DJ Tambran - his music store at the foot of the swing bridge is a fixture of downtown Belize City - always blasting out the most current tunes.
But after 14 years at the bottom of the Commercial Center - the City Council wants him gone!
There are two - and possibly three - sides to this story. But we'll start with Tambran's. He's been closed for the past few weeks - because he doesn't have electricity - and he says it's all a part of the city council's plot to get him out of there for political reasons because he ran for the PUP in the last municipal elections:
Lennox DJ Tambran Young - Claims Unfair Treatment From City Hall
"Jules, well, this week will make 3 weeks that I don't have any electricity. What happens is that my business has to operate with electricity because I sell CD's and DVD's. This is a music store. What happened here is that about 2 months ago, we had problems with my meter. I personally feel that I'm being sabotage because out of everybody on this building, only I don't have electricity. And the way I look at it is that the technicians for the City Council, and the electrician came over. They told me that they found a line that has been burnt, and they will replace. It told them no problem. I asked them what they will do for me because I need to sell my CD's. They told me that they will give me a temporary connection, and whenever they finished fixing my problem, they would remove it. A weekend I came back to work. I put on my switch, and I had no lights. I went inside to see the market manager, and she told me that she got orders from Ms. Burke at City Hall to take the temporary line from me. I was really upset because I am saying what's left for the City Council to do to me now? Obviously, we are having a long dispute for years, from the last Mayor, Ms. Zenaida Moya. I suffered damages at this shop, and we were trying to work out a good agreement so that we could move forward. Mr. Darrell Bradley took over, and he knows about the situation and that we have these disputes long ago. I explained long ago, 'Darrell, I know I have rent for you guys, but you owe me thousands of dollars in damages on my place suffered from the leakage of your building. So, hear what will happen. We will settle this out of court because this is not a big matter.' I agreed. I waited for a couple weeks. When I meet him he always tells me that he has my check. One day he told me to come for the check. We went over there for the check; he looked at me and told me that he will write this check, but this check will tell me that I will have to leave the building when I write it. I told him that it didn't make any sense. Why would he give me my check for damages, and then tell me to leave my place where I've been for 14 years? I told him that something is wrong. But it seems to me that he has some friends who want my place. That's the only reason I could come up with. This politics thing, this is one of my best months, September, and I am out of electricity because of the City Council and Darrell Bradley. This has to stop."
Mayor Darrell Bradley today rejected those claims. He said Tambran has not been paying rent of trade license fees so he should come out of the commercial Center.
Tambran says he owes $6,500.00 in rent and the council owes him ten thousand dollars in damages - Mayor Bradley says that it's actually the other way around: he owes the council more than it owes him.
As for the electricity - Bradley says the council will not pay repairs for anyone who is not paying their rent.
Their next court date is set for September 17.
