First BTL…Now BTL Park!

Following months of controversy on top of scandal centered on the monster in the UDP's midst, Mayor Zenaida Moya, there had been somewhat of a quiet spell in City Hall in recent weeks. Not that the Council had suddenly begun to perform – far from it – but at least there were no more startling revelations of missing money or further allegations of sticky finger syndrome leveled against the Mayor. But like with most things, the eerie quiet was just an indication of the storm which is now battering the UDP City Council and Zenaida Moya once again.

This new controversy surrounds the BTL Park and a multi-million dollar investment currently being constructed on Newtown Barracks in front of the park. A couple weeks ago reports surfaced that the Belize City Council was considering a proposal to 'jack' a large portion of the BTL Park to build a parking lot which would service the facility being built, said to be a Casino/Entertainment Center/Nightclub. In return, it was indicated, the developers would make good on a manifesto promise of the UDP Citco, namely the creation of a public beach in front of the park.

According to UDP City Councilor Dean Samuels this proposal is something which has just surfaced, so much so that it was news to a majority of the other councilors. In fact, the Belize Times has been reliably informed that only Mayor Zenaida and Councilor Samuels were in on the proposal. We believe that is so, but there is still a glaring discrepancy with the timing of the proposal. A check of our archives reveals that in the December 10th issue of the Belize Times, we actually broke the story about the exchange of a parking lot for a public beach. In that snippet published in the very popular column If Da Noh Soh, the columnist wrote that he had received reports of a deal being brokered between Zenaida and interests in the development to secure parking. The column also spoke of a commitment to finance a private beach in exchange for the go-ahead on the parking lot in the BTL Park. The beach had been one of Zenaida Moya's commitments in their UDP Manifesto.

Back then, almost five months ago nobody followed up on the story, but there it was, in black and white, the proposed exchange which Mayor Moya and Councilor Samuels are claiming has just suddenly emerged. Councilor Samuels' appearance in the media to 'explain' their side of the story has done little to convince Belizeans that it was not an under the table deal brokered a long time ago, and much to hurt any remaining credibility possessed by the Mayor and her Council. Samuels went so far as to attempt to justify keeping the deal a secret from the rest of the Council and Belizeans, claiming that

The Belize Times strongly believes that this is just another attempt by the Belize City Mayor to fool the Belizean people. We have no doubt that this proposal to 'jack' the BTL Park was on the table a long time ago. It is quite frankly beyond our capacity to believe that the developers of the casino and those who have interests in it made such an investment and just now, when the building is nearing the three-quarter mark, realized that they had forgotten to make any provision for parking.

And this proposal speculated to have been negotiated with the Mayor a long time ago has drawn the attention of her enemies in Cabinet. In a very strong release after Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Central Government stated that they are prepared to acquire the Park to ensure that it remains for the benefit of the Belizean people. Sounds good, but with this UDP administration, who knows? Belizeans should keep their eyes on this deal which is most certainly not off the table, despite what the Government would have us believe.

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Source: The Belize Times