Street side vendors selling fruits and vegetables have become a hallmark of downtown Belize City but the news tonight is that they may soon be a thing of the past. As part of the $8.9 million re-pavement and redesign of Albert and Regent Streets, the vendors will be permanently relocated. They were told as much in a meeting yesterday. The good news for the time being is that the re-pavement of Albert and Regent Streets has been delayed again. The City Council announced yesterday that the project has been pushed back two months to allow the utility companies time to complete their upgrading works and for the Fire Department to install new hydrants. But once those works begin, the vendors will have to move and they say don’t won’t leave without a fight.
Delmia Lemus, Fruit Vendor
“40 years me sell on Albert Street. If have to move to I will be worried….the corner is where I make my business….I sell at the corner. I don’t sell clothes, I don’t sell shoes, me sell fruits, tamales, on Albert Street and people pass and they buy.”
But now Delmia Lemus worries that she will be moved from the corner she’s been selling fruits and vegetables for 4 decades. She has good reason to be concerned because she along with other fruit vendors at the corner of Albert and Church Streets received this letter from the City Council yesterday.
Gisela Campos, Fruit Vendor
“If they decided to fix the street I thought they would leave us here but apparently they say they are going to make us go in the park but I don’t think there will be any business in the park. I feel like it is better out here. They see it their way and we see it our way so I guess all of us will have to get together and protest because we find that we are going to do better business here than in the park.”
Keith Swift,
So you received this letter to go to meeting. Will you go?
Gisela Campos,
“Yes Sir I will.”
Keith Swift,
The other vendor was telling me she doesn’t mind paying more, as long as she gets to stay here because this is where the money is made. Do you agree?
Gisela Campos,
“Yes Sir I agree with that.”
Keith Swift,
But they are saying to have a proper downtown area we can’t vendors here because the area looks cramped.
Gisela Campos,
“Why after all these years they decide they want to fix it? Why all of a sudden they want to fix the street?”
Keith Swift,
They will say its upliftment.
Gisela Campos,
“Well I find that it will be hard, nobody will actually want to go in the park and buy.”
Deputy Mayor Anthony Michael disagrees.
Anthony Michael, Deputy Mayor
“We are looking to try and relocate the vendors to one central location based for cleanliness, for aesthetics, for security. Having the vendors downtown Belize City, it impedes the flow of traffic, sometimes the place they are soiled and stuff like that and we don’t really want to stop them from selling, we encourage young entrepreneurs to go into business and stuff but as an elected body, we got to do the right thing and we have to try to create the best environment for them and for the customers.
We want to work with everybody in partnership, I will be walking out there personally, meeting with the vendors and reassuring them that the City Council is here to work with everybody. We’re also in the redesigning of Battlefield Park. Some of these vendors, we will encourage to try and seek a spot within Battlefield Park to sell their produce and we welcome that. We want to work with everybody.”
The move will be part of a radical redesign of downtown Belize City. The good news for vendors is that work has been delayed to facilitate the utility companies and churches.
Anthony Michael,
“We have been in consultation with all the utility companies and with the chamber of commerce with the churches, Wesley and Anglican Cathedral College, joining in partnership for their advice, for their consultation to see how it is best for us to go about this project. We are spending a lot of money in re-beautifying Belize City, especially downtown and we think it is best for us to take our time to do it right. Works will start on the sidewalks and we appeal to the vendors and to the customers and to the residents to just take time when they are traversing along Albert and Regent because some work will be going on. We are trying to cater the work more in the night when the stores are closed at nine people will see work start going on there.
Everything will or should be completed within two months, that’s with the lighting, the replanting of the plants, the proper drainage, that is a major concern for us, to make sure we do proper underground drainage. The total resurfacing of the street, after the completion with the utility companies, within two months we should have downtown Belize City beautiful.”
The City Council met with the fruit vendors yesterday and confirmed that they will have to move from Albert Street. Most likely it will be to the Battlefield Park. When work begins on Albert Street, the vendors will be temporarily relocated to the street corners. The upgrading and redesign of Albert Street should be completed by the end of May. Deputy Mayor Anthony Michael says the council also plans to repave Central American Boulevard and Neal’s Pen Road.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
