Although the Mayor and City Council continues to stand firmly behind its contract with Smart City Solutions to implement metered parking in Georgetown, supporters of the Movement Against Parking Meters maintained their lobby for the project to be scrapped at their sixth protest in as many weeks yesterday.
In what is arguably the most dramatic display seen to date by the supporters of the Movement Against Parking Meters, a group of protestors, identifying themselves as undertakers and wearing hooded tops and masks in some cases, conducted a “funeral” for the project during the protest yesterday.
At the forefront, a woman held a placard quoting scripture related to the biblical story of David and Goliath and calling on President David Granger to remove the “Philistines” from Georgetown.
“When President David Granger went into office and took his oath and gave his speech, he said, ‘This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad.’ And as you can see, we’re not glad; it’s too burdensome… we need President Granger to intervene and cancel it,” the woman, Tiffany (only name given), stated.
Three miniature tombs encasing replicas of the City Hall, a parking meter, the contract and the related bylaws, were laid on the street as the protesters gathered around. Tiffany explained that the group was “burying the dead” and “burying the parking meter contract.”
One spectator of the proceedings, also a supporter of the protest, commented that the display spoke to how the citizens of Georgetown are feeling. “I think it’s very dramatic and it brings a lot of information to how the people are actually feeling right now. It boils down to how they feel and how they’re expressing themselves,” the UG student, who asked not to be named, stated.
One man, a City Council worker, seemed skeptical of the demonstrations and questioned why those against the parking meters had not moved to protest when plans for its implementation were first announced. “They wait until now to protest? Why they didn’t come out and protest before? They wait till the people done put down the thing them and when money done spend?” he questioned, before adding that the demonstrators would be better off protesting issues related to jobs or salary raises or even against GPL.
Yesterday’s turnout was smaller than last week’s but businessmen and women still maintained a prominent presence among those assembled. Some taxi drivers along the Regent Street route had taken time out to join the protest but a lot of businesses still remained opened during the hour.
A vendor, located at the corner of Regent and King streets, responded nonchalantly when questioned why she had not joined the protest. Many who did come out to be involved have attended the demonstrations religiously since its first day. “We are not going to end until the contract is revoked, absolutely revoked. The only way we are coming off this road. I mean, look at the numbers, this is the sixth week and we’ve had a really good turnout. Some drop in numbers, yes; but for six weeks in Guyana protesting, this is amazing,” Don Singh of MAPM said.
A widow by the name of Angela told Stabroek News that she has since begun using transportation rather than traveling with her car as she is currently unemployed and cannot afford the parking meter fees.
Gansham, a contractor, explained that he has now resorted to buying his supplies from the West Coast, West Bank and East Bank, rather than traveling to downtown Georgetown where they are sold cheaper. He related that he would rather save the money that he would have to spend on parking and pay extra for the supplies, which cost just a few dollars more in those other locations.
“Instead of every year they calling on the government to bail them out, the city council could have asked for a grant from somewhere. As they ask for a grant, they could have put it up them self instead of bringing somebody from abroad to rip us off, this is total rip off,” he stated.
Security guard Euclid Young related that he has now taken to parking his car in the company’s parking lot as it is more convenient, him not having to abandon duty at intervals to “top up” the meters. He also saves money in the process. Young expressed that proper consultation with citizens was not done prior to the implementation of the parking meters and that “the entire thing should be squashed.”
Meanwhile, the members of a group that had previously made their appearance at the protest dressed in all black to “mourn the death of the spirit of Georgetown” came yesterday clothed in all white.
The businesswoman leading the group, which represents a Water Street business, said in relation to their choice of attire, “It’s because of the burden, the pain and the loss of our city to SCS. When we wore the black it was to mourn the death of the spirit of Georgetown. Today we’re mourning the loss of the city to some foreigner, SCS.”
