Northside neighbourhood makes improvements
With its abundant nightlife, not to mention the pleasant environment of B.T.L. Park, it’s a popular area for Belize City residents, no matter what side of the Haulover Creek they come from. And now Patrick Jones finds that the area north of the Barracks is getting even better…with one major exception.
Patrick Jones, Reporting
The small strip of land on the northeast point of Princess Margaret Drive is getting a facelift thanks to area residents who have come together to beautify the sea front. According to Belize City Councillor Austin Waight, who has the portfolio for City Planning and Zoning, the intention is to turn the area into a park.
Austin Waight, Belize City Councillor
“To me it’s very good to see the residents come together to do something beautiful for Belize City. I hope all across the country that residents will start getting together to beautify their areas. Whether it’s a rich area or a poor area, I believe if you have the want and the initiative, you put the initiative to do something good, it will happen.”
And to make the Princess Margaret Drive beautification project happen, Waight says some minor inconveniences have had to be imposed on park-goers to allow the idea to come to fruition.
Austin Waight
“First of all, we brought in these rocks to kind of stop the cars from coming up in the evening or late at night, having a big party out here every evening, so we can develop the park. After that, we have done some planting of plants, B.E.L. donated the lighting system that’s out here and we also got some help from the Mayor of Belmopan with some of the palm trees and the residents from the neighbourhood bought some of the palm trees as well to plant, so it’s a work in progress really.”
But while progress has been made in lifting the ambience of the area, it only heightens the contrast with a building that may be the city’s number one eyesore. Waight says several attempts have been made to get the owner, Edilberto Babb, to clean up his act… all to no avail.
Austin Waight
“Well the Council has been in constant communication with the owners of the building to try and beautify that building or fix it up. Every now and again, we write them letters and we still haven’t gotten any proper response from the owners. But we keep trying to explain to them that we need to beautify that area as well.”
But while the owner of the structure continues to drag his feet in bringing his property inline with the standards of the others in the area, Waight says it has not gotten to the point yet where demolition is an option.
Austin Waight
“I think this building is a very big building. It won’t be very easy to tear down. It looks to me like they are always working on it, just that there is no real plan and we keep behind them to fix it. The other buildings that we tear down are very unsafe buildings or where there is drug activity and where it’s abandoned.”
Waight says that when the beautification project is completed, the residents will decide whether they want to attach a name to the park. Patrick Jones, for News 5.
The owner of the dilapidated building mentioned in the story told Patrick Jones that he is aware of the complaints against his property. He says he is in the process of “fixing up” to the best of his ability, but that his efforts may not be on a scale that is acceptable to area residents or the City Council. CITCO, meanwhile, provides assistance to the beautification project in the form of cleaning and a backhoe for the upkeep of the park.
