I decided to re-visit Bartica after being away for approximately five years. Arriving on December 23, I was much amazed to see that the Bartica Traffic Depart-ment had made provision to allow taxi-drivers to use a part of 1st and 2nd Avenues for one-way purposes to prevent chaos on the roads.
The authority must be complimented for this because I was told that previously much confusion was created with vehicles, pedestrians and residents doing their last Christmas shopping.
To my astonishment, I observed that big boom boxes had been set up in front of two leading hotels about 30 ft away from the Bartica Police Station, and as early as 3 pm on Christmas Eve these started playing and continued into Boxing Day and the day after. The decibel level of the music with DJs shouting loudly disturbed the quietness of the nights as well as business personnel who had toiled during the daytime. Speaking to business persons in 1st Avenue, I was informed that since the transferral of Mr John Sauers as Officer-in-Charge of the Bartica Police Station the hotels are happy to play music in front of their business places.
I only hope the relevant authority, such as the Commissioner of Police, the Home Affairs Minister and others, would implement some measure to curb this problem in Bartica where loud music is played in front of prominent businesses.
Apparently the residents are afraid to speak out on this issue due to the fact that it was revealed that permission would come from Georgetown if permission is not granted in Bartica. Hotel owners seem to be operating contrary to the by-laws, which is something the competent authority should look at for 2010.
Yours faithfully,
David John
