W. Landivar citizens adopt park

It has always been considered one of Belize City’s nicest neighbourhoods but West Landivar has never been called a hotbed of news … that is until its residents started to organise. News Five’s Marion Ali has the latest from the area.

Marion Ali, Reporting
Today the West Landivar Citizens’ Action Committee and the Belize City Council, represented by Councilor Laura Esquivel, signed documents for the Committee’s adoption of Dolphin Park. For the next three years, the Committee will be responsible for maintaining the park and keep it aesthetically appealing. The park is situated adjacent to a portion of land that businessman David Gegg intends to develop. The announcement came nine days after the Committee held a meeting to denounce Gegg’s project. Perla Perdomo, said that despite the suspicious timing, this was not the motivation for the adoption.

Perla Perdomo, V.P., W. Landivar Citizens Action Committee
“The residents of West Lanidvar want to maintain the park, we want to maintain it secure and we want to beautify it a bit for the community.”

Marion Ali, Reporting
“Is the real reason or motive behind the adoption to garner public support for your position against David Gegg’s development which is to be located just adjacent to this park?”

Perla Perdomo
“No, because before we were aware of the situation with Mr Gegg, I had approached the City Council to see about the adoption. As you know, I also work at Travelers Limited and we adopted the park in Buttonwood so I had spoken already to Ms. Esquivel.”

The move was welcomed by City Councilor, Laura Esquivel, whose portfolio includes parks and beautification.

Laura Esquivel, City Councilor responsible for Parks & Beautification
“Well the conditions are standard; they didn’t actually request anything unique. They just want to beautify, they want to install new lights, they just spoke to me they would like a telephone booth in here. They’re also looking at getting a permanent park warden out here, so they want to put a security booth out here. And I know that they’re gonna be planting some more plants—and like I said—installing more lights, and basically renovating the little bit that is left to be renovated in this park.”

As far as the Committee’s concerns over Gegg’s development proposal, they feel the battle is not yet over.

Perla Perdomo
“I don’t feel that we have won, I would call it, won the case because until we get something in writing that tells us that the marina will not be built here, I don’t think that we can claim victory.”

Gegg has pointed out that there are several other large developments in the West Landivar area, including a plastic bag company, supermarkets, and apartment buildings that are of similar scale to his project. Perdomo disagrees.

Perla Perdomo
“I’m not sure about the plastic company if it’s just a place that they’re putting bags together. I don’t know if they’re actually producing plastic there so that is very different and it’s a little bit outside of the immediate West Landivar area.”

“These are quite different from the commercial project that Mr. Gegg is planning to put here. You’re talking about fifty-six boats. If you look around Belize City, if you go to Old Belize, there is not one single place that has the capacity to park fifty-six boats. I think Old Belize has the capacity for forty-five or forty-eight boats. They don’t reach that number. You go in front of Radisson, they don’t have the capacity. You go to the Princess, they don’t have the capacity. So this is a magna project.”

While the legal battles continue over the land beside the park, Councilor Esquivel is appealing for similar adoptions of other parks within Belize City.

Laura Esquivel
“We still have the Belama Park in the Belama phase two area. We also have the Fred Westby Park which is at the end of Albert and Regent Street. One very small park that needs a lot of help is the Louise Bevans Park at the end of Central American Boulevard. We have so many, but we have a full list at the City Council if anybody is interested.”

The West Landivar Citizens’ Action Committee will hire a night time caretaker and will conduct fundraising activities in order to maintain the park. Reporting for News Five, I am Marion Ali.