Entertainment Industry Di Tek Lick under Stiff S.O.E. Curfew
Most businesses are now open, from hotels to casinos to boledo, but tonight, we have the story of those that are not. Along the entertainment strip on Princess Margaret Drive, Belize City, night life has come to halt. Since the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed at the beginning of April, night clubs were shuttered and have remained so for months. Business owners say every passing day they remain closed, they go deeper and deeper in debt and there is no telling when business will resume. From Chicken Dread to the Sit and Sip, the strip is like a ghost town at night. Here is News Five’s Isani Cayetano with a report.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
The financial impact of the present state of emergency on the entertainment industry is stifling the livelihoods of many who earn their keep from the city’s nightlife. Once an area teeming with activity, the strip, as it is popularly known, is but a shell of its former self. Gone are the seemingly endless parties at Sit N Sip or wild weekends at Thirsty Thursday. Along with the club scene, a vital part of the local economy has also disappeared.
Zachary Reich
Zachary Reich, Proprietor, Sit N Sip
“There seems to be no date as to when we are going to be open. It’s very hard for us to budget at this point; we still have bills to pay. We still have rent to pay, electricity to pay, our employees are displaced and it just seems indefinite at this point. I mean we have our facilities here, we’ve been closed down, you know, and at this point there’s no way forward.”
That uncertainty, in the face of a stringent curfew, continues to crush these businesses. The economy is slowly reopening, but not fast enough for these establishments to get back on their feet. Shisha, formerly the Tap Room, underwent a complete renovation in anticipation of the summer months. It wasn’t open for more than a week when Daniel Schakron was forced to pull down the shutters.
Daniel Schakron, Proprietor, Shisha
“Definitely, as the months, weeks go by, days, we’re losing. There’s not an exact amount on how much or what but it’s definitely a big loss for us.”
In early April, during the COVID-19 outbreak in Belize, all nightclubs, restaurants and bars were summarily closed as part of a countrywide lockdown. Some establishments have since been allowed to reopen with the relaxation of stiffer SOE measures, but no consideration seems to be given to nightclubs since they are viewed and treated as non-essential services.
Zachary Reich
“As anyone in this industry might know, the beginning of the year we would usually pay for the various licenses we need to operate which would be our trade license, our liquor license and weekly. For Sit N Sip, we have a nightclub license and we’ve already paid three thousand dollars for our nightclub license and our trade license, we’ve already paid four thousand, nine hundred and fifty dollars and, like I said, that’s just money that was spent that by this time we were planning to try to recoup those expenses to try to continue on for the rest of the year but at this point it just seems indefinite.”
Across the street, Thirsty Thursday has been in existence for the past ten years. Since the lockdown, everything has been put on hold.
Linford Rosado
Linford Rosado, Proprietor, Thirsty Thursday
“We have always been a hybrid kind of a business, we’ve always enjoyed the night thing and we’ve thrown in some food and so on. But we are not known as a restaurant, we are more known as a nightspot. So we have kind of taken advantage of the food part and we have tried to reopen and, you know, redo that part of our business but it just hasn’t been enough and so the workers are still out there. We are trying to see if we can build back something.”
That process is severely crippled by the restriction of movement under the state of emergency. Admittedly, Prime Minister Barrow has said that the curfew also serves to contain crime and violence. It’s a case, however, where the good are paying for the bad.
Dean Barrow
Prime Minister Dean Barrow
“I think it’s a question of our getting a bit of extra bounty by keeping in place the curfew which is principally and which was generated in consequence of the need to restrict movement because of COVID-19, trying to contain the spread of COVID-19, but undoubtedly a byproduct had been certainly containment of gang-related activity, particularly in Belize City and gang-related murders.”
Reopening when the S.O.E. is lifted at the end of the month means adopting new protocols for nightlife.
Zachary Reich
“We have definitely put some thought into that. I don’t believe we can reinvent the wheel. There are standard sanitary procedures that would need to be followed. At this point, we all know what those are: the mask, sanitize your hands, you know, just proper hygiene, you know. So my entire issue with what is happening is that we were never brought to the table. There is no conversation that ever happened to say, you know what, if you want to reopen come up with a road map to reopening. It just seems as though we have been left to one side. And you touched on a very important thing, the powers that be, or those in charge may not look at our industry as something of importance. This term essential business or essential services has been thrown around loosely for months now. Now to me, my business is essential to me and those who benefit from my business and if you look at it, it‘s an entire ecosystem that surrounds our businesses.”
And that ecosystem has been weakened by a lack of activity on the strip. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
