Dear Editor,
Well, the Town Week and Jubilee celebrations have come and gone, and we the folks of Linden/Region 10 are back to business as usual. The dust has settled even as there are some recent rumblings with respect to the Linden Mayor and Town Council. There is rancour between the Town Clerk and councillors; both Mayor and Deputy Mayor are simultaneously on vacation, and there is also talk about conflict of interest within the Regional Democratic Council.
As we know many promises that were made during the elections campaign are yet to be fulfilled. We were told of many investors from all about who were on the brink, eager and raring to do various kinds of business in the town/region, so can anyone say what has become of them? Has the way not been cleared for them to start? So many other things were said, but yet again as we know talk is cheap and worse yet, getting folks to walk their talk is often a difficult task. Anyway, some air of expectation has begun to blow once again as leading officials are sowing seeds of optimism, touting Linden/Region 10 as being cited as having the potential for becoming a hub for economic development. Certainly good news rekindling hopes anew.
Before going any further I want to commend those government places, private businesses, schools, Linden Technical Complex, homes, and of course the M&TC for their wonderful effort in ushering in our Independence Jubilee spirit by beautifying and decorating their places in various styles and fashions. The flag decorations that were placed along both sides of the Washer Pond road leading to where the burnt down General Office was, surely brought on a feeling of celebration. Though they were roughly made, they presented a lovely sight from a distance. And of course one couldn’t avoid noticing that the opposition head office didn’t mount a single flag. Having said that, one cannot truly say that serious efforts were made to spruce-up the town for the Jubilee or even Town Week, for that matter. As is customary, the high point for any big celebration in Linden is the ‘Front’, so it stands to reason that much emphasis would have been placed on cleaning up the Front properly as a showpiece. Sadly this was not done. Just a few overhead buntings were mounted. The drains and gutters along the Avenue of the Republic, the Town’s main road and access roads remained clogged, filthy and stagnant, and the stench emanating from the black green muddy slush infested with roaches was offensive. Over these drains regular spots were rented to out-of-town vendors to build booths. They prayed it wouldn’t rain.
Now these heavy concrete slabs covering the drains along the main road are, as many have observed, a disaster, since they cannot be easily removed for the regular cleaning of the drains except by machine. Hence, since they have been placed there more than two years ago, they have not been moved except for a few that were shifted for some reason.
Editor, I’m betting pennies to pins that in spite of the rush of work on drains being done at present, the drains on Republic Avenue will remain untouched. And talking about drains, though it is a pleasant sight seeing these drains being done, residents can only hope that they are being built to a high standard so that they remain durable for whatever their allotted time, a thing citizens are never told. Often times one is left to wonder aloud about the quality of forward planning. With all the sittings, the nice talk, the colourful expressions, and grand ideas spouted, we hardly see the evidence from those prolonged perennial meetings and planning sessions. Who can say why some infrastructural work has to be damaged beyond repair before it is given attention.
Admittedly, work around the town has to be done piecemeal, since funding is never available at one time, but still, why can’t the quality of work in whatever small portion stand the test of time until another section can be fused to it? Why before a new follow-up portion of work is done the portion that preceded it is destroyed? This is certainly not the way of development, and it is not just a case of bad work but it is also utterly scandalous and insulting to the town’s residents. And what bothers me is the eagerness with which some are justifying wrongs by identifying similar wrongs in some other regions, as if patterning ourselves on irregularities elsewhere is some form of credit. Just how do we aspire to a higher standard?
In passing let me remind some that this town even before it became a town was subject to and controlled by mainly one form of political influence, and that has not changed. Thus one is hard pressed to identify anyone else to really point an accusing finger at for the numberless humbugs, the neglect, shortfalls, oversight, etc. Thus our stagnation has primarily been and remains our own doing. Well, it’s nice to have in place new leaders/servants who have promised to serve with distinction, and such declarations are most welcome. But we have often seen many others before getting into office promising to change things, but instead things change them. Also as we know there are only two ways of doing things – a right way and a wrong way, but the habitual practice of tossing aside standard rules and established procedures and principles, and brazenly replacing them with whimsical, unprincipled modes of doing things, seemed to be very much cherished by those in control. And here is where the democratic process becomes a mockery.
Like many other Lindeners, I am waiting to hear the audited report, the benefits/profits accrued from the ten-day event and what project(s) the franchise holders have bequeathed to the town according to one condition for having the franchise.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
