N.T.U.C.B. adopts Belize City park

As part of official celebrations for the fortieth anniversary of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, today the unionists adopted one of the oldest parks in the city. In partnership with the Belize City Council, N.T.U.C.B. officials say the initiative is an attempt to give back to the community.

Laura Esquivel, Councillor in Charge of Parks, Recreation and Beautification
?Well N.T.U.C.B. actually approached us and they said that they were interested in a park on the Southside that would have the most impact on people. And so we suggested this park and even though it seems a little small, it actually has, from when we were campaigning we know that there are, nine hundred registered voters in this neighbourhood. So that means that those registered voters then have children, so we felt that this park would give a lot of impact back to the community, if it was fixed up.?

Ray Davis, President, N.T.U.C.B
?Essentially this was one of the things that we had looked at in terms of community outreach. How do we get back to the basics as an organisation? When the National Trade Union and Trade unionism was at the apex of its popularity and activism, we were very close to the community and at the meeting we had, we thought that this was one of the ways to get back to the basics. How do you engage with the public? How do you talk back to people on the street? How do you get the person on the street to understand the struggle, and to understand that what we are doing is essentially to help the whole community? Adopting this park was an idea that we came up with so that in some tangible way, demonstrate that. It is an idea where we would re-engage the members of the community. It?s and idea where we ourselves would have to get down and dirty and do some work.?

Laura Esquivel
?I?d like to encourage everybody to help us keep Belize City clean. Please do not throw garbage on the streets of in the parks. Please don?t destroy the park equipment that we are working so hard to maintain, and please do not uproot any of the trees that are going to be planted. It?s for the residents of Belize City.?

The Belize City Council says plans are underway to renovate four other parks this year including the historic Battlefield Park.