After 22 years on the oft-criticised Mayor and City Council and serving as its Deputy Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green is seeking a second chance at tomorrow’s election in Tucville-North Ruimveldt as she said she was “stifled” from performing.
Chase-Green representing the coalition government in Constituency 12 of Georgetown will go up against PPP/C representative Tricia Kippins, Royston Alkins for Team Benschop for Mayor, Team Legacy’s Linden Hinds and individual candidates Hubert Maloney and Clifford Fogenay.
Chase-Green is only on the coalition’s First-Past-The-Post list meaning that if she loses the election she will not be returning to the council.
For Chase Green, 64, participating in the elections means she has a second chance to improve her community. She says that while she was a sitting councillor, she and the council were stifled and couldn’t have done much for her constituency.
The former Good and Green Guyana council member said she has started to address roads and security issues in the constituency. She told Stabroek News in an interview that she would move to have street lighting and an upgraded health centre in the constituency. She stated that she would like to see the health centre provided with doctors.
Chase-Green said that she has been working with a church to create a recreation spot for the elderly in the constituency. “We are creating a fishing pond and will be putting in benches so the elders can go sit and relax and do fishing. We already have the pond and have fenced it”, she said.
Chase-Green stated that she has been in touch with the residents and the plans that she is working with were developed by the residents. “They help to make the decisions… they say what they want in the community”.
A nurse by profession, Chase-Green added that funding for the projects would be sought from budgetary allocations to the constituency. She explained that she would recommend a review of the budget and have the council allocate portions to the different constituencies.
When asked why she deserves a second chance as a councillor, she said “I deserve a second chance because the council is on new breathing grounds. Over the years the council was stifled to a point of death we were not able to look at anything. Even our buildings were being deteriorated and we couldn’t have done anything. We would have died. We proposed the lottery and the other revenue raising ideas but we didn’t get to do it. We have an independent council now and we would be able to do things.”
She said that even though she was not able to take the constituency to another level, residents approached her and kept asking if she is not returning.
She said that she has been campaigning door-to-door in the constituency and the response has been good.
She urged persons to look at the track record for the past eight months of “development” within the city and the wealth of experience she has as a councillor before making their choice to vote.
Major flooding
Clifford Fogenay, 66, said he got involved in local government elections because nothing has been done for years to eliminate the issues affecting his constituency. He said that they have been suffering from major flooding because there has been limited work carried out by the city council.
He declared that the election is a vehicle to make positive changes for the constituency and he would work towards this if elected.
The retired army major told Stabroek News that if elected he would focus on the cleaning and clearing of the drains and canals. He added that the canals that drain the community are filled with vegetation. He said that he would also push for the establishment of an economic and recreational complex to provide employment and recreational facilities. He said that the complex would have a governing body and that persons who are into joinery, galvanising and craft can use it to market their products.
Fogenay also said that he would like to see constituencies equipped with 24-hour daycare centres to assist parents who don’t have anyone to take care of their children while they work. Fogenay said that he would also push to have street lights installed in the community. Crime has to be reduced and he said installing lights would be one way of doing this. He also said that he would push to have the city council chop down thick vegetation on the roadways and unoccupied land. If elected he would also look at the possibilities of having more frequent police patrols in the community.
Questioned about funding for his plans, Fogenay told Stabroek News that “funding is simple. Once rates and taxes are paid we can have money to do these projects… if that doesn’t work we can approach the government and international organisations to help fund our projects”. He said that he has a wealth of experience in applying for grants and writing project proposals.
Fogenay said that he has worked with his community on clean-up projects and has been campaigning to impress the voting population of his constituency. He has been on one-on-one campaigning.
Better community
Maloney, a security guard, said he got involved in local government elections because he feels he can look after community affairs.
The 68-year-old North Ruimveldt resident, who has sought to contest previous elections without success, said that he wants to live in a better community and if elected he will be able to do that.
Some of his plans include day care, health care, a clean environment, facilities for youths and elders and better garbage collection. He said that the community needs better health care because “It is a community and we need to have service here rather than going to the hospital where we would have to wait”. He said that he would also work to have programmes in the community where youths are educated on the importance of being good citizens.
He said that he has been campaigning and using posters to lobby for votes at the polls tomorrow.
Opportunity
Twenty-five-year-old Alkins, a final year political science student said that he saw the elections as a way to gain a firsthand understanding of the political structure and at the same time an opportunity to give back to his community.
If he becomes a councillor he would like to address the issues of flooding, security, recreation and sports.
Alkins, who has worked in community and social development with several non-governmental organisations, said he would like to have the primary and secondary drains cleaned as well as the outfalls.
He added that street lights are needed in the community because of the crime rate and he is going to advocate for more security patrols in the community to beef up the fight against crime.
Alkins asserted that sports and recreational facilities are needed if society is going to curb the issues of suicide and other social ills. He said that he would like to see spaces in the constituency where youths can go and relax and unwind after school. “I am eager to examine the possibilities of bringing sport facilities and more open spaces to our young people”, he added.
The cricket enthusiast, who has represented Guyana at the under 15, 17 and 19 level, said he would also like to see effective management of City Hall. He said that with effective management, funds would be generated and go into the constituencies. He declared that he is in full support of the plans to establish a lottery and for the city to have its own television and radio station which would help to fund projects in all the communities.
The former youth ambassador of Guyana said that he would also seek funding from international donors and sister cities.
The aspiring councillor said he has a wealth of knowledge which would aid in the development of youths and empowerment. He said that he has worked with the Come Alive Network, AGAPE Foundation and Xercise network as sports director and believes he can use his experience to make his constituency a better place.
He said that he has been going from house to house meeting persons, listening to their issues and telling them his plans.
Higher platform
For Hinds, 38, a contractor, participating in local government elections means that he has a higher platform to continue his work in community service. Hinds said that he has been in community development for several years working with organisations such at the Lions Club and the Festival City Youth and Parent Organisation.
He said that his plans for the constituency are grounded in the pillars of Team Legacy which he is representing. The pillars are community investment, youth transformation, security, environment and health and improved distribution and delivery of community services.
Hinds said that he would like to explore the possibilities of establishing a new police outpost or station in the constituency to reduce the time officers take to respond to criminal activities. He added that he would also like to see persons engaging in a neighbourhood watch to beef up security. If he becomes a councillor he said that he would advocate strongly for lights on all the streets because the community has been plagued with “stick ups and break and enter robberies”.
Further, he said that on the pillar of community investment he would like to have companies setting up operations in the constituency to provide employment. “People need an earning and the companies can open operations and help with the employment”, he said.
He also explained that he would address the drainage system. He lamented that there are many open spaces in the constituency that are filled with vegetation and breed mosquitoes. He added that he would look at the constituency having regular garbage collection.
Hinds also stated that he would advocate strongly for pensioners to have a more effective means of collecting their pension packages. “Sometimes they leave to go to the post office and there is a long line, they have to wait. We need to have a central point or more than one point where they can collect their pensions. Just as how they would have police at the post office we would have police at the hubs too”, he emphasised. He also said that he would recommend that the council use bill payment agencies to make payments of their rates and taxes and other fees. With that system, he said, they would have a more efficient service.
The contractor noted that funding for projects would be sought from the city council, central government, business entities, public-private partnerships and other fundraising avenues agreed on by the city council.
He said that he has been engaged in a door-to-door campaign and has had several open-air meetings in the community.
Efforts made to contact the PPP/C candidate proved futile as she was not at home and Stabroek News was unable to reach her via phone.
