New projects aims to renew downtown
The explosive growth experienced by Belize City in recent years has expanded the city’s limits to the Haulover Bridge in the north and the Burdon Canal in the west… And if you don’t believe that the urban area has grown, then you haven’t lived through rush hour on the Northern Highway. But with all the new developments, Belize City’s downtown area–on both sides of the Swing Bridge– has remained stuck in a time warp. This afternoon some important downtown politicians resolved to push the clock forward.
Stewart Krohn, Reporting
“For Prime Minister Said Musa and Minister of Tourism Mark Espat, it was a welcome break from the outside pressures of the Guatemalan claim and the ever fickle world of international tourism. No, today’s programme had to do with the more comfortable world of grass roots politics. So for this afternoon at least, Musa and Espat were area representatives–with a common goal of improving conditions in the downtown constituency they both share.
Mark Espat, Area Representative, Albert
“From the early logwood cutters of the 17th century whose base was mouth of the Haulover Creek, to the political revolutionaries of the 20th century, whose base was Battlefield Park, Belize’s roots are inextricably bound to this downtown area. Our blueprint calls for a coalition of business, national and civic governments, NGOs and citizens to undertake big initiatives and those that may be small but will yield big results. Making downtown brighter with new lights, cleaner with new garbage bins, safer with more police personnel, prettier with more paint are not revolutionary activities of themselves, but the aggregate change can be revolutionary.”
Whether by revolution or evolution, Fort George representative Musa recognized that change must come.
Said Musa, Area Representative, Fort George
“We will need more galleries, gift shops, cafés and entertainment outlets, and the new tourism village, a ten million dollar investment, will play a key role in cruise tourism development. Cruise tourism is an excellent example of a new priority. On the other hand, some challenges just don’t seem to go away. The right incentives to properly upkeep homes and buildings, adequate maintenance of all public areas and public lighting, and the efficient removal of commercial garbage, to mention but a few of the areas that limit the potential of the downtown area. We believe that a concerted effort can address these recurring problems.”
And problems in downtown Belize City are not easily hidden.
Stewart Krohn
“The big concrete buildings on Albert Street that have virtually no paint left on them, and we will show them in this newscast, what’s gonna happen with those?”
Mark Espat
“Well we are going to work with the owners to encourage them, by whatever means we can, to get those buildings painted. It is in their interests and in the interests of the community, so I think that we all have a stake in this.”
Stewart Krohn
“Could you name the owners so perhaps our viewers might know who they are?”
Mark Espat
“Well it’s a wide diversity of people, I not certain that I can…that any one individual jumps out, but we’ll try and bring as many people together as we can. I think once we get the ball rolling, then others will join.”
Stewart Krohn
“Let me mention another thing, I hesitate to call it a building, but the assemblage of boards and zinc that now sits at the southwest corner of the bridge foot, where a beautiful colonial building once stood in years gone by, what can we do about that Prime Minister?”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“It is no doubt an eyesore and indeed if you go further down up the Haulover Creek, you’ll see all these derelict vehicles. Minister Mark and I have been working very hard, we have to get those things cleared away. We will have to put some gentle pressure, or perhaps a little more than gentle, on the owners of that area right by the Swing Bridge because it is a terrible eyesore and we really have to do something about it.”
Stewart Krohn
“Despite all the good words about wanting to redevelop downtown, there will be no downtown if people from the rest of the city can’t get to downtown and move around once they’re there, specifically parking for private cars and public transport for people who we all know don’t even want to come downtown anymore because there’s no place to park. What are we gonna do?”
Prime Minister Said Musa
“Well we have a programme in place whereby through the Belize City Council and the Albert representative, we will be opening for tender for private entrepreneurs to come along to build a parking facility on that site just next to the former Central Bank, what is now the Prime Minister’s Office in front of Brodies. We believe that a parking facility there will make money and also serve a very useful purpose.”
While not even the most intoxicated politician would even claim that Belize City is beautiful, the fact is that the old capital is gradually becoming more livable… and the comeback of downtown would accelerate that trend. Stewart Krohn for News 5.
Aside from the standard political promises to improve everything from streets to drains, the plan specifically calls for the development of the old hospital site into a business park and to construct an upscale housing subdivision in the area formerly occupied by the Marketing Board.
