Dear Editor,
A picture is worth more than a thousand words.
The photograph of the gaping hole on the bridge in the East Coast village of Success in your issue of Tuesda, April 17, is poignant and timely.
Thank heavens a concerned citizen has placed a large tire with a pole as a marker to indicate danger. The big questions now are, when will the hole be repaired; whose responsibility is it to maintain the bridge; and would a stranger to the area (at night for example) recognise the danger? This is a calamity waiting to happen, with loss of life and/or damage to a vehicle.
Fire prevention is better than continuous fire hosing. The maintenance and repair of public facilities must receive priority, especially when citizens and our children are in serious danger. Too often locally, neglect and remedy must await lengthy debates on whose domain it is and who is responsible for fixing it, while our citizens punish, and are inconvenienced and in danger.
Having experienced ‘near death’ in similar circumstances during 2007 while on busman’s holiday during World Cup 2007 I mention this incident for what it is worth. At 8 pm riding home after heavy showers Bel Air was flooded with water 15 inches deep − a trench, fence to fence, across the street. Negotiating the corner of Abary and Barima Streets, I decided to stay in the centre of the road and toppled completely over, with bicycle, camera and laptop. A watchman at the corner in a hut, shouted, “Ya don‘t see! Why ya think ah put the pole and plastic bag deh?” Two days later when the water receded I returned to find a gaping 24-inch hole where a manhole cover was missing. I could have broken my neck or drowned, and only experience in falling as a former goalkeeper saved my neck, and equipment. The bicycle front wheel was bent 35 degrees.
Citizens continue to express their concern daily over hazards that endanger the public. Hats off to those like Pemberton and Suseran who observe and write regularly about these dangers. Better yet: Stabroek News should continue to post pictures of these hazards, garbage piles, derelict buildings, containers on streets, and potholes off the Carnegie school on High Street, until they are remedied. With cell-phone cameras, etc, John Public should be invited to submit pictures of the hazards for publication. These kinds of pictures could embarrass, arouse action, save lives, and hopefully, restore the land to a safe living environment.
Yours faithfully,
Godfrey Chin
