Dear Editor,
Trees that decorate the city of Georgetown, from which most likely its appellation ‘Garden City‘ was derived, have been falling over the past 15-16 years or so with regularity, much to the dismay and detriment of its citizenry. These large trees with beautifully spreading canopies must be at least half a century in age, and are now old trees. Among those commonly found in the city and those which tumble most of the time, are the samaan trees. Two of these fell, one in Regent Street and the other at the corner of Regent Street and Vlissengen Road, just outside the Ministry of Agriculture in the late ’90s. I know this because I was at the ministry at the time. No other meaning is to be read into this. The one in Regent Street, I well remember, had its roots so near the surface that it pushed the earth up in a grave-like manner. It was eventually cut down at my urging.
A tree fell onto a car parked in the compound of an insurance agency a few years ago, and the person was promptly compensated. Another one fell in Hadfield Street two to three years ago, onto the car of a prominent trade unionist. I don’t know if he was similarly compensated by the City Council. In all these incidents of falling trees only property was fortuitously damaged. But by the law of averages tragedy had to accompany one of these mishaps, and this was visited on a hapless five-year old asleep in her home last Sunday. At this point kindly allow me to express my deepest sympathy to the grieving parents on the avoidable death of their daughter. Whatever the circumstances of this tragedy – the house being in the wrong place or the tree was leaning (?) and not being attended to, a young life has been lost and with it unknown potential, as stated by Ian McDonald whenever there is the loss of a child, in one of his recent Sunday columns.
My concern about this disaster, Editor, is the statement made by the M&CC to the effect that they have “access to very ‘slim revenue,’ for which there are higher obligations such as garbage collection, drainage… services.” But as a servant of the public what other “higher obligations” could the Mayor of Georgetown have than protecting the lives of citizens, particularly children, and their property.
Furthermore, with respect to the condition of other trees around Georgetown that citizens have been complaining about, they have embarked on “an initiative” to place signs on those trees warning motorists that they would be parking under them at their own risk. These signs are posted on flamboyant trees on the parapets on both halves of Carmichael Street between Newmarket and Lamaha Streets, and they do us a gross injustice, to say the least. Where, then, in God’s name are the tax-paying citizens of this good city expected to park their vehicles? Let us for a moment forget the parking. In those parts of Carmichael Street there is a bank, a school and a hospital. Traffic could be brought to a crawl or a stand-still at any time of the working day, and children and the elderly could be likewise using the avenue or road. A tree falls or a branch breaks off, what then? Similar signs are placed on flamboyant trees in South Road between King and Wellington Streets, and a similar scenario could unfold. Apart from the risk posed to life and limb as well as to property, trees that fall in a city will bring down power and telephone lines, causing inconvenience to citizens for hours thereafter, not forgetting that energized power lines would be lying on the streets posing a greater danger of a different kind to persons.
These trees are old and rotting, and are top heavy, placing a great strain on the roots which, as occurrences have shown, are no longer able to bear their weight. If the city council is so bereft of finances to the extent that a “slim revenue” is all that it can garner, it should seek help from the extension services of the new NAREI, and have their officers go out and identify all those trees in Georgetown which should be either taken down or trimmed. New trees would have to be planted to maintain what’s left of the aesthetics of the city. Then, Editor, as the M&CC is so hamstrung for cash, they should have the results published and throw the ball into the Minister of Local Government’s court for him to deal with the danger posed to all of us who have to use the streets of Georgetown.
Imagine a tree falling on one of our esteemed tourists or on the car of one of the many international civil servants who reside in the city!
Yours faithfully,
Lennox Applewhaite
