They complained publicly and bitterly; they bawled on hard time wherever they could, but lament as they might, taxi drivers who operate from stands across Belize City have had to come up with rental fees to the City Council. Those fees go from $500 to $1,000 a month. Everybody paid, except one stand which operates from the corner of Princess Margaret and University Drives. Lead Negotiator Earl Acosta told us how he got out of paying city hall $500.
Earl Acosta, Taxi-man
"They were asking us to pay $500 per month and well of course we can't afford that so totally opposed that and another thing that we know is that we are on St. John's property, it is not the City Council's property. We have not paid and yesterday they sent one of their officers out here to tell us that our deadline has passed already so we will get towed away on Monday. We told them that we are not on City Council's property, we are on St. John's property."
Jules Vasquez,
But you spoke to the person at the City Council whose in charge of assessing?
Earl Acosta,
"Yes we spoke to her and she was great so this afternoon I and one of my colleagues went in there and spoke to the lady and the lady told us we don't have any problem and she will inform the Mayor that its St. John's property. We feel good that yes that we have declared that yes we are on St. John's property but yet we feel sorry for the other guys that are taxis like us who have to pay $1 a day. I don't know about other stands but I can tell you about mine and our stand is more a school type stand and right now we don't make any money. If we were a stand that makes money we wouldn't mind pay the $1 a day but we don't make any money out here. It's so slow and I think that's what the City Council or the government or whoever is charge should consider about a taxi. It's not just a taxi, its rough out here and its hard to pay $1 a day."
