And while the Belize City Council says central government is cramping its style, the San Pedro Town Council has a similar complaint. But in La Isla Bonita, the local politicians can complain all they want, tourists don't want to hear it. As the weather gets cold in the north, those visitors have been flocking to belize to enjoy the tropical waters, the sandy beaches and the rainforest adventures. But this season, visitors to San Pedro are finding an adventure that they didn't bargain for, maneuvering the pothole filled streets on Ambergris Caye. Our colleague, Ron Sniffin at the San Pedro Sun has more.
Ron Sniffin Reporting,
Most people think if sandy beaches or diving the magnificent coral reef when they think of San Pedro. But today many business owners are worried that what people will remember about San Pedro are the potholes and poor streets.
Chris Alnott, Resident
"These roads are a bad joke and an insult to our tourists. There are an absolute horror for our children. It is shameful and heartbreaking and disgusting to have to watch kids struggle through this muck."
On Monday, members of the community gathered to talk about the problem and sign a petition to be sent to the Prime Minister.
Andre Perez,
"We are all frustrated as business people seeing tourists walking all around the streets. It is a mess, it is really a mess and it is cause for concern and that is why when I wrote that letter, I requested help. It was all set for us to do it sometime like next year and I said it can't be next year. We need to do a meeting whereby we can get it going once and for all and close off the area by saying we have a message to be sent, not only to our national leaders but to our local leaders also that something needs to be done. Personally as a businessman I am not feeling any direction we are heading as far as the streets are concerned."
It is a well-known fact that San Pedro and Ambergris Caye generates millions of dollars a year for central government in taxes. A big complaint is that a very small percentage of those dollars find their way back to the island.
Chris Alnott,
"We are paying big bucks in taxes and it is not getting returned to the island for the basics. One of the points I wanted to make in the letter that we produced for this meeting was Punta Gorda, Orange Walk Town, Corozal Town, San Ignacio Town, Santa Elena-all very fine town, very worthy people and they all have paved roads and we don't want special treatment on the island, we have had enough of special treatment. We want the same consideration those good people get for their streets systems."
Andre Perez,
"It needs also to come from the government and really and truly this is the whole point, after all the letter is not addressed to the town council, it is addressed to our Prime Minister, we need help and we are saying in that letter again that we are seeking their health and we acknowledge, we are telling that we know that we are paying an amount of taxes so significant that they can't afford to ignore us because eventually, with these streets right here, we're going to have a loss of tourism and tax dollars are going to be, the revenues for tax collection is going down also and they'll start feeling. So they cannot afford to not pay us attention. It is in their interest that they pay us some mind right now because this is a long term thing because when the streets get beautiful again, what happens, the tourists will go up. They are seeing slow season right now and it is being reported by a lot of business people telling us things are not going well at the moment."
From San Pedro for the San Pedro Sun, Ron Sniffin, News Channel 7.
A delegation of island businesspersons presented the Prime Minister with their petition today in Belmopan. They are asking for his response by January 15th.
