On Tuesday evening, Lamaha Street, Kitty resident Desmond Nurse returned home after a long day of vending to find that his home was being prepped for demolition by City Hall workers.
By Friday afternoon, the Lot 219 Lamaha Street building had been completely torn down, pieces of wood and other debris scattered across the property.
But Nurse, who sells shoes on the corner of Avenue of the Republic and Robb Street, told Stabroek News that he had not been given any notice that the building was identified for demolition. The city however says he had been given ample notice.
Nurse said he had been living at the property for about seven years, after his parents passed away and left it to him. On Tuesday, Nurse returned to find that the windows and doors to the property had been removed and his valuables had been carted away. That same night, he visited the police station and ranks went with him to the residence to survey the damage. According to him, the police called the act a “clear case of breaking and entering” and advised him to file a report documenting the losses, including details of the persons directly responsible.
Bearing this in mind, the vendor traveled to City Hall the next day and spoke with an employee there. The man said it was then that he was informed that there was an order out for his house to be demolished and he said that the man he spoke with had described the building as a threat to both himself and the neighbours.
“He said they were informed long to do it and now they come and do it. That’s what they told me this morning [Wednesday]… They told me that the building was to (demolish) so many times and they send this and they send that—I don’t be at home, but I got a post box there and I never meet anything like what they saying they send me… so I don’t know how you send me something and I ain’t getting anything,” he, however, noted.
According to Nurse, he was told that a document had been served two years ago but he was adamant that this was not so.
Nurse said that it was not so much the building being torn down that he is affected by, but the losses that he has incurred as a result of the inconsiderate move. In his estimation, the losses amount to approximately $800,000, inclusive of $250,000 cash, jewellery and even boxes of shoes in storage, which are the only source of his livelihood.
Nurse reported that he was sent from City Hall to a Princes Street location to uplift the items salvaged before the demolition. What he retrieved, however, were not the thousands of dollars in articles left behind, but rather, a few articles of clothing neatly folded and placed in a plastic bag. “He said they put all the boxes in some vehicle and they didn’t look to see what’s inside of it,” Nurse said, while noting that the man had searched everywhere for his belongings. “I told him, ‘y’all supposed to wait until everybody come home and then demolish the building.’ You can’t do things just like that. I know years ago that if you want to demolish a building, you send a man a court order,” he said.
When Stabroek News visited the Kitty location on Thursday, workmen were removing the plywood from the body of the building. A representative of Industrial Supplies and Services, which had the contract for the demolition exercise, said that City Hall had assured that Nurse had been informed of the demolition plans. Additionally, he stated that the valuables were removed and photographs were taken of all the items found in the house before demolition began.
Debra Lewis, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) at City Hall, when asked to comment on Nurse’s allegations, said she was surprised at the claim that he had not been informed of the exercise.
“For over two years this would’ve been on Council’s radar. Council would have been engaging this man. He knows that he has to move and he knows that the building is in a ruinous state and that at any point in time, if it falls, persons in the neighbouring houses can be injured,” Lewis said.
According to the PRO, demolition did not begin on Tuesday night as was claimed, but on Wednesday. Lewis related that what the crew had in fact done on Tuesday was prop the house up to ensure it did not collapse. She denied any knowledge that valuables left behind in the building had been mishandled in any way.
Nurse’s home has been on a list devised by the City Council identifying buildings to be demolished by the City Engineer’s Department on account of the fact that they “pose a risk to life and limb.”
