Mayor decries loss of downtown parking lot
If you own a vehicle and work downtown you know that the daily search for a parking space can mean drama. But if you think things are tight now, just wait.
In 1990, after the water tank on the property was dismantled, the Belize City Council got permission from the Ministry of Lands to use the available space for a much-needed public parking lot. Today, however, that prime piece of real estate has become the subject of a controversy.
According to Belize City Mayor Jose Coye, prior to the 1993 General Elections, Central Government planned to construct a parking facility on the lot that would accommodate up to two hundred vehicles.
Jose Coye, Mayor, Belize City
“We were approached by a Belizean entrepreneur, who had been in communication with the Central Government, to put up a multi-level parking facility. There we gave our approval also because we met with the entrepreneur. A plan was presented to us, an artist concept, a model in fact. They had reached the stage of a model where they would have been able to accommodate about two hundred vehicles.”
But when the next government came to power, the newly appointed Minister of Lands, Dito Juan apparently shelved the parking lot proposal and leased the property to one Doctor Stanley Hoy.
Jose Coye
“A clinic can be somewhere else. You have a variety of venues where you can place a clinic, but you can only put a parking lot where a parking lot is needed. So we thought indeed the parking lot continues to remain a priority use for that land.”
Those people who presently depend on the lot for parking, have not only signed a petition to stop the move, but have publicly expressed their concerns. One set of workers who will be affected are the employees of the Broadcasting Corporation of Belize.
Karla Heusner, News Director, B.C.B.
“I use it every single day for my job and most, well not most, but a lot of people I work with, do also and the people in the surrounding buildings. I think it is a very good idea to have a clinic. However, the problem is, if they are not going to offer an alternative to the parking, then the people who park here are going to have a huge problem.”
Heusner says the traffic can get extremely hectic on Fridays, as that’s when the banks are most heavily used. On that day drivers find themselves circling the block several times before either find a parking space or give up in despair. Equally concerned about the move are the employees of Brodies.
Reuben Vargas, Manager, Brodies Hardware Store
“It will affect us in one way, because that parking lot is used by the majority of our people who work at Brodies here and if they would facilitate something else or somewhere else for us to park, then it shouldn’t be a problem for most of us who work at Brodies who park out here.”
The removal of the parking lot will not only affect drivers. For the last two years, Emelita Juarez has been selling food and drinks from out of her booth on the lot.
Emelita Juarez, Food Vendor
“I don’t feel good about it because it will really upset my business. If they move me from here, I don’t know where else I can go.”
A concern as well for Errol Hall, who has been washing vehicles here for over ten years.
Errol Hall, Car Washer
“I feel it will affect me because it will take away your bread and so, and like you know it come sudden on we, you know.”
Coye contends that the decision to lease the land, is just one more example of a Central Government’s lack of consultation with local authorities, who are responsible for planning.
Jose Coye
“Yes, it is illegal and it smacks of hypocrisy because the Central Planning Committee was established back in 1994 and it made good sense, because how can you have a Central Housing and Planning for the whole country? But here was Belize City where the City Council would have no say in the planning of the city.”
Coye says the council does not want the parking lot to be converted for any other use without the approval of the City Planning Committee. To date, Coye says, the City Council which heads the committee, has yet to receive any application or notice for review from the Ministry of Lands. When we contacted Minister Dito Juan, he said he had no comment.
Jacqueline Woods
“But while Minister Dito Juan would not speak to us about the issue, three weeks ago in an interview with the B.C.B., the minister did acknowledge leasing this parking lot and promised that parking space within the compound will be made available. A promise that one driver and employee of the B.C.B says is just not possible.”
Colive Cabral, Programming Director, B.C.B.
“There’s going to be a hospital, nursing home, a medical facility built there. We don’t see how parking will be available for all the people who use it now when that facility is built. So yes, there is concern.”
A concern we tried to take to Doctor Stanley Hoy, but he was unavailable for comment. In the meantime the parking lot continues to remain open and that’s the way the City Council and Belize City drivers and workers would like to keep it.
The parking problem in Belize City and district towns has also been aggravated by the tremendous increase over the last decade in the number of Belizeans who have purchased vehicles. Progress, as they say, brings problems.
