrong but more of what can be done now. Public Relations Manager for the Belize City Council, Paco Smith, says that they are doing what they can to find an amicable solution.
Paco Smith, Public Relations Manager, B.C.C.
“When you are addressing a situation as complex as this, there are many ways to look at it and conceptualise it. Unfortunately in relation to businesses such as these, fibreglass comes along with the territory. The Belize City Council has been addressing this situation for quite some time. We’ve been working in conjunction with the Department of the Environment and also Public Health. In relation to the boat yards that have been operating, three stop orders have already been in place.”
One of the three stop orders has been placed against Belize Fibreglass Products, but a check of the premises indicates that it’s business as usual.
Lindy Bradley
“I do agree that when we started the boatyard, the boatyard was not completely enclosed. We are trying our utmost best to have it completely enclosed by the end of August. City Council gave us a deadline, they have closed us down. I continue to operate, I say illegally, but I have a foreign market. I am bringing in foreign exchange into the country, we export boats to Turks and Caicos, Islands, Cayman Islands, the Virgin Islands and we have a dealership in Miami. So I think this was a plus to the foreign exchange to our country.”
Reporting for News 5, Jose Sanchez.
In the case of Bradley’s Boatyard near the Belcan Bridge, that area had originally been earmarked for industrial use and homes later grew up around it.
