In Belize City there are about 15 parks. Two have been adopted by Belize Telecommunications Limited and today a third park was adopted by a foster body. This time it is the Belize City Council and the Trade Union Congress of Belize. It definitely won't be on the scale of BTL parks but the significance could be far greater. Here's more.
Keith Swift Reporting,
Roses Park is a tiny park located at the mouth of Neal Penn's Road and Haynes Street. It looks like it is the park that the politicians forgot and a community neglected with its broken benches and this bar where we can only assume this is where a swing once hung. 9-year-old Paris Harris lives directly in front of the park and she can't recall the last time she had fun in her park.
Paris Harris,
"I would like to swing and I cannot swing and I go to Albert Street park to go swinging. Swings used to be in here but some pickney came and broke down the swing and so we don't have any swing."
Well if ink on paper means anything, Paris will eventually get her park. Today Trade Union Congress President Ray Davis and City Mayor Zenaida Moya signed a co-management agreement for Roses Park. In other words, it was adopted.
There is no blue print of how the new Roses Park will look or a time line for when it will be completed. But today's ground breaking was a significant start for a project which Davis says lives up to the mantra of his union and for Moya, it fulfills one of the mandates of her council.
Ray Davis, NTUCB President
"We had asked for a south side park and we left it up to the city council to choose. They had a couple of options so we are going to be starting with this one. Actually I am quite pleased that this is the one that they have chose because it is right in front of the house where I used to live."
Keith Swift,
Why are you guys adopting a park?
Ray Davis,
"It is one of the things we think we need to do as a trade union movement. When the trade union was at the height of its popularity in participation and involvement with people were totally immersed with the community, we involved the community and the community became a part of us. I think down the way we have sort of moved away somewhat from that kind of relationship with the public and trade unionism is about people and this is where we need to be."
Zenaida Moya, Belize City Mayor
"I being directly from the south side, it means a lot to me that the NTUCB will be adopting a park in the southside. We know that a lot of times people want to recreate on a so-called safer side of the city and often times they look at the northside. We don't want that connotation to the continue."
Again no budget or plan for the park has been finalized. For context, BTL spent $70,000 to rehabilitate the Constitution Park earlier this year.
