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Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor
"The city is looking at several aspects of zoning throughout the city and one of the things that's very critical to us is the zoning of the Fort Street tourism zone area. We're working very closely with the BTB for the last 2 years. We actually have a taskforce made up of members of the Belize City Council and members of the BTB to more regularly organize the zone. We're working very closely with stakeholders in the community especially the business sector within this area of Belize City to talk about areas of how we can have improvements in terms of traffic, parking, crime, garbage. Under the partnership with the BTB and City Council, we're talking about ways we can formalize this but we want to incorporate participation from the private sector hence the consultation. Essentially what we're doing is that we are releasing to the members of the public some of the suggestions that came as a result of this taskforce in relation to organizing and rationalizing some of the problems that we've heard from this particular area."

And that wasn't the only thing discussed in tonight's consultation. In order make the city more attractive to tourists, Belize City is receiving a brand makeover. Here's what the mayor had to say about that..

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor
"This is something that we have been doing in partnership with the Iner-American Development Bank. They have supported a consultant coming to Belize and the consultant worked with various stakeholders, particularly the private sector and young people within our community in relation to coming up with a mark for Belize City, because of course when we talk about zoning we want to project a very positive brand for Belize City. It's very integrated and so one of the things that we're also integrating in this consultation while we do want to organize the traffic and the different kinds of organizational systems, we want to also release this brand. When we developed memorial park, when we developed BTL and Battlefield Park, all of that was a part of the same discussion how we are talking about building assets an experiences within Belize City to make the time for tourists and residents more enjoyable. We're doing all of those things in a very comprehensive way that may look disjointed, but when we are in our planning sessions all of it are in the same view. How can you position Belize City as a center for economic opportunity social engagement that is very welcoming to tourists and all of those things are coming together."

While Belize City is does not have the same access to beaches or the barrier reef that San Pedro or Placencia have, the mayor told us that the initiative will highlight Belize City's historical and colonial assets, as well as further establish it as the country's economic hub.