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Jules Vasquez Reporting
This section of Bishop Street between Albert and Regent Streets is one of the most trafficked areas in the city - and now it is - arguably - the best - and inarguably - the most durable.

The street is built of a hand mixed six inch slab of high quality concrete - but the material is not the most important thing about this street:

Francis Woods of CISCO construction
"More importantly than paving it with concrete is it was done mostly using manual labor. It took about 10-12 days and it gave work for about 15-16 men."

Henry Mariano, Pinks Alley
"See what the bad boys did in their days."

Those so-called bad boys - 16 of them are from Pinks Alley say this is proof that they want to work

Henry Mariano, Pinks Alley
"Now this, come on, Chetumal and Belize is nearly the same now. Watch the difference right."

Jules Vasquez
"Now you all have a sense of pride to say well 'this street, Pinks Alley build this.'"

Henry Mariano, Pinks Alley
"Yes, this is part of Majestic. According to some people it's only bad that we do. See the good that we have now."

Shane Young, Pinks Alley
"It's a good experience to work if you don't have a job. It keeps people that give trouble from off the streets. That is what I like and it is a program that makes us eat. I will tell you from my heart that I like the job. I am not a gang member; I just come out here to work so I can make a little money for my pocket."

Jules Vasquez
"You are a part of making history."

Shane Young, Pinks Alley
"I just feel like I am someone."

Francis Woods of CISCO construction
"I was pleasantly surprise; these guys learn fast, they pick up very quickly. We had to show them a little about the more technical stuff like the form work and the finishing of the concrete. But these guys pick up quick and they were working very hard. We had no trouble with any kind of work ethics or willingness. They were very willing. Belize City needs a lot of streets and of course Belize City needs a lot of jobs. We are hoping that we can come up with a program where Belizean Americans that live in the states can sponsor a section of street. We work it down to 50 and 100 foot sections where they can get their name stomp in a 50 foot section of street if the pay the $6,000 that it cost to build that section of street or $12,000 for 100 foot section."

"The idea here is not making money, it's to create jobs. We would like to turn this group of young men here into contractors - to where we can call them and tell that we get money to build more streets - where we can have different groups working in different areas building streets like this - high quality that will lasts forever."

And from this pilot project, Woods hopes they can launch a programme:

Jules Vasquez
"What was the global cost for this and if you had done it with conventional chip and seal or whatever would normally be used. What would be a comparative cost?"

Francis Woods of CISCO construction
"The initial cost is a little more expensive. Probably about 20%-30% more but if you look at the longevity of it and look at it after 20 years. The amount of times you have to re-pave a street using the traditional methods in the City especially if it's not done right in the first place, the cost is tremendous compare to this. I would say at least 8 times the cost."

Jules Vasquez
"Now a lot of people think that when you see men hanging out it's because they want to hang out or they want that life."

Henry Mariano, Pinks Alley
"It's not really that Jules, it's because no jobs are there and if you create jobs for us - like how the bank and BTL does it, they create jobs with CISCO. We would beg for everyone; business people and so forth to try to do something worthwhile. If you give us jobs we will do it."

Charles Neal, Pinks Alley
"I just want to thank Scotia Bank and BTL. We are showing that Majestic Alley people can work. We just need the job and we will do it. If there were more streets like this for us to do then we would do it. I know majority of ghetto youth from each block would come off the street and have a job to wake up to. It feels good to have money in your pocket on the weekend. I just wish that people or the government would give us jobs and then people can stop look at us like we are criminals. We are ready to work. Look at this beautiful street, they say that ghetto youth can't work but this is a big example."

Shane Young, Pinks Alley
"I would really want them to have this program more often so that we can keep off the streets. We don't want to hear gunshots every day and another mother cries. I would want the program continue to give the ghetto youth more jobs."

Those wishing to sponsor the project or assist in any way can call 610-4553.