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Turning now from national to municipal news - the Belize City Council today had what it called the soft launch for a new constellation of traffic lights on St Thomas Street. Jules Vasquez was there:
The new traffic light system at the corner of St Thomas and St Joseph Streets. The Mayor soft launched them today by taking a walk on the safe side with some school children, which is who he claims the lights are all about.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor
"Again, about safety for our children. This is a very treacherous area as you can see, very highly trafficked by motorists and schoolchildren. And so we had to find the right mix. We had to give some consideration for our children on their safety, and that is the genesis behind this light and having the opportunity for the kids to be able to go at that spot there and press that button and that button activate and after a while, It tells the motorists stop. We want the opportunity to pass, and that is why we have that mechanism in place."
And while politicians like spending public money and saying it's for the kids. Some drivers may complain that the lights are costing them by burning more gas, queuing up at a red light after a free flowing roundabout.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor
"We know that the loop from there is a very short loop, and so the technician or the techni.cal people have to work with that to ensure that the timing of the lights from red to green is very quick. And so it would require a lot of patience. But that timing has been synchronized on to a pat."
"It will never be perfect if we see that there is a need for more timing done we will do that."
Jules Vasquez:
"When one looks at this project overall, I know these are flagship projects for the council, but from many persons in the city may just see them as nuisance projects that you are just doing projects to enrich certain special contractors to just have scenery. But really it does not enhance. Critics will see the flow of traffic in the city."
"It just a vanity project for you. How would you respond to that?"
Bernard Wagner, Mayor
"I would say that if you Jules come in this area in the mornings, in rush hour, in the evenings, in rush hour, you would see the chaos that has been out here. And, you know, many accidents has happened right in this intersection here. And people have been clamoring, clamoring what is the City Council's solution? Or we could have a manual person stand up in the middle of the street every day, 365 days for the year with a hand in the air."
"No, now with a traffic light system Jules. It's a red stop. Green. So you are driving in a habit. You are changing habits. And it's it's about a light system telling you, red, stop, green go. In a roundabout, It's more left up to the individual. Understanding the traffic laws and complying with the laws. NOw when you are saying red, green, yellow you begin to change habits."
"And that's what we want to change in this city and in this country change the culture, change habits, change, behaviors as a people."
But right now, only the lights are changing. And at least one business owner in the area told us that now that no one is allowed to park in front of their business, they are going to lose out with customers big time. He says they were only told that they'd be losing all parking in a phone call yesterday. The mayor has another version.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor
"We have tried to consult with all the business people in that area. We had a good session with them and we, our main thing to them was that the city is always only concerned about on street parking. We can't concern our self about off street parking. Off street parking is left up to the business owner. They have to ensure that when you are doing a business that you have adequate parking."
"Unfortunately, that was not carried out in this area. Some of the businesses do have off street parking, but what we are trying to do is to work along with those businesses houses in the area, the YWCA, the meat shop here, the Hoy Eye Center. So what we have done is to is to turn that street there. I can't recall the name right now, Huesner crescent into a one way street."
"And so now parking would be allowed on one side of the street. And so when vehicles coming in from Freetown, they could turn down that lane to probably avoid the light or if they want to access parking."
And so while that is an area of dispute, the mayor says there can be no dispute about the value of this project.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor
"The value of the project, it runs out over 100,000, I believe. I don't have the figure at the top of my head, but my traffic councillor could really tell me the adequate figures, but I... the value of this project in terms of the safety of our children is priceless man priceless"
"I am telling my people just go and fix the light you can't concern about that being under the MIDH jurisdiction we still have to ensure that we provide safety for children."
"And you are right that that light has been twisted for a long time, even me, when I reach their I have to bend around the curve to see when it changes so we are working on it and I promise you that we will certainly get it addressed within the next week."
