Yesterday we told you about private interests financing public works at the Fort Street Tourism Village. Well tonight we have a similar story, but instead of corporate funds, its community money, and instead of a munificent sum, it's catch and kill cash. It's about the Mile 8 Community which exists as a satellite to the old capital with most of its residents making a living in the city and commuting daily. But it's a no man's land, neither part of the city, nor Hattieville, and the community has to fend for itself. And that's why residents of one street have come together to get at least one street graded.
Most of the streets in the Mile 8 community look like this. There are deep trenches of water and mud impassable when its wet, and impossible when it's dry. And while bad streets are everywhere after the long rains, these ones will stay that way because for this well-established residential community, there's no village, town or city council; truth is, it has no representation.
Omar Cocom, Mile 8 Resident
"I heard we are under the jurisdiction of Hattieville but apart from that the last time they said it was Fonseca but nothing, nothing. It is abandoned, no one comes here, no one comes and tell us that this is what they are going to do, this is our project - even if they tell us lies but nothing is happening so it is abandoned. Take a look at the streets, take a look at the drains, the garbage, you can go different places. You can go to the back, you can see garbage, and these aren't nice and then people in any community keep on growing and so the degree will get worse for us so we are abandoned here."
And because of that lack of representation Omar Cocom who is a resident at 8 miles got together with others who live on the street and pooled some cash together. With that, they purchased material which was delivered by Edmund Castro who dumped it at a subsidized price. That was last week and this morning with the assistance of a grader from the Belize City council the material was spread out.
Omar Cocom,
"I have been living here nearly four years now and from that time they came here, there was poor infrastructure already and so we decided on this whole street here. It was the residents and then after speaking to Alfonso and then we came together and said no one is giving us anything and so we need to take it up on our own; finance it and ask for assistance to have it grade down. When it comes to the wear and tear of our vehicles - its more expensive."
The road is now graded down and while it is a far cry from being perfect, it's an improvement from what it was. But bad streets are just one concern for this growing community; garbage collection is scarce and the drains are overgrown. But Cocom says this street and the concerted community action that paved it will be the launching pad for other things.
Omar Cocom,
"Our next project is to basically have the drain cleaned. We are not asking anyone to do it and we know we live here so we have to do that ourselves also. There are other things getting done in the government and other places but when it comes to 8 miles nothing is getting done here so people are crying and people are hearing it but hey we need to help ourselves too and we don't have someone that is picking up our garbage every week or at a certain time or a schedule, we don't have that. There are other problems aside from the streets in 8 miles but no one is addressing it so like what's happening now, it is up to the residents here to try help ourselves."
Private citizens undertaking public works - with cash strapped municipal and central governments, it may catch on - or, more accurately, for those living on streets like this, it may have to.
The truth about mile 8 is that it is considered a part of Hattieville village - but is too far flung to be really treated as that. Politically, it is a part of Belize Rural Central, but most of the voters there are registered and vote in city divisions, because in a sense the community has been used by city politicians of the ruling party as a feather bed where their constituents can get new houses outside of cramped inner city divisions - while still voting for those that gave them the houses.
