Mennonites moved from North Front St.
We all want smoothly flowing traffic in the city, but then again, part of the excitement of Belize City life is having to deal with the street side vendors, cars and trucks that stop where ever they feel like it and bikes and pedestrians dodging in and out. For the past 20 years or so, some of the Mennonites from Shipyard in Orange Walk have been a regular part of this street scene. Every Friday and Saturday they make the 70-mile journey to Belize City to sell furniture. They set up shop on North Front Street where any available space is used as showroom, loading zone and everything in between. This week, the Belize City Council said, “Enough is enough” and sent an eviction notice to the furniture vendors. The Mennonites aren’t the only ones upset.
Leonard Rodriguez, Bicycle Cart Driver
“I don’t like how they want to move the Mennonites because on Fridays and Saturdays, that’s where I come to earn my daily bread, on those two days when the Mennonites come out here. So I think it’s wrong what they are doing to them.”
Janelle Chanona
“You are out here hustling?”
Leonard Rodriguez
“Yes, that’s right. I have a bicycle cart and I hustle out here. And out here is the best place for the Mennonites to be.”
Ben Neufeld, Furniture Vendor
“We’re going to try if we could stop it. If we could stop all this that we don’t have to move because this is the best place to sell. If we go in a next place, it’s a bad problem. We have nothing to store right there.”
On any given Friday, getting anywhere in Belize City takes a lot of time sitting in traffic. For two decades North Front Street has gotten a little more action than the other streets because of the Swing Bridge, Holy Redeemer School and the City Council says the Mennonites. But the Mennonites set up their wares long before the cars start to arrive. They come before daylight to unload their wares. They say neither the set-up, nor the selling blocks traffic, at least not for long.
Ben Neufeld
“When they load the furniture right here sometimes, it takes just one or two minutes. Then they going, that’s all. Sometimes, they just park on that side, we load the furniture and they going. There’s lot of other traffic other than our traffic park here.”
David Fonseca, Mayor, Belize City
“Even if they have their furniture in the yard next to the streets, it still creates a traffic problem. In addition to the traffic problem, these people are out there from 4:30 in the morning and they start to assemble these furnitures creating a huge amount of noise disturbing the peace and that’s another offence. And we need to take all concerns into consideration, not only their concerns but other citizens as well.”
Valdemar Heredia, Landlord
“I’ve been renting to these Mennonites for the past 10 years or more. Before that, they were the original owners and I bought it from them and since then, I’ve been renting it to them. I have not gotten any complaints to say about them, they are very good people, very good neighbors.”
“Who actually is blocking the traffic are the Belizean people, excuse me, the cartmen that are hustling to make a small living as well. The lights contribute towards blocking the traffic, the school up ahead contributes to blocking of the traffic.”
Janelle Chanona
“As far as you can see, who’s the one blocking traffic and creating congestion?”
Leonard Rodriguez
“Traffic always block, without the Mennonites there. And everyday traffic block. What City Council needs to do is to have two traffic man out here on Fridays to see what is happening on the traffic.”
David Fonseca
“We have just finalized a traffic plan for that area in front of the marine terminal which will be implement shortly. Again it is one area that is being used to satisfy one specific activity but we also need to take into consideration all the other activities taking place in those specific areas, we need to have concern and consideration. We need to put law and order into whatever is happening in the city. And this is how we are approaching it.”
The Belize City Council has made space in the temporary market available to the Mennonites to sell their furniture. Fonseca says they will also assist in advertising their new location through the media. The Mennonites say they will seek legal advice before making a decision. Both parties will be meeting next week to discuss the issue.
