This building serves no useful purpose in our community

Nov 12, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
We the residents of Costello Housing Scheme (La Penitence) pen you this letter to voice our frustration and disappointment over the sluggish movement of the Mayor and City Council’s officials in relation to a petition which was submitted on Saturday, August 29th , 2015 calling for the removal of the physical structure which once housed the Albouystown Skills Training Center from our community. The petition which bears the signatures of one hundred and ten (110) residents was delivered to the Mayor – Mr. Hamilton Green, Deputy Mayor – Ms. Patricia Chase-Green, Town Clerk – Mr. Royston King as well as the Minister of Communities – Mr. Ronald Bulkan and clearly outlined the primary reasons why we demand the structure’s removal. On Wednesday, September 9th, 2015 correspondence of acknowledgement of receipt of the community’s petition was received from the Office of the Town Clerk. It was also stated in the Town Clerk’s correspondence that the petition was being reviewed by “the relevant department.” Since receiving word from the Town Clerk’s Office, four visits were paid to the Mayor and City Council for updates but each visit was meted with disappointment. We were asked time and again to “come back next week.” The most recent meeting with the Town Clerk on Thursday, October 15th, 2015 bore no fruit as he too repeated the words we have been hearing on previous visits: “come back next week.” A subsequent visit was paid to the Community Development Council of Georgetown where a discussion was held with one, Mr. Donald Ainsworth. On Mr. Ainsworth’s invitation, a community meeting was called to meet with the overseer of the Albouystown Skills Training Center, Mr. Ronald Thorne on the facility’s premises but residents retaliated in the form of a protest. On the advice of Mr. Ainsworth at the end of the community meeting, a date was proposed for the election of a Community Committee Manager to take control of the aforementioned facility.
It is Mr. Ainsworth’s belief that such a facility is needed and he urged the community to keep the structure; much to the strong objection of residents. It must be made clear that we the residents have no objections nor bias towards skills training, however, we do not see the need for such a facility, particularly one which is in such a state as the Albouystown Skills Training Center, within our community. The facility has been in existence for approximately ten years (10) and has become nothing but a dysfunctional reject by the community, and a visually unflattering edifice, one guard dog shy of becoming a junkyard. It has always been a visual impediment to motorists and pedestrians alike and imposed on the livelihood of the community’s youths who once used the space for recreational activities.
On Sunday, October 18th, 2015, the proposed date for the community election, Mr. Eugene Gilbert came in the stead of Mr. Ainsworth without knowledge of the gravity of the situation. Another confrontation took place between residents and the overseer in Mr. Gilbert’s presence and it was recommended that the election be postponed and community representatives were invited to a meeting at the Community Development Council’s office the following day – a further delay in decisive action being taken in the best interests of the community. That meeting too bore no fruit since Mr. Ainsworth facilitated the meeting instead of Mr. Gilbert who extended the invitation. A lengthy discussion was held during which the issues were repeated time and again with Mr. Ainsworth holding firm to his stance that the community ought to keep the structure and utilize it for skills training purposes; a notion which we the residents strongly object to. No community should have to endure diminished aesthetics, decreasing property values and the abrupt interruption of community livelihood in the name of poorly planned projects such as the Albouystown Skills Training Center which has failed the residents of the La Penitence area.
Proper community development initiatives ought to begin with stakeholder consultation, allow for community input, foster a sense of social integration and cohesion, encourage community participation, create a sense of ownership and create safe zones for youth development and achievement. Mr. Editor, in light of the reasons outlined in our petition we the residents are formally making a request for the immediate halt of current and future planned activities by the overseer, Mr. Thorne and the dismantlement, removal/relocation or disposal of the structure/facility. Further, in supporting the Mayor and City Council’s public call for the development of a “Green City,” we propose that the facility’s location and the extensive plot of vacant land between Third Terrace and Cemetery Road be used for the development of a community park/urban green space which would be of greater long term benefit. Parks foster social inclusion, reduce stress, improve mental well-being, add real estate value, increase aesthetic value, aid in pollution reduction and cooling, create stable neighborhoods, offer recreational activities for at-risk youth, encourage physical exercise and sports skills enhancement among many other short and long term benefits. We look forward to your intervention and assistance in dealing with this hindrance to further social enhancement and development within our community
 Ainsley Mayhew Dyer
 (On behalf of the residents of Costello Housing Scheme/La Penitence)

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