The Mayor and City Council announced last week that it would take the traffic situation in hand. It is unlikely that the city council would have known that funds would be allocated in the budget for this purpose. After disastrous past experiences, the city council should not be allowed to preside over parking arrangements for minibus and taxi parks in the city. The Municipal and District Councils Act gives it no such power. It is a police function, which appears to have been abandoned, as the city council assumed jurisdiction.
Starting from the core area outside Stabroek market, occupied by the yellow Motor Transport buses between the 1950s and 1970s, minibus and taxi parks expanded. Between Avenue of the Republic and Water Street they occupied from Hadfield Street to Regent Street, from the National Assembly to the Bank of Baroda with the bulk in the Stabroek Market/Demico House and the Regent Street/Commerce Street areas. About ten years ago the city council decided to further expand these areas for use by minibuses and taxis.
This expansion went eastwards, taking over portions of the western limb of Avenue of the Republic from Croal Street on the south to Robb Street on the north, going east into the northern side of Robb Street between Avenue of the Republic and King Streets, outside Demerara Life. In this area, apart from Demerara Life, three new parks were set up. These were 1. between Croal Street and