NICH parking Lot is no longer free for public use

The City Council has imposed a new fee on drivers. Parking at the NICH Parking Lot in downtown Belize City will now cost two dollars an hour. The property, which was previously available for free public parking, is for the City Council and the new fees are a way to generate revenue to cover costs for the street upgrades around the old capital. The area, Mayor Darrell Bradley says, has been developed and is manned by two security guards who double as collection agents. It opened on Monday.

Darrell Bradley, Mayor, Belize City

Darrell Bradley

“Well, this property has always been the City Council’s and we’ve had various proposals as to what to do to develop it. There has always been this concept to put a multi-story parking structure there; but as you may know we are going forward with our municipal bond and one of the areas that our financial advisors had advised us, that we could generate revenue from is parking around the system. And we have actually implemented a parking system at the NICH parking lot where we are charging on an hourly basis for parking in that area because when you look at the various parking facilities, for example, Romac’s Parking Lot, many people charge for the service and people pay for it; so it is an area where we can generate revenue from.”

Andrea Polanco

“Okay, so when it comes to the fees, can you break it down for us?”

Darrell Bradley

“We have an hourly rate which is two dollars per hour; we also have a daily rate which is fifteen dollars per day; we have a weekly rate which is sixty dollars and a monthly rate which is two hundred and seventy five dollars per month. What we’ve also been doing is that we’ve been communicating with members of the business community whose employees use the parking lot and to give them like a corporate rate to see how we can make it as easy as possible on persons trying to deal as best as possible with the businesses but also ensuring that we are generating revenues from parking to fund the kind of works we are doing.”

Andrea Polanco

“Now, I know it has only been implemented since Monday; yesterday; what has the response been like from the public?”

Darrell Bradley

“It has been very, very moderate. I drove out there Monday morning and I did an inspection of the area; we painted so that there are lines to mark the designated parking spots. We installed a security booth and there are two officers there at all times, so it’s now actually secured parking but when you look at it, the parking lot is almost bare; it’s something that Belizeans don’t like to pay for because traditionally we’ve never paid for parking but it is something that we have to get used to if we want the kind of city that people expects.”

Andrea Polanco

“Mayor, how would you respond to comments that realistically, you’re knocking the hustle of car washers and so on, who go out there to earn a living for the day?”

Darrell Bradley

“Well, it’s not really that we’re knocking them; we actually had a meeting with several people where we are looking at certain types of informal job opportunities in the down town area; people who shine shoes, which is very good, lucrative and respectable; people who wash vehicles and so on and we encourage that; it’s not a situation where we’re telling them that they can’t go in there and wash the vehicles but they have to then align themselves with the new structure which is in place, which is, that we are charging for the parking. It is a value that we are giving to persons and persons must then pay for it.”

The secure parking service is offered from six a.m. to six p.m. from Monday to Saturday. If you have questions and concerns on the implementation of that parking fee or any other issue, you can raise it with the mayor and councilors at a public meeting at the YWCA on Wednesday at six p.m..