Dear Sir,
I was gobsmacked to learn that Parliament Square, the beautiful little garden located at the corners of High Street and Brickdam, in Georgetown was placed under the care and management of the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown by someone at the central government level back in 2015. Clearly the suggestion/decision to turn over responsibility for this facility that cost the taxpayers 37 million dollars to create and construct, to the Georgetown Municipality was made by someone who does not live in Georgetown or even Guyana, or someone who has gone off his or her trolley.
But this now brings clarity as to why this facility deteriorated so rapidly and so drastically over the last five years. This facility was turned from a beautiful garden and recreational park, a green patch and oasis in a fast developing concrete jungle into a night shelter for the homeless, a bordello, an outdoor bathroom, a trap house, a betting shop and a haven for marauding robbers and muggers, all under the nose of the City Constabulary who failed to provide any security for this facility.
What I want to know, is whether the person who turned this facility over to the Council ever visited the Le Repentir cemetery now a wildlife reserve, or the ‘Slaughter House’ on Water Street, and I was careful not to call it an Abattoir, the Constabulary Training Centre also on Water Street which is now bereft of windows, doors, other fittings and fixtures and furnishings, or even City Hall, the headquarters of the City Council which an international consultant described back in 2013 as being ‘in cardiac arrest’? And I could go on to allude to a number of other municipal facilities such as ‘the Presidential Park’ on North Road, ‘Old Smokey’ on Princes Street, the Barber Shop Arcade on the Meriman’s Mall, etc.
The City Council reminds me of the old fable in Greek mythology about King Midas, unfortunately though everything they touched did not turn to gold. I am just so thankful that the park was rescued. I look forward to the removal of garbage from its perimeter, the return of lighting, to the fountain working again, to being able to relax there at the end of a hard day’s work or to enjoying some cultural activity that I hope will be routinely held there after Covid-19 is gone.
Sincerely,
Deodarie Putulall
