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UDP Area Rep Finnegan Calls Out UDP City Council For Dean Street Drainage Woes
Fri, November 27, 2015
Belize City may be plastered with new concrete streets - but drainage is another issue altogether. The City Council has been widely criticized for building new streets with insufficient drainage. But, the truth is unless you're living on Western Dean Street - you shouldn't really be complaining. That portion of the street, for a good three blocks, is always flooded, and it's a nuisance and a health hazard to residents. We know their woes only too well because Channel 7 is also on Dean Street - but we are lucky enough to be on the dry part. Today, their area representative Michael Finnegan dragged the city council out to the location to do something about the problem. He told us why he's gotten impatient:..

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Area Rep. Mesopotamia
"You see the City Council send all those workers here to resolve a problem which in my view is an engineering problem. Now first of all, if you send the man to clean the drains that the City Council sent them to clean. You clean from there to here where the hole stop. Now, what happens to here and to there? How will the get to clean there? So you will clean here to there, but all the sand and all the cement and all the debris they pile up from here to there. And as you go along the street, it's the same situation that will happen. This has been going on for more than a year and you have these people in these kind of condition. This matter has got to be resolve. It is unfair to the people living in this area. These people can't come out of their houses. As they come out their house they will walk in dirty water. This matter has got to be resolved."

Jules Vasquez
"Now as the area representative Mr. Finnegan. You have called upon the City Council. I can't imagine this is the first time."

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Area Rep. Mesopotamia
"I call them over and over. I called the talk show. I call Wave. I called everywhere to try to come and resolve this problem. But everybody pussy-foot on it."

Jules Vasquez
"But now have they told you anything? I see Councilor Samuels here. Has he told you anything that...."

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Area Rep. Mesopotamia
"Dean is trying to resolve the matter. I had to twist his hand and his ankle and turn his neck around to try to get the matter resolve. But we have to get the matter resolve. This is a health hazard then. This is unfair to good decent, abiding citizen of this area. This is unfair."

Jules Vasquez
"And for people who voted for you?"

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Area Rep. Mesopotamia
"Yes, exactly. They have voted for me over and over. This in unfair to them."

Jules Vasquez
"One might suspect that there is no easy solution. It might be more than just the clogging of the drains."

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Area Rep. Mesopotamia
"That's why we send these guys to the great university - to study engineering. These problems can be resolve easily. All they need to do is to put their engineering skills to work. You don't put your engineering skills to work by sending 4 people with shovels and deck broom to solve the problem from there to there."

Jules Vasquez
"Will you be able to tell your constituents that you have a solution for them?"

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Area Rep. Mesopotamia
"They know they can depend on me. I don't have to tell them. They know they can depend on me."

Jules Vasquez
"I know you can't back water bucket."

Hon. Michael Finnegan, Area Rep. Mesopotamia
"And we will resolve this problem. I can't even back myself right now Jules."

Dean Samuels, City Councilor
"Mr. Finnegan gave me a call. I am no engineer just like him, we have the professionals at the council who is out there to try and resolve the problem."

Jules Vasquez
"What are they saying and is there any real hope for resolving this without having to redo the whole street?"

Dean Samuels, City Councilor
"I have spoken to the engineers and what they have said is that lets start at A. Let's clean the drains all the way down from here to the other canal side. Let's start with A and we move on from A to B to try to resolve the problem. Presently lifting up the manhole covers what we have found is that silt is all the way to the top. So the drains are blocked totally. So what we are doing, we are cleaning out the manhole and what we will try first sludge truck to try to push the dirt to try to see basically if we can get it moving."

We should note that the flooding is directly related to the tides; whenever there's a high tide it gets really bad - and it's been that way for decades. With sea level rise, and the spring tides that prevail at this time of the year, the past few months have been merciless to area residents.

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