Linden residents vent spleen at Council forum

Jul 03, 2011 News

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Residents of Richmond Hill, Fairs Rust, Noigtdacht and Watooka were recently given the opportunity to highlight issues affecting them, during an interactive session with Town Clerk Patrick Inniss at the Watooka Nursery School in Linden.
The purpose of the meeting was to identify projects which need to be budgeted for in the 2012 budget. But residents highlighted a number of issues that need not wait until next year for implementation, according to both the Interim management Committee Chairman Orrin Gordon, and Region Ten chairman Mortimer Mingo.
High on the list of concern to residents was the traversing of heavy machinery through these districts which are designated as residential areas. Apart from being a traffic hazard, these heavy vehicles are destroying the roads, residents contend.
The roads in these communities were described as atrocious, and residents are also concerned that they are often broken to install PVC pipelines and not properly ‘fixed’ afterwards. Also contributing to the deterioration of the roadways, are the absences of proper drains, residents contended.
It was pointed out that there are bypass roads to accommodate the heavy duty vehicles but operators choose to use the main thoroughfares. Some of the roads which these vehicles regularly traverse include Casaurina Drive, Winifred Gaskin Highway and Burnham Drive.
Town Clerk Inniss said that the council will be looking to erect barriers that would prohibit the trucks from traversing these roads. He pointed out that these should have already been in place, but budgetary constraints prevented the erection of same.
However both Gordon and Mingo said that the cost of erecting the barriers is negligible and that Council should not have to wait on the 2012 budget for the structures to be erected.
Residents of Fairs Rust also voiced their concern about a logging business that operates within the community.
“Now these people sometimes start up their power saws at two and three o’clock in the mornings, if a log gets stuck during offloading, and they need to cut it. Then they sometimes start up other equipment at anytime, disturbing persons from their rest.
“This is totally unacceptable; these people cannot be doing these things here. This is a residential area,” a visibly perturbed resident complained.
Other concerns raised include the indiscriminate dumping of garbage and the infrequent collection.
Gordon pointed out that garbage collection should not be an issue, as council is sufficiently equipped to handle the situation. He added that a truck which was recently acquired has not yet been put into operation, even though there is work to be done.
Inniss explained that council has not yet obtained the services of a driver for the truck, and that there were some problems with the registration.
But Gordon was not taking that excuse, as he pointed out that there are enough drivers employed within the municipality.
Residents were also concerned that there are no fire hydrants in these communities, to which Mingo said that upon his intervention GWI has made a commitment to replace the fire hydrants.
Mingo pointed out that there are issues that could be addressed without waiting for the 2012 budget. And that residents in these communities need to be assured that some of them would be addressed ‘as early as tomorrow’.
“The real issue should have been giving the assurance to residents, that tomorrow morning, I am going out there and if it exists I am going to take the action that is necessary to ensure that this does not continue.”
His comments were in relation to the issue of the noise pollution in Fairs Rust. He also noted that there are bylaws governing the town, and that those need to be put into effect almost immediately to protect citizens.
“The Council can no longer be a Council that is just responsible for picking up garbage. The council has to be an organization that people would be looking to for representation. “A lot of work is taking place in this community, but we are not enforcing or collecting. Also, we are getting a lot of ‘slipshod’ work and we are accepting it.”
These substandard infrastructural works are currently responsible for the perpetual poor state of many road ways across Linden, Gordon emphasized.
Town Clerk Patrick Inniss told the media that the concerns raised regarding the implementation of the town’s bylaws would be put into effect almost immediately. However as regards the roadways, drainage and street lighting those would have to be taken care of with the 2012 subvention.
He added that other meetings would be held in other communities later, where residents could have their problems addressed.

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