Latest update January 30th, 2025 6:10 AM
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Mayor tells citizens don’t pay “one cent” for Easter spots
… Sooba says spots will be sold
Citizens might be a bit confused now that City Hall is at odds with its administration over the sale of spots for the Easter holiday. Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green is telling the public that they should not pay a cent for spots on the seawall, while Town Clerk (Ag) Carol Sooba is saying that citizens must pay if they wish to occupy the spots on Easter Monday.
Carol Sooba
The Mayor stated firmly during a press conference at his office on Tuesday that citizens are not to pay “one cent” for the area while Sooba at a later meeting insisted that fees will be collected.
Last week, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) also sent out an advisory stating that citizens are not to pay any monies for the purchase of spots at the seawall. They called the sale of spots ‘illegal’ and said it was unauthorized, since the Council had not decided on anything pertaining to the matter.
Tuesday, Mayor Green reiterated that the sale of the spots by the Town Clerk is illegal and arbitrary. He said that again, Sooba was making a move that was unknown to and unauthorized by the Council and that there was no consultation between the Mayor and Town Clerk, nor did she inform the Council about advertisements for the sale of spots.
Mayor Green said he will not tolerate individuals and their families having to pay fees for spots to fly kites or have picnics. He said persons can put down their selling trays and enjoy recreational activities since the sale of the locations are not authorized, “and is not likely to be authorized.”
However, the Town Clerk has stated that the sale of spots commenced about three weeks ago and some have already been purchased. She said that citizens desirous of conducting business at the seawall between the Police Band Stand and University of Guyana road, can purchase spots which are marked out and numbered. She advised persons to get in contact with her office for information on the price of spots and added that the sale continues until Saturday.
She said persons not conducting commercial activities will not be charged a fee.
Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green had also written to the Town Clerk (Ag) on the sale of spots. She said that the Council had discussed the issue at the last Finance Committee meeting and it was asked that the administration justify the amount being requested to do preparatory works and to activate the round robin system for Council’s permission to carry out the activity. However, this did not occur and an advertisement for spot sales was made public shortly after.
Mayor Hamilton Green
The spots sale issue comes just after the contention over the sale of Mashramani spots which the Council said was also illegal, since again the Town Clerk did not acquire permission to do so.
Sooba had stated that more revenue was needed to be raised for the cash-strapped Council and had upped the price of spots. Some big name companies had refused to purchase spots for Mashramani, citing exorbitant prices. However, the Council experienced increased revenue as a result.
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