AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Environment Over 100 workers of South Beach protest

it don't matter if the people are sitting somewhere just waiting for the place to be built or not,,, the GOB gave them the green light!!!
the door is wide open,,,
kinda like,, we approved the construction of the nuclear waste disposal site,, but i doubt anyone would want to use it,,

OK,, maybe thats not a good comparison?

They do not have a green light. They can be stopped. When the giant project up north that had Korean owners was fully approved and people found out about, we took to the streets and it was stopped. South Beach must still be approved by the local planning board and if they hear loud and clear that the people of the island do not want this. They will vote against. But the voices opposed need to be clear and organized and numerous.
The Brahma project is horrible in my opinion and should not have permitted. When I first heard of it I thought hat no one was crazy enough to go forward. So I have learned my lesson and hope others have as well. When the same people started buying bird nesting cayes in the back, I realized that the greed moving here has no bounds and makes no sustainable sense. So we all need to step up to the plate and stop the developments that are totally destructive

sorry,, i thought it was all a done deal.
go get 'em!

According to the San Pedro building inspector Phase 1 of SBB has been approved.

That was from his mouth direct to my ears Friday AM 2-13-09.

He personally did not seem to be in favor of that project in further conversaton with him on that issue. He specifically mentioned the local authorities concern for the potential negative impact on some of the older hotels in town which have already seen a decline in use.

After the recent meeting I asked Minister Heredia if there was any mechanism for ordering illegal buildings to be removed. He evaded the question, from which I deduce that there is not. The maximum fine that can be levied is very low and not remotely a deterrent to a builder, so on pure economic grounds it makes sense for a developer to barrel ahead with building even if a direct order to stop has been given. He knows that he won't be held criminally responsible, and the fine that may be imposed (no certainty that it will be) is so small he can write it off as a normal expense. And he has his building.

This practice isn't just in Belize. In Britain I have twice gone up against builders who ignored "Stop" orders, in one case building partly on land I owned, to no avail. A nominal fine of maybe GBP10k was imposed but the builder kept the new building, as he knew he would.

As the current building at SBB is illegal I'm waiting for Mr. Pierce to be ordered to remove what he's put up and make the land good. But I think I'll be waiting a long time.

What building at SBB?

I was just there last week there was nothing there and no activity on the land.

Sorry, should have said building work.

This video on South Beach Belize and its effect on Ambergris Caye just came through on my twitter stream -

http://toucan.bz/travel/south-beach-belize-how-it-will-effect-ambergris-caye/

"This video was produced by the Ambergris Caye Citizens for Sustainable Development and aired on local television to highlight the dangers associated with this and similar projects planned for Ambergris caye."

i watched it, maybe you should too (only 3:25). i very much like that they use voice-overs by local adults and children to present facts geared toward education of the AC residents regarding development. kudos, ACCSD. nice job.