Dear Editor,
Over the last eight months, we have witnessed the swift transformation of the City of Georgetown. But we need to push the boundaries of the possibilities at the Mayor and City Council for the sustainable development of our local communities and city.
Ugly, smelly, fly-infested garbage heaps, clogged waterways, dirty alleyways, unkempt parapets, and impassable roadways have disappeared from most of our local communities. Our environment is breathing again and the threat posed by certain nuisances and environmental negatives to our public health has been almost eliminated from our local communities. Georgetown is now an amazing place and its beauty continues to unfold as we continue to clean and green every part of it. Of course, individuals, with their own agendas, will continue to find fault and be critical of our efforts; it is part of the democratic process, and we appreciate it. Nonetheless, our responsibility at city council is to stay resolutely on course, to be professional and mindful of our commitment to deliver quality service to all the citizens of Georgetown. This is our mandate.
However, assertive collective action by the city council has facilitated important changes in the city. These were necessary to reverse the negative trends which were restricting the socio-economic and cultural development of Georgetown, and depressing the morale of staff at the municipality. All of our municipal buildings were dilapidated and in some cases, unsafe; that has changed. The buildings in the City Hall compound, which house our engineers and their technical staff and the city constabulary have been restored. These works have significantly enhanced the operations of those departments and sections concerned. As a result, it is anticipated that revenues from those departments will increase by about four per cent.
We are now working on repairing the accommodation for attendants at our sluices. This is a vital service area. Also, we are repairing the building that facilitates our public health clinic for hundreds of mothers and infants in Albouystown. Our engineers are repairing the municipal training complex and will begin work shortly on the mayoral complex. Within another two months, we will begin to construct a new building in City Hall compound to house our administrative and some operational departments. This is necessary to permit the commencement of works on the City Hall building, and to organize and coordinate the specific and general operations of the Georgetown municipality.
In our commercial areas, our technical teams have been engaged in building works at the Kitty Market. This has several benefits including enhancing community reputation and image, local cultures, social interaction and economic development. In addition, it is anticipated that there will be an increase in market revenue by a modest six per cent when it is reopened in another few months. So it is an investment by the council. We are also working to make Bourda Green, at Bourda Market, a double-decker municipal business centre with allowances for drive through arrangements and parking. And we will refurbish East Ruimveldt and La Penitence Markets. These are likely to increase overall market revenue by more than twenty five per cent and the total revenue of the council by a noticeable percentage.
On the soft side, we have been restoring open green spaces, playgrounds and recreational facilities for our children, youths and senior citizens. These spaces facilitate social enhancement, cohesive community development, and the promotion of cultural and sporting activities.
We are now restoring our Promenade Gardens, repairing its bandstand and reactivating all of its fountains. We are creating a space second to none in this city for environmental health and beauty.
Going forward, the administration believes that the city needs to see its operations deliver quality service to citizens from two frames ‒ the new ‘green thinking’ and globalization.
Perhaps the single most significant phenomenon that is influencing this green thinking is global warming and climate change. This has ushered in unprecedented and very troubling challenges to the environment and public health. Shifting patterns of rainfall and other unpredictable and unprecedented climatic conditions are affecting the ways in which homes, local communities and cities are organized and even how individuals carry out basic routine chores on a daily basis. Rainforests releasing more CO2 as regions become drier; the growth of oxygen-poor ocean zones; extensive vegetation die-off as a result of droughts; ocean acidification; and negative impacts on marine ecosystems with threats to fish populations are just a few of the new environmental situations which are affecting our lifestyles.
These changes are affecting the way human society interacts with the natural environment. This has encouraged studies into linkages between environmental conditions and certain public health problems. There is an increase in mosquito borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, and increased heat stress in humans and other mammals with consequences for personal health.
However, it has also facilitated interest in exploring new possibilities. This phenomenon presents opportunities to discover new and different ways of organizing and developing the city. In the area of energy, for example, we can contemplate ways of reducing our dependence on and consumption of fossil fuels and promote technologies that can help us to harvest energy from the sun, wind and water, which we have in abundance.
Moreover, our city can offer incentives to our engineers and architects to come up with drawings, designs and models of energy efficient building materials, buildings and other structures. Instead of insipid big concrete structures in every part of the city, our engineers can come up with energy smart buildings suited for our climatic conditions.
Also, we can promote urban agriculture and grow more of our own foods. This could reduce import bills, save foreign exchange; reduce the use of fuel to import foods grown elsewhere; and enhance environmental, personal and public health. Again, it can provide employment and significant economic benefits to local communities.
Then with the serious challenge of sea rise due to global warming and the fact that Georgetown is 4ft below the normal high tide level and an additional two at spring tide, drainage is particularly vital to a safe and health city. But this allows us to be innovative and to discover new approaches and methodologies to effectively and efficiently manage our fragile drainage system and to use it for the benefit of communities.
Understanding that climate change and global warming are driven by certain human activities including excessive patterns of consumption and waste generation, the city needs to be more innovative in this area of its responsibility. An integrated solid waste management system is perhaps the best approach to utilizing the opportunities from climate change. Waste prevention, recycling, reusing, and composting can bring enormous benefits to the city. For example, most of the organic waste from our markets and supermarkets can be recycled for animal foods. Other organic waste can be composted for soil enrichment and plant growth. These two approaches will immediately reduce waste and provide environmental and economic benefits to the city.
The second frame is globalisation which is facilitated in large measure by information, digital and communication technologies. All the innovations we are thinking about can be managed efficiently and effectively with the help of information technologies. We must use information technologies to enhance the performance and quality of service we offer to make the lives of citizens better.
Globalisation with its interconnectedness driven particularly by the internet can assist in urban planning. The council must explore ways of using space, both physical and virtual, for the sustainable development of the city. Geographic information systems, chat rooms and other interactive forums such as virtual worlds and computer games, which encourage thinking outside of the box, allow public participation in how community space and resources can be mobilised, organized and utilised for the sustainable development of local neighbourhoods. Again, the internet makes data on space and resources accessible to those who are involved in such planning as well as to the general public.
Furthermore, globalisation facilitates interconnections among cities. This has huge benefits in information and knowledge-sharing on best international practices in growth management and city development, direct foreign investments and international migration. It is clear that as we go forward the sustainable development of our city would require more than good management and local politics; increasingly it demands national, regional and global interventions. We must rise to the challenge and push the boundaries of possibilities at the Mayor and City Council. Can we do it? Yes we can!
Yours faithfully,
Royston King
Town Clerk
City of Georgetown
