Dear Editor,
It is welcome news to read that an Inter-Agency group has been formed to develop a master plan for Georgetown.
Hopefully this will not disappear into oblivion as so many such well-meaning groups and ideas have in the past and that the interest of all the citizens of Georgetown will be taken into consideration when crafting it.
My concern is that such a daunting and monumental undertaking will have to deal with a disorderly culture which presently exists. I would also hope that such a plan once completed will be made public and that the appropriate strategy for its implementation and phasing will be clearly defined and strictly managed.
Our building codes are obviously violated by most, resulting in construction of large commercial properties coping with the same old sewage, drainage, parking, and garbage management that existed for decades. Many like to rave about what the city was like back in their time earning it the title of “The Garden City” without taking into consideration that today its population has exploded without a plan or at least so it appears. Our narrow streets have undergone little change with only few having been widened only to cause bottlenecks when they converge with those which haven’t and all without adequate parking regulations. The culture of impatience and intolerance mentioned in the article to which I refer is one that has to do with courtesy and good manners which is no longer taught in our schools and is brought to the streets and other public places.
For many years we have seen unregulated vending on parapets, pavements and street corners throughout the city. Our once well maintained Kingston seawall between the Pegasus and the Kitty Roundabout has not been spared and is now littered with garbage and vendors who build stalls out of old scrap wood, zinc, and cheap patch work coverings wherever they choose.
Our City is reminiscent of those countries with multi-million populations which ought not to be so given that we are one of less than 500,000 people making the problem one of planning and management.
The city is a free-for-all with businesses operating anywhere and everywhere with little regard to codes or zoning.
Georgetown clearly and urgently needs a professional plan to cope with its chaos and must appoint an equally professional regulative authority to oversee the plan once it become reality or it will be business as usual, anywhere and everywhere.
Yours faithfully,
Bernard Ramsay
