7 News Belize

City Resurfaces Sandlighters' Promenade/Paints Houses
posted (August 27, 2012)
The Sandlighters' Promenade near the Princess looks like one of the few public spaces in Belize City where planners got it right - an expansive, colourful walking area, along the coast.

But, while it looks good from far, the Promenade is in bad shape when you see it up close. It's been there for 16 years and the constant exposure to salt water has corroded the bricks.

And so - the city council - which is always after new projects has decided to refurbish the promenade.

It will cost seventy thousand dollars and will use a more durable covering called stamp-concreting. Mayor Darrell Bradley explained:...

Darrell Bradley - Mayor, Belize City Council
"We did an inspection of certain public spaces throughout Belize City that we want to upgrade. When you look at the condition of the pavers that were there - they were in serious need of repairs and actually they haven't put down the stamp creating at the present moment, so if you go out there right now you would see that the pavers in another year or so would be totally beyond use. What we have decided to do is to upgrade that area to put another layer of cementing and it would be stamp-created within 2-3 weeks and we've gotten commitments from the Belize Tourism Board and they are going to give us a donation of benches. We've also done electrical works out there and we've put out 15 very nice lamps and we are awaiting additional electrical equipment from BEL and those will be in operation within another week. By the time the full project comes on stream it will be totally resurface - we're going to have park benches out there, the lights would be out there and we are talking about some additional works that would be going on to enhance the area."

Jules Vasquez
"However, some people will argue that the price you are paying for it - you told me $70,000. You could pave and entire street and the streets are a greater urgency than that."

Darrell Bradley - Mayor, Belize City Council
"One of the things that I am realizing is that I can't build the streets as fast as I would like to build them. We've had several street construction works going on but it's been delayed because of the various utility companies having to do their installations first. One of the things that we have decided to do is see if we could broaden our scope in terms of focusing, not only on the streets and drains which that is our priority but to see if we could enhance some of the public space. That's an area that a lot of people do used and if we enhance the minimal intervention I think a lot more people will use it. The stamp-creating will last a little bit longer because it's a different technology and we hope that it will be there for another 20 years."

The stamp concrete is said to be salt resistant - and will somewhat resemble the sidewalks on Albert Street.

Another project the city is working on is painting houses and businesses in the downtown area of Belize City. It's a partnership with Restore Belize that has started small. But, the ambition is huge: the mayor says he wants to paint all houses and businesses that need it - many of them in time for September.

So far only four have been done, but he outlined the scope of the project:..

Darrell Bradley - Mayor, Belize City Council
"Persons may not have notice it because currently we have finish about 7 homes and its space out between those 3 streets but within the next 2 weeks people should notice a real difference in terms of some of the colors and some of the home we picked out - A lot of bright pastel colors - just to give the place a little upliftment. One of the things that we are doing through Restore Belize we are working with some of the young people who have been accused of being persons who have destroyed the community and so we are using them to uplift the community and I think it's a very powerful and strong message. We are really trying to see if we can get a lot of the work done before the September celebrations, so people could really see a difference along at least Albert and Orange Streets in time for the parades."

The mayor says they have certain color schemes they'd like to use - and in certain cases they are also assisting with repairs.

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