Dear Editor,
We reference your article in the Stabroek News issue of Friday, September, 8 2017 under the caption ‘Council votes 13 to 12 for metered parking with revised contract’. We wish to point out the error in both the caption and the article with respect to the metered parking issue that the council voted in the ratio of 13 to 12 in favour of the metered parking project.
However, this is inaccurate as the vote of the council was as follows:
- Thirteen in favour of continuing with metered parking
- Five in favour of discontinuing with metered parking
- Seven in favour of awaiting the outcome of court proceedings on the subject matter
We kindly request that you publish a revocation of the previous article and provide a faithful reflection of the true vote of councillors on this project.
Yours faithfully,
Royston King
Municipal Clerk
City of Georgetown
Editor’s note
Contrary to Mr King’s assertion, the SN report in question did accurately reflect the distribution of the votes, viz:
“…13 of the 25 councillors present decided to return to the negotiation table … The other 12 councillors rejected this option, with five of them voting in favour of completely rescinding the contract, while seven voted in favour of the council delaying a decision until the High Court rules on the legality of the contract.”
The headline, while contracted – as headlines inevitably have to be – is also not inaccurate, since Mr King’s casuistry notwithstanding, 12 councillors in toto did not vote for the option which committed the M&CC to renegotiating the contract, while 13 did.
