Dear Editor,
My lament for the state of the capital city of Georgetown has grown in intensity since my published letters of December 6, 2013 and December 11, 2013. I had proposed on those occasions and remain convinced that the city cries out for new and competent management by persons of a business culture under an extraordinarily appointed City of Georgetown Management Authority (The CGMA), supported, of course, by realistic funding.
I was disappointed that this proposal attracted no published comment or disagreement. That reaction I have attributed to a general conviction on the part of many that the local government elections are the main source of salvation of the city from its woeful state of degradation. They blithely ignore the fact that the present weak and ineffective Mayor and City Council and its administration, and the current infection of Sooba as Town Clerk are a direct and foreseeable product of that very electoral process.
There exists also a possibility of such elections being sidelined by those of a national character which are the subject of threatening noises from several quarters. Furthermore, the local government process with its sub-standard product is not likely to be completed at any rate before another period of nine months or so.
In reality, therefore, even though suddenly stricken with a recognition of the current state of emergency, the governing party and parliamentary opposition could hardly be expected to institute the CGMA in the near future. Meanwhile our capital city will continue its downward slope, insufficiently financed, inefficiently managed and environmentally doomed, threatened by drowning at the next heavy rain-shower with floating garbage to match.
May I return to the worrying theme of the land-grabbing of our parapets, heavy six and seven-storied buildings erected with questionable physical and environmental infrastructure, too often aided by the bribery of officialdom whose duty it is to protect our building standards. It is time to identify some specific areas of offence against our parapets that cry out for redress and I name a few:
• Croal Street between United Nations Place and Camp Street which appears to the public to be a workshop and garage of some mining enterprise(s).
• Croal Street two blocks further west – the exclusive showroom of a motor business.
• Church Street between Cummings and Light Streets.
• Cummings Street and Light Street – north of Church Street – significant increase in business establishments.
• The blind corner at Third and Albert Streets established with the unkind cooperation of city council (the paved parapet) and the Guyana Police Traffic Division – studded with a row of jardinières with tall growing vegetation.
• The ‘Survival’ traffic imbroglio at Vlissengen and Duncan Streets, Newtown.
• Garnett Street, Newtown from Middleton Street to Vlissengen Road – bridges with ridges and pavements all privately erected and a threat to the widening of the street – with pedestrian lives at great risk.
• In Kitty proper, a naughty blind-corner at Queen and William Streets – less than half a mile from the police station.
• Campbell Avenue, Campbellville, east of Middleton Street.
I have reserved for special mention the onions/potatoes communal insult immediately east of the Sidewalk Café. I recall the ugly scene in the late 1990s when the city council with shameful rapacity raided the Sidewalk Café removing plant pots and other furnishings from the adjacent parapet. Well, it is this very council that gives its blessing to the environmental and zoning abomination which involves the operations and parking of massive delivery vehicles on both sides of Middle Street. Do we really have a Town and Country Planning Department?
Sheriff Street, that important link between the east coast and east bank of Demerara must be viewed as a special case, if only for the reason that it is a government road under the Roads Act and under ultimate control of the Minister of Works. But it is a vital component of our city and our city council’s jurisdiction embraces all of that area except the roadway and parapets. Commendably, the Minister recently facilitated a wide public consultation on the internationally financed Sheriff Street Expansion Plan. What I found troubling was his apparent change of plan from a four-lane highway in favour of the desire on the part of the owners of adjacent business establishments for a two-lane roadway. This desire I consider a rather self-serving one in defence of their having transgressed the proper boundaries of their lots and extended and cemented their occupation across the parapet right up to the edge of the current roadway.
All of this must remain the serious concern of a city council. But not of that council alone. We the citizens dare not remain silent.
In my last previous letter of December 11, 2013, it was strongly urged that we engage and encourage the involvement of our youth in addressing the challenges inherent in the redemption and proper administration of our city. It is their heritage to enjoy for a longer period than we can expect for ourselves.
Surely we ought to hear the voices of such agencies or bodies as the Private Sector Commission, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Association of Bankers and the Bar Associations. This is after all, our capital city.
I leave for last that amorphous body referred to as civil society which I consider to include all of the above-named bodies and every citizen not of the judicial service, parliamentary government, army, or police. My particular target are those worthy members of the various Rotary Clubs, Rotaracts, Lions, Freemasons and Lodges whose charitable and social contributions are legendary but who for some reason tend to hide behind a convenient curtain with the excuse that they don’t get into politics. It is my duty to comfort them that the amelioration of the conditions governing the successful management of our capital city falls squarely and legitimately under the caption of ‘civics.’ These organizations include the best academically educated, sociably reputable and economically comfortable in our society. They encompass the range of skills in management, economics, engineering, medicine, sociology and accounting associated with the proper management of a modern municipality. It is a tragedy that so many capable and articulate citizens should see fit to deprive the society in which they live of the talents with which they are so richly blessed. Their published views on these civic matters in individual or corporate form are essential.
My favourite Philosopher is quoted by His servant Luke, the evangelist, as having pronounced “unto whom much is given of him shall much be required.”
Our civic friends have indeed received much; we require to hear their voices.
Yours faithfully,
Leon O Rockcliffe
