I attended last nights meeting. I arrived right at 6:30 and got one of the few remaining seats. I did not count how many rows of people were seated but at 8 to 10 people per row we were very crowded together. Perhaps some one from the back of the room took note of how many rows. There were at least as many people standing as were seated causing the balcony to also be packed.
I would estimate that about half of the audience had on NEW t-shirts with large letters saying "I support South Beach." Many of them were not English speaking. I know for a fact that from the first of the week Mr. Jeff Pierce contacted everyone he could who had ever done any work for him and asked them to come to the meeting supporting the project and he would "guarantee them a job." Unfortunately no one asked him WHEN?
There were two employees of the Department of Environment; the young lady who was the moderator (I think her name was Marilyn) did an outstanding job considering the difficulty of the situation. If anyone can supply me with her full name I would appreciate it.
A Mr. Garcia presented, by his count, 60 slides showing in great detail the plans for this project. To me it sounded like he was a member of the EIA as he kept saying "we will monitor this closely." After two other people asked pointed questions I asked who he worked for. The gasp that came from the audience when he said "Mr. Jeff Pierce" let me know I was not the only one that misunderstood his role.
One of his points that I believe got glazed over was the fact that the lagoon behind the project is contaminated with e-coli; the same bacteria found in the San Mateo Sub division where a handful of people were trying to use this fact to close down Holy Cross School. No mention was ever made about cleaning this up.
Along the same lines no real solution as to where all these workmen would live was brought forward. I would not be surprised to see another squatters shanty area just like San Mateo spring up next door to the South Beach project.
The promise of jobs is a short sighted one. Right now the island is flooded with workers from all the poor surrounding countries. They work for ½ of what the locals get. This project would bring more of the same - not give Belizean's jobs. It was brought up about how many existing workers, that are not laborers in the construction industry, would be replaced by this project.
I think it naive to think that people staying in a glitzy high rise hotel would bother to contact a tour guide from town to come take them out. I am thoroughly convinced that there will be dive shops, fishing charters, and guided tours supplied by the project.
The density of building is outrageous. I do not see any place for even palm trees to be planted let alone the other beautiful foliage found around existing resorts.
A fellow tried to point to Australia's Great Barrier Reef and how much development has gone on there. People in the audience cried out "It is dead" every time he said Great Barrier Reef. The poor guy didn't get it.
I found it sad that the Minister of Tourism was "out of the country." I like Mr. Herieda Jr. very much but feel that he has been used to the determent of the island. It has been reported that Mr. Pierce gave a very large sum of money to his election campaign. Mayoress Elza Paz was there and made just a brief comment and I could not interpret what side of the issue she was on.
What is clear is that people do not trust Mr. Pierce or any elected or appointed government official. I love this place and intend to spend the rest of my life here. I hope to see the country, yea the people, grow up and stop being short sighted. The people opposing this project are there - thinking of their future and the future of their children.
The last person that was to speak was a 10 year old girl (darling) and she said "This is just a copy - go copy someplace else." What an ending that would have been. But, alas, a politician from the mainland insisted on being heard and when he made a plea for workers from Bullet Tree and Mascal the crowd shouted "Then build it in Mascal."
I am not without hope! Raise your voice - be heard! Bacalar Chico was stopped - this can be too.
AmbergrisCaye.com 
