Dear Editor,
In response to a letter written by, Ms Raquel Thomas-Caesar, ‘The parking meter project was foisted on the citizenry’ (SN, January 24), I wish to commend her for joining the dozens of people who have bravely spoken out on said issue over the past eight months or so, and for echoing the same sentiments. However, I wish to remind Ms Thomas-Caesar, that during the entire campaign of the 2016 local government elections, Team Benschop argued against the signing of any new contracts during that period, especially the now infamous parking meter contract. Nevertheless, we welcome everyone who is now speaking out against an obviously bad contract.
That said, I wish to correct Ms Thomas-Caesar on one particular point made in her seemingly passionate later. She erroneously wrote: “The fact that all the councillors of the M&CC it seems (except for Mr Sherod Duncan) sat and allowed this project to be passed with ease makes me very concerned about whose interest these representatives are serving. The lack of consultation for this project was severely lacking.”
The facts are as follows: (1) This council, and no other council voted on, or debated the parking meter contract. (2) The record would show that Team Benschop’s councillor Salima Bacchus-Hinds objected to the contract from its inception. Here are just a few examples: Stabroek News, June 15, 2016: “Salima Bacchus-Hinds, the councillor from the Benschop for Mayor Team also told Stabroek News that the parking meters project should have been awarded following a competitive process with a well thought out plan of how it was going to be implemented. She said the issue of the parking meters is a serious one and there are questions that need to be answered.” In this very article, other councillors opposed the contract, including incoming Deputy Mayor Lionel Jaikarran, Malcolm Ferreira, and Carolyn Caesar-Murray, both of Team Legacy.
Note, prior to the Stabroek News publication, Ms Bacchus-Hinds wrote on her Facebook page, and this I’m sure was before anyone deciding to go public: “So I had written a letter to the editors for a couple papers regarding the parking meters project in Georgetown. Haven’t seen anything published so I’m going to post it here:
“Firstly, please note that I am not speaking on behalf of my fellow councillors, or the City’s administration, but wholly practicing my democratic right and freedom to express my thoughts and positions as an independent member of the Council. I cannot support this project as it is currently, and I have been provided with little evidence to convince me to change my position.” And, you could understand why Salima’s letter on the issue was never published.
Then, as appeared in the Guyana Chronicle, June 13, 2016: “Councillor Salima Bacchus-Hinds, however, stood up to remind councillors that this is a very serious matter. She offered that the Town Clerk did not sign a personal contract, and hence that contract needs to be in the public record.” Yes, other councillors spoke out against the contract, as well.
In closing, I wish to remind Ms Thomas-Caesar, that Team Benschop was aware that Mayor Hamilton Green and other senior operatives wanted to quickly sign the parking meter contract. Obviously, they knew that we campaigned on introducing parking meters. This would have been implemented after widespread consultation with the people, and a sensible plan in place. Take a quick look at Stabroek News, February 27, 2016, and understand the haste in signing the now controversial parking meter contract: “Benschop also spoke on the issues of parking in the city and problems faced by vendors. To address the former, the team plans on introducing electronic parking meters and providing parking spaces in the city. As regards the latter, there is hope for the re-designing of markets so that they are consumer and vendor friendly and the enhancement of the shopping experience to increase revenue for vendors…”
Yours faithfully,
Mark A Benschop
Team Benschop
