Dear Editor,
Between Carifesta Avenue and Thomas Lands is located a beautifully planned out park known as the National Park. This park includes several playfields, asphalt surface track, turf running track, small stadium with hard standing office building and parking, maintenance shed and stables, dance studio, manatee pond, other ponds and canals, lots of trees and several ponies. There are also two parking lots, one off of each access road – north and south. This is definitely a beautiful concept and provides something for everyone. There are however several problems with the park most pertaining to maintenance and upkeep. An inspection will quickly reveal three pertinent problems: drainage design and maintenance; weed control and lawn maintenance; block cracks on surface of the internal asphalt road.
That last one might not be so evident, but will reveal itself over time as the drainage problem persists. The block cracks are also due to the expensive type of asphalt surface material used, which is suitable for high traffic roads and inappropriate for the low traffic volume of an internal park road.
Parks are an integral part of a civilized society and vary in size and facilities. Smaller neighbourhood parks made up of a large field and trees are great for the children to run and play or have a picnic or cook out under the shade of the trees. Larger parks like the National Park which facilitates more activities, are a treasure to be preserved, respected and aggressively maintained. Parks, like other common areas, are a reflection of the integrity of a community. Societies are often judged by the emphasis placed on parks. Our ability to design, build and maintain pristine parks indicate to the community, visitors and investors how serious we are about our communities. This ability indicates the importance of the development of our people and subsequently our country. Case in point for my country Guyana, we have poorly maintained parks, poorly maintained communities, low investments and slow development. Time to focus on our parks.
Yours faithfully,
Carole Fletcher