Some months ago the City Engineer’s office expressed concern over the various transgressions of the building code arising out of the virtual transformation of the appearance of ‘commercial’ Georgetown. The ceaseless erection of new buildings and the renovation of new ones has changed the appearance of the city from what it was even ten years ago.
The practice of simply “taking in” sections of sidewalks by the owners of new and renovated buildings without even consulting the City Engineer’s office on the legality or otherwise of this pursuit bespeaks a contempt for legal restraints that is not altogether uncommon among people with money and influence. Indeed, there have been cases in which areas outside of the boundaries of some business premises have simply been “privatized” for use as extensions of business premises.
Not a great deal is ever said about this illegal practice and sporadic “campaigns” by the municipality to clamp down on some offenders invariably disappear after an initial burst of cosmetic corrective action.
Over time the city centre has simply ‘shrunk’ in the face of the expansion of commercial activity and the attendant erection of new buildings and renovation of old ones. Some of the ongoing construction works have been characterized by the cordoning off of entire sections of pavements, a practice that has made these areas inaccessible to pedestrians.
Add to this the current surfeit of motor vehicles that pour into downtown Georgetown every day, competing for parking space during peak hours and we are left with a condition of permanent chaos in the capital during the working week.
The police have responded to the traffic aspect of the problem by imposing parking restrictions in some of the busier areas of the city and in sections of Regent and Robb streets for example, parking spaces have been marked out that allow for vehicles to be parked off the roads rather than parallel to them. These measures, however, have made only a slight difference since, apart from the fact that there are simply too many cars on the city streets, no allowances have been made for delivery trucks – particularly those transporting shipping containers that are compelled to park illegally in order to facilitate deliveries.
The problem of parking has become so acute that some business houses have simply stopped doing deliveries during peak hours and those that do must run the risk of being prosecuted for traffic offences.
In essence, the commercial section of Georgetown has become an unwholesome gauntlet; doing business in the city is fraught with myriad headaches – from finding adequate parking to simply making your way along the pavement. The situation is quite simply, out of control.
Talk of extending the city limits further southward in an effort to spread the commercial sector over a wider area has surfaced from time to time but nothing concrete has been done to actualize the idea. Meanwhile, we struggle to deal with the congestion, the garbage, the exhaust fumes, the encumbered pavements and the sea of human traffic.
Restoring a semblance of order to the city centre is not an exercise that can be accomplished in the short term. On the other hand, enforcing existing laws that can arrest the worsening congestion is at least a starting point. Otherwise, we run the risk of being overwhelmed by the chaos.
