Continuous flooding is among several issues in Tucville-North Ruimveldt that still need to be addressed almost a year after the local government elections, where Mayor s was elected as the constituency’s representative.
In an interview prior to the March 18, 2016 local government elections, Chase-Green, who was deputy mayor at the time, said she was seeking a second chance to return to the city council as the constituency’s representative as she felt she was “stifled” during her previous term.
Almost a year after being re-elected, she is saying that promised works in her constituency were not fully executed because of limited financial resources.
Two major problems that need to be addressed in the constituency are the continuous flooding of many residents of Festival City, in North Ruimveldt, due to poor drainage, and the illegal squatting along the council’s reserves.
Chase-Green, in an interview with Stabroek News, acknowledged that her constituency has “lots and lots of challenges… My greatest challenge is that Festival City is always under water, for whatever reason, rain or sun… there are challenges in Stevedore Housing Scheme, the roads are in a terrible state.”
But she explained that rectifying the drainage issue in Festival City is at the top of her list for projects this year. She said it is unfair for residents to be living under such harsh conditions and lamented that she was not able to help her constituency as she would have liked because the city’s budget last year did not cater for significant spending in constituencies.
She also pointed out that because of the squatting on the reserves, drainage and irrigation works on the main canals in North Ruimveldt could not have been undertaken.
However, Chase-Green said engineers from the Mayor and City Council and Ministry of Public Infrastructure are collaborating on a plan to combat the flooding. “I want to see how best we can bring relief. During sunny times, there is water and we have to find out why. People cannot be living under water, their homes are not submarines. This is my greatest challenge, which I would like to rise above,”
Turning her attention to squatting on government and council reserves in the constituency, she said it would take a specialised committee to look at it. A national committee is to be set up with Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Social Protection, the Ministry of Communities and the City Council to have discussions and map out how the issue would be addressed.
“We have to have ways and means to give a proper living. We cannot just go and move people out. We have to find proper facilities to house them,” the mayor noted.
However, she pointed out that the committee would have to make firm decisions on relocating squatters. “Squatting is a socio-economic problem we are faced with. From investigations, we have found that persons were given house lots but they would have built and moved and relatives moved in, or they stay and occupy the house (on the reserves) and rent the other one. So, the committee would have to make a firm decision on squatting that when you move they take down the house,” the mayor disclosed.
But notwithstanding the challenges, Chase-Green noted that within the last year she approached the Ministry of Public Infrastructure for assistance in resurfacing roads, and erecting and repairing street lights in her constituency. She added that she had been able to build several footpaths and also addressed small issues residents faced.
In Lamaha Park and Lamaha Springs, she noted, drains have been cleaned, while in Guyhoc Park a recreational ground was commissioned. She said this year she would engage stakeholders to install additional street lights in the community. “I have been trying to get work done in pockets of these areas,” she explained.
The mayor also worked with the National Library to set up a branch of the library in the constituency to encourage reading among the youth.
‘Not seeing her’
Meanwhile, some residents complained about Chase-Green’s performance while others said there has been some development and they would like to see more. “I ain’t see her… she ain’t get time with nobody. When she wanted to win, we saw her but now we are not seeing [her], except on TV,” Simone Waterman, a resident of Tucville, told Stabroek News when asked if she ever saw the mayor in the community.
According to Waterman, several drains where she lives are blocked and need to be cleaned. She added that she and neighbours have to pool their resources to clean sections of their community. The woman stressed that during the campaign for local government elections, promises were made but none have materialised. She added that the residents would like to see lighting installed along the streets as they are usually dark and pose a danger for persons who would be traveling to and from work at night. The community is also looking forward to better drainage and cleaner drains, Waterman said.
Another resident, J. Thomas, related that she has approached the city council to trim overgrown vegetation along two streets but she is still waiting on a response. Like Waterman, she said that she has not seen the mayor around in the community.
Thomas, who is a re-migrant, complained that because of poor drainage, her house would frequently flood whenever it rains heavily. “The sewage overflowing and we gotta pay taxes and nothing is being done. This cannot be fair,” she complained.
Thomas added that she wishes to see the mayor and have a discussion with her. “We have a piece of vacant lot here but it needs to be leveled. If that can be done, I will be able to put up this basketball net I have and the children can get to use it,” Thomas noted.
Over in Guyhoc Park, Kirk Embrack said that he has noticed that the community benefitted from two footpaths, frequent police patrols and a playground. However, he would like to see more developments in the community. He stated that he would like to see better collaboration between the council and the police to address issues such as threatening and abusive language, noise nuisance, and domestic violence, among others. He noted that a pressing issue for him is the maintenance of clean drains. He pointed out that on several occasions his premises would flood after heavy rains. Embrack also said he would like to see the mayor walking around the constituency and interacting with residents and listening to their concerns.
Embrack and others have been pooling their resources to install lights along the streets. This year, he said, they would continue to seek funds from fellow residents to install more lights in the community.
But Matthew Oudkerk said since Chase-Green was elected there was one meeting at the Tucville Secondary School with residents and concerns were raised but he did not see any positive result from the meeting, which was months ago.
He, like other residents, called for street lights and better drainage in Festival City, Guyhoc Park, and Tucville. Oudkerk said he wishes that more meetings can be held in the constituency to inform residents of projects that would be undertaken in their respective communities. The North Ruimveldt resident also stated that meetings would allow residents to share their views on pressing issues, not only in the constituency but in the city.
Additionally, when asked if he noticed any developments in his constituency, he pointed to the Tucville access road, which was recapped, two footpaths that were constructed and the development of the recreational ground in Guyhoc Park.
Meanwhile, a resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity said she wishes that the council would work to put a stop to squatting on the reserves. The woman said every day new structures are being erected and if nothing is done the situation would get worse. The woman further said that the old Busta Building, located on Blue Mountain Street, was recently knocked down and she thanked the council since it was said to be harbouring criminals.
