“Abandoned Lots Are Not Created by the City”

There are over two thousand abandoned lots scattered across Belize City. Following a structural fire that started in one of these abandoned houses, the National Fire Service has urged the Belize City Council to take swift action against the property owners. Belize City Station Supervisor, Gladstone Bucker, claimed that the council has ignored this issue for years. Today, Mayor Wagner addressed these criticisms.

 

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“Abandoned lots are not created by the city. All abandoned lots in the city have owners, whether it be an estate or a grandmother or grandfather, but it has owners. The city has already been bogged down with paying garbage fees, has been subsidizing garbage fees. We can’t subsidize the cleaning of abandoned lots. We did a forum in 2023 at the Civic Center where we highlighted and identified two thousand abandoned lots. It requires collaboration and a broader interest, not only from the local government but it requires a national perspective. The ministry of natural resources has the ability and capacity to drive change in that area in terms of acquisition, repossession of those abandoned lots. We continue to send the signal that we want to work with the national government on getting the abandoned lots issue resolved, either by way of the government repossessing through the National Assembly, requiring those lots and distributing them to those in the city who need a lot, or areas that may need a park, a parking lot or urban gardening. But reimagining the city without those abandoned lots is something we always do.”