And, form the skies to the streets, the Belize City Council has decided to rename several streets in Belize City, and one of the most famous ones is causing controversy.
It's the well-known Regent Street in the Downtown area; City Hall wants to rename it Dr. Dame Minita Gordon Drive, in honor of Belize's First Governor-General.
And since the issue is generating public controversy, we sought comment from City Councillor Albert Vaughan. He was part of the committee that led the street renaming effort, and this evening, he provided the context to this City Hall decision:
Albert Vaughan, Councilor
"We look at Belize will become 40. We were looking at the Emancipation Day to be a national holiday in Belize and so we decide to look at some of the streets in Belize City, unshackle these colonials, get people who have contributed to this country - people who we could recognize with and so our committee has look at a number of streets, I think it was about 11 and 2 roundabouts and the one that you were talking about that has now become a bit of a little stir is Regent Street. One of the contexts we look at at Regent Street is not just about renaming the streets, it's the context of how we do it. Dame Minita Gordon, God rest the dead, contributed to this country. This lady is the first governor general of this country, a black woman for God's sake. And she was the first woman governor general in the Commonwealth. What the council has done by renaming the Regent Street to Dame Minita Gordon Drive, that is pittance for what this lady has serve this country. For the last 13 years under the previous administration not even looked at this lady, look how she died, almost like a pauper. I could understand the businesses on regent Street may have a little problem, because they have stationaries, but when people who believe they are entitled - I am not with it. I am saying that this is the little we can do for Dame Minita Gordon and I applaud the council, I applaud the mayor and I said that is the way forward and that is not the only street we have. Partridge Street, because of the contribution of Amandala newspaper, we have changed that street to Amandala Drive."
In a Facebook post, Tracy Panton, the Area Representative of the Albert Division where Regent Street rests, criticized the renaming saying, quote, "The Belize City Council has renamed these streets: Dr. Dame Minita Gordon Drive and Lindy Rogers Street with absolutely No Consultation with City Residents. This is a classic case of the BLU PUP Administration dictatorship. The residents of Albert may have considered favorably but at the very minimum some consultation was necessary." End quote.
We asked City Councillor Albert Vaughan about that and other criticisms, and here's how that part of the conversation went:
Reporter
"The first issue I've heard raised against the renaming is that it was done supposedly without consultation. Is that a fair criticism or is that just mischief?"
Albert Vaughan, Councilor
"I think it's fair and I say it's fair, because we just understand that while we were putting all of this together, remember covid came down and so that may have thrown off the public consultation, but we had it on our social media. There was a guy who is on the attack, we spoke about it, it was on my personal facebook page which Jules says is very popular. And yes, there is a fact about it, but this has gone 3 weeks in the gazette. It has to be published 3 weeks. Businesses have to get the gazette and read the gazette, because that is where government business are at, so if you have missed it and have not object to it, then I could understand. Its a fair accusation, there were not much consultation."
Reporter
"The next issue I hear being raised about it is that the location is forever known as Regent Street for an extended period of time, especially in our lifetime and by renaming it, it could cause that history, that heritage to be lost. Is that a fair criticism?"
Albert Vaughan, Councilor
"I think it's fair, but as I said we are moving on. So how come they are not objecting on Regent Street West, that name now Carl Lindberg Rogers Street, Streets are living things, we keep changing and this is what we are saying, lets unshackle these colonial names and these slave masters and all these people who the people don't even know these streets. Let's put people that we can recognize and say thanks for your service to this country. What is wrong with that."
