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Upgraded $18M Linden River Front area now an eyesore
The garbage-ridden
Linden River Front
By Enid Joaquin
The Linden Riverfront, which was upgraded just over five years ago to enhance the areas between Churches Chicken on Coop Crescent and the Mackenzie Municipal Market, and which was partly funded by the Linden Economic Advancement programme, to the tune of some $18mil, is rapidly losing its appeal.
Bushes and garbage compete to obscure the rip rap boulders, which were meticulously laid out to beautify the water’s edge.
Interim Management Committee Chairman of Linden, Orrin Gordon has expressed his disgust over the wanton dumping of garbage in this area, which he noted is a ‘worrying situation’.
“This is totally unacceptable, because millions of dollars were expended to upgrade the riverfront, and people have been showing a total lack of pride by dumping garbage here. There has to be an attitudinal change towards the environment- people have got to develop some kind of pride, because our environment reflects us, so when we wantonly dump our garbage, what kind of picture are we painting of ourselves.
This is nastiness; I should not be forcing people to be clean!”
Gordon said that at least seven sets of bins were placed at the riverfront, since it was established, but only about four bins are there at present. The Linden Riverfront, popularly referred to as the river wall, is a popular hangout spot especially on weekends. However, there has always been concern about the indiscriminate smashing of beer bottles on the boulders.
That, compounded with the discarding of food boxes, has created an eyesore of a place that was expected to become a possible tourist attraction.
While Gordon has commended the efforts of two groups that got involved in cleaning the riverfront over the past year (A church group from Retrieve and the taxi drivers who park there) he admits that cleaning and maintaining the river front will involve finding a way that is sustainable.
On the other hand, he is warning litterbugs that very soon litter wardens will be deployed to apprehend those guilty of the offence.
“Those caught littering, will be placed before the courts and charged; in the case of private persons they will have to pay a fine of some $50,000 and for businesses which indulge in this type of indiscriminate dumping of their garbage, they will be fined somewhere in the vicinity of $90,000.”
In highlighting the issue, at a recent press conference, Gordon emphasized that not only the ‘junkies’ who are often employed to dump the garbage will be fined, but also the business people who engage them to do their ‘nasty work”.
The Linden Riverfront
The facility, known as the Linden River front or river wall, formed part of the “River Front Development Project”, which was conceptualized by Samuel Wright, a former President of the Linden Chamber of Commerce, in a bid to beautify the environment.
Primarily funded by the Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP), the “river wall” only started to take shape after vendors, who had formerly occupied the roadside along Coop Crescent, were relocated to the Mackenzie Market Wharf, to facilitate the infrastructural works.
Based on the opinions expressed by several persons regarding the “river wall,” it was the consensus that too many people are treating this facility with scant respect.
“Perhaps people really hate the way the boulders look, and just want to cover them up with garbage as quickly as possible!” an elderly man had remarked sarcastically, during an earlier interview.
But that would be defeating one of the very purposes for which the boulders were laid out, which was to enhance the river front view!
Samuel Wright, had also expressed his concern about waste management in Linden generally, but more especially as it relates to the River Front, which he emphasized, “could really mess up the facility”, if not properly addressed.
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