And from clientelism to don't give a damn-isn...
Last week I showed you how the Belize City bus terminal looked almost three months after Hurricane Lisa tore off its roof. Not much had changed, and along that line Jules Vasquez found a far less trafficked area of the city that was equally damaged by the storm. Except the repairs in this case may only take a few thousand dollars - and a little heavy lifting. Tonight he marvels at the fact that with all that, no one has done it yet:
On Wednesday, when I bumped into Deputy Mayor Allan Pollard towing a friend out of the drain, it was the first time I had seen a city councillor working in a while.
And it got me thinking - maybe he could use those hard working hands to slip this submarine cable back into the sea. It's been deposited here on the Sandlighter's Promenade from November second, 2022 - that's when hurricane Lisa hauled it up from the seabed and dashed it out onto the promenade - like a serpent swallowed whole and spat out by the storm.
On that day, the waves out here were especially vicious - this was before the storm - and this was during.
And when it was done we captured this scene the day after, the promenade structure rooted out by the pounding waves, and cable "haul and pull" out of the sea - a marvel of nature's relentless fury.
And almost three months later, that marvel is still on daily display - the cable hasn't gone anywhere and the real marvel is how long the city will just leave it there on this much trafficked, otherwise beautiful seaside pedestrian area. Hundreds walk across, around and over it every day - we saw dozens of tourists high stepping across its barnacled surface.
This couple from Canada told us they found it uncharacteristically unsightly.
But, alas, the city - we always hear is powerless and broke,
so maybe they could ask these workmen from the pizza parlour the same city allows to encroach on ever expanding portions of the precious seaside sidewalk to lend a hand and just slip the thing back into the dark depths from whence it came.
But, the plunge pool that Lisa opened up on the promenade, you can leave that right there, maybe for Mayor Bernard Wagner and area rep Kareem Musa - I'd certainly join them!
Today an encouraging sign that maybe just that is happening, after we nosed around yesterday and today, caution tape was hastily put up to let everyone know, this is a special area, plunge pool and swim up bar, ON THE WAY!
We'll keep monitoring it to see when the submarine cable is put back into the sea - but, there's no time frame yet on the completion of plunge pool and the inevitable pool parties.
