Persons living in the Church Street vicinity of the proposed 150-room Sleepin Hotel and Casino, say that not only is the current structure an environmental humbug but they were never consulted about its construction or its planned casino.
“We live so near and only learned that a casino would also be a part of the structure from the newspapers…ask around you will see no one is okay with the hotel and now a casino? This tragedy has been forced on us,” a resident who requested anonymity told Stabroek News.
This newspaper spoke with residents of Church Street and North Road yesterday and while there was an occasional agreement on revenue for the country from the business, they all shared that they do not believe the structure should be located there in the residential area it is in.
In a letter to this newspaper earlier this month, attorney and former Chief Magistrate Kalam Juman- Yassin said that he is “completely opposed” to the opening of a casino in that area which he described as residential.
According to Juman-Yassin, four buildings east of the construction is the Central Seventh Day Adventist Church while the Queenstown Mosque is approximately two hundred yards away from the proposed casino. He also noted that the Merriman Mall between “Church Street and North Road in that area is being converted to a family area with emphasis on young children having a playing area.”
“A casino,” Yassin stressed “will be a bad example for our young children in addition to creating a parking nightmare and a great deal of inconvenience to the residents of that neighbourhood”.
He called in his letter for “the Government of Guyana to look into this matter urgently and stop this tragedy from occurring.”
The residents yesterday echoed that they believe that a casino on the narrow one-way street would be a “parking nightmare” with some left wondering if the vehicles would block their entrances and destroy their parapets.
“The whole question about parking to this so-called casino can’t be answered. We heard, when the last government was in, that parking would be on the Merriman Mall but that has been shot down because government don’t control the mall. Then we heard that they buy Peter Morgan property at the corner and that would be the parking but is that enough?” another resident questioned.
“Forget the casino for now because that seems up in the air. Let us talk about the hotel because they are working till all 2 and 3 in the mornings so that is (a sure thing). Where those patrons will park? I don’t see anywhere but on the streets,” he added.
Another resident told of being pestered to sell her property to the owner of the hotel.
The resident said that homeowners between the Light and Albert streets block were approached to sell their homes.
However, the homeowner rejected the amounts offered, stressing that the property was a family property and would never be sold.
“We were offered money to buy the properties we have here at the front and at the back but I refused. For me, it is not about money. This is family land, my mother grew up here and we would not sell for any amount. I told this to them when we were approached but like it didn’t go down well,” the resident said.
That was not that resident’s only frustration.
“I was planning to write a letter myself when I saw that the owner said he cared about the residents to ask who was he talking about. From the time that hotel started construction it has been hell for us on this street. There is the flooding when rain comes because the gutters are filled with building material, you have cement bags and mixture falling in the yard and garbage on garbage. You think is two thing we went through with these unconscionable people?” one homeowner said.
The flooding of yards because of the blocked drains from builder’s refuse, was another complaint levelled by all residents against the hotel’s owners.
They also complained about the noise from the construction being carried out late at nights and sometimes into the wee hours of the mornings.
“We are only speaking now because of a change in government, and don’t even want our names mentioned because you do not know who is who. You could not say anything during the last administration because you saw the big ones at the site ….so who can you complain to? It was in their interest so nothing could have happened,” a homeowner who said that complaints to city hall saw no results.
“I don’t know what can be done at this stage but as a resident who has lived here for over 40 years, I am asking government to rethink the casino deal. Do it for us the taxpaying residents who believe that something can be done now if one was to complain to a government,” an elderly homeowner stated.
‘Within the law’
Managing Director and owner of Sleepin, Clifton Bacchus has said that he finds it “quite strange” that Juman-Yassin would object to his construction of a 150-room hotel along with casino on Church Street.
In responding to Yassin, Bacchus maintained that everything he is doing is well within the ambit of the law.
He noted that he is in possession of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between himself and the Government of Guyana. This MOU guarantees him a licence to operate a casino once he is able to complete construction in line with several specifications.
According to Bacchus as far as he is aware each administrative region is allowed to have a total of three licenced casinos.
“Princess got one, Marriott got one that leaves one more for Region 4. If I build to the specifications then I’ll have it,” Bacchus said.
