Construction the new tourism village in the Port Loyola Area is underway and is scheduled for completion next year. The $1 million dollar project is expected to bring upliftment to the economically depressed area, a notion so popular that it has gained bi-partisan support. But there is a downside: it also threatens to uproot some long time squatters whose homes stand directly in the path of the development. Such is the case of Terryl Godoy. City residents know him as the street artist, but today we found out that far form just making his living on the streets; Godoy could soon be living there. Keith Swift reports.
Keith Swift Reporting,
Today the always cheery man at work Terryl Godoy looks perplexed as he gazes out the gate of the house on Caesar Ridge road which he has called home for the past 17 years. Godoy has good reason to be concerned because he is looking out onto a street where he could end up if developers get their way.
Terryl Godoy,
“I went to Mr. Boots and he told me boy you will have to come off of this place because the place is privately owned by the Port and they will need this part to put a street.”
It turns out that Godoy and his neighbors on Caesar Ridge road are squat in the middle of a proposed road for the new carnival cruise terminal. And while he has yet to get any formal order to move he believes an eviction order is only a matter of time since according to the plan he is in the way of development. Godoy’s position is compounded because quite bluntly this land he has been sitting on for the past 17 years isn’t his, at least not legally.
Terryl Godoy,
“I don’t own the land but I have gone to the Lands Department about it and they say boy we don’t know anything about this land so we don’t know. I went there another time and then someone told me it is private land and I kept on getting different answers so I never got something on paper saying I was applying for the land. I never got the story right about the land now suddenly we understand that the land belongs to Belize Port now.”
The man at work says he is working to save more than just his house. In his 17 years Godoy has developed the plot of land from a mangrove swamp to a home for his wife and 6-month-old daughter and also a haven for wildlife. This afternoon Godoy took our 7NEWS team into hunter’s home, his own urban jungle, where he freely interacts with animals like this rare specie of bird. Godoy says his fight is for them as much as it is for his family. Godoy says bulldozers have already started clearing mangroves and they are closing in on his home. But he says he won’t move.
Terryl Godoy,
“The big boys have always been getting everything. The rich have King’s Park, Vista Del Mar, and everywhere that is rich places and even the swamp they come to take away from poor people. And I am simply saying that I only have from now until maybe 90 to live. Why can’t I get this piece.”
“Mr. Man said that they have plans to change the whole of southside and turn it into this tourism thing. I am an artist and I could blend in with this. I have plans too, I have plans to put a gift shop, and I have plans to improve on my place. I have big plans just like everybody. I never get any money in my life. This is my chance to make something too. Putting me in any of those areas, there is no hope for me.”
Godoy is so strong in his convictions that it is a fight he is ready to take to court.
Terryl Godoy,
“I think that we will need to settle it in the court, that’s the direction that I will need to go. I guess I will need to get a good lawyer to try to settle it.”
KS: So if they offer you land elsewhere in the city you won’t take it?
Terryl Godoy,
“There is nothing compared to this piece of land. Actually, my love has grown into this place. My love has grown into this place. If I show you from scrap to how it is now you would see. There is no park anywhere around here where you can find a pond close by.”
From his words and interaction with the wildlife its apparent that over the past 17 years Godoy has put in a lot of time, energy, and emotions into hunter’s home. And at least today he seemed ready to put in just as much effort to resist any attempts to move him. The question now is can it ever be enough to stave off development.
Later in this newscast we will have the other side of Terryl Godoy when we take a peek at his first art exhibition in four years.