On Monday we showed you how the Eusey Building - a 150 year old structure - went up in flames. It was the last shingled-roof building in the city, and while it needed major renovations, it was privately owned, and so there was little the City Council could've done.
And today, we asked the Mayor for his thoughts on such a significant loss for the city.
Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor
"That was unfortunate, because actually the court proceedings were just completed on that and the individuals were told by the court to evict by the end of a certain time period and the fire occurred. We are still perplexed by it, but at the end of the day now we have to look at how we could rehabilitate area as quickly as possible; it is an eyesore for the city. And this is what happens when we have these two thousand plus abandoned lots in the city. We had a forum last night in which we really zoned in, honed in on abandoned lots cause it creates a lot of hazards for people - safety issues, health issues, crime issues. And so we really want to look at how we move forward with the abandoned [lots]. We have looked at two approaches that we really want to pursue very swiftly."
