Dear Editor,
Day after day, many of us read in the newspaper about the city and the garbage, and many of us walk around the city and ask ourselves, why is it so dirty? And why doesn’t the government and or the city council clean the city?
We all have ideas and or suggestions, and I believe that both the city council and the government are to be blamed for the state we are in today. I truly believe when they sit at council meetings and or in cabinet, the leaders and decision-makers not do make decisions for the betterment of the city. I am sure they say things, like, “Leave it because they do not support us.”
We need to work together and build this nation, this country and this city. I know it will take billions of dollars to bring the city back to a beautiful state, but let’s try to find the money and do it. When we are finished, we can maintain it. It is just like someone repairing his old house; at the end he stands and admires the job he did and he tries to maintain it.
Guyanese are people who are willing to share, learn and adapt. Here are some suggestions and I personally wish I could see them materialise:
(1) Contract out the cleaning of the cemetery (specify, how the cleaning should be done in the contract).
(2) Repair the entrances from Princes Street, St Stephen’s Road, Sussex Street and Cemetery Road, and place new gates at these entrances.
(3) Clean and dig all the trenches within the cemetery.
(4) Clean and dig all trenches outside the cemetery (again Princes Street, St Stephen‘s Road, Sussex Street and Cemetery Road).
(5) Clear and clean the old incinerator compound at Princes Street.
(6) Build a huge workshop and warehouse for the repair of all City Hall equipment and provide a parking area inside the compound.
(7) Build a new head office in the same compound for inspectors, health care workers, etc.
(8) Repair the whole of Sussex Street and St Stephen’s Road.
(9) Place a city council trailer at each market, so people can dump their garbage inside as used to be done in the past, so each day, the tractor would come and take away the trailer.
(10) Place trailers in major areas of the city, so store owners, market vendors, street vendors could use them; they could even be put in some communities. Each day the tractor would come and bring a new one, and take the one filled with garbage to the dumpsite.
(11) Clean all gutters in the city; most of these small gutters are cement and easy to clean.
(12) Trim and paint trees as before.
(13) Rebuild public toilets around the city.
(14) Revamp the parapets of major streets and plant them with flowers; build benches in the avenues (Main, Water and Church streets, etc).
I know it cannot be done overnight, but we need to start. We need to put a plan in place and not just meet each week and discuss; this would not help the situation. We need to stop pointing fingers at each other, we need to stop saying where will the money come from. We need to remember whether the council spends it or the government spends it, it is still Guyana; it is still the taxpayers’ money for the same purpose.
What we need to do is come up with the best way of sustaining the city, keeping it clean, tidy, organised and beautiful. We need to come up with a plan for bringing in money so the council can cover the daily, weekly, monthly and yearly expenses.
An important thing I would like to mention is that the government and City Hall must find someone or a group that is honest and willing to manage City Hall affairs and contracts to ensure we get our money’s worth. The person or group must want to see positive changes and not gain financially; let the gain be satisfaction.
Yours faithfully,
N Whyte