Front Street completed. Below are a picture of the final stages. The nursery will put in the plants tomorrow.
The Front Street project has been finished after 5 intense days. The alley from Tropic Air is now open as a one-way for golfcarts, bicycles, and pedestrians. The first block of Front Street will be blocked tomorrow at a ONE WAY going North for golfcarts only.
The two setbacks have been overcome. One was access by firetrucks, which required us to build a ramp next to Ruby's Hotel, which cost about $500bz, but was built in about 4 hours. The other was that BEL did not come through with donating "telephone poles" which were going to be used all along the front of the Elementary School.
Since I was under budget by over $2,000, I made the decision to build the ramp, and buy the wood to complete the sidewalk in front of the school. I have not yet done the total accounting, but still expect to be at our limit of $7,100 (which was the Chamber's $5,000, Patty Arceo's $1,600, and Mata Chica's $500).
The Mayor, Mr. Nunez, along with "Jimbo" and Omar Arceo, from the Town Board, Debbie Spain from Traffic, and Jerome Garcia, the Fire Chief, all helped in giving support, advice, and co-operation in getting the project completed. For the record, my time and labor was volunteered. I would like to thank our one other volunteer, Charmaine Tolentino, that constantly got needed supplies and ran countless errands, which allowed me to remain on the job site continuously.
So far we have gotten over-whelming support and compliments from everyone. The only one we seem to have upset is Richard Aguillar from Aqua Dives, that seems to require to be able to drive his truck down to the beach to bring his dive tanks. Hopefully the law that vehicles are not allowed on the beach will prevail.
Both Mango's and Sunrise Realty have been excellent. They both are paying for the development in front of their business, and have already made plans to landscape. The Riverwalk Garden will be filling the nine new "planters" this coming Sunday with a variety of shrubs and flowering plants.
This was an "astonishing " accomplishment for such a new organization. Regardless of politics, this could not have happened without the encouragement and support of Patty Arceo, our Area Representative. For that, the Chamber thanks her.
Personally, I would like to thank all of you for your support and money that made this possible. It was alot of hard work, but so very needed in our community. Hopefully we can get the support of the businesses and government to continue the re-vitalization of the primary street of our town, and take steps to control the size and volume of traffic that our tourists are faced with.
Sincerely,
Tom L. Vidrine, Chairman
Ambergris Caye Chamber of Commerce