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A vision can make City Hall do foolish things

Mar 29, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
As we look on in amazement at the Georgetown Municipality careen from one foolish initiative to another we wonder if the officials there are answerable to no one but themselves. The most recent fiasco was the hare brained scheme to charge each and every kite flyer in Georgetown; a fee to merely mount a kite in the sky on Easter Monday. Thankfully this idea was scrubbed.
Then there is the plan to establish petting zoos at the Promenade Gardens and at the Meriman’s Mall. Isn’t that just off the chain? Aren’t there enough stray animals roaming the streets of the capital that one can easily pet? Then there was the idea to commandeer open spaces in exclusive residential neighbourhoods and convert them into municipal housing schemes for the workers of the Georgetown City Council? Are there not enough housing schemes already under development that the Council’s workers could acquire each a house or house lot? Or they just prefer to become squatters on state lands?
Now we are hearing of the development of a Presidential Park? Why does the City want to get involved in this? This should be a national and not a municipal undertaking? Why is it that City Hall wants to get involved in everything these days? Are they looking for fame or fortune? The real question I want answered is why the hierarchy at City Hall feels no need or obligation to have consultations with the citizens of Georgetown before implementing these grandiose plans. All over the world there are town hall meetings, there are surveys done, there are referendums undertaken before changes or new things are implemented.
But here in our capital one or two dreamers get an epiphany and that is all it takes. The next morning they begin implementing the most bizarre and lavish ideas unmindful of the concerns of others, the sustainability, relevance or the wisdom of the idea.
This madness must be stopped and stopped very soon. Georgetown is too significant to Guyanese and other from around the world to be the subject of an experiment by any one person or a small group of amateurs who obviously do not know what they are about. One can only hope and pray that the new Council would stop this march of folly which was encouraged by the previous Council, which is intended to line the pockets of a few on the backs of the earnest taxpayers and at the expense of real developments of the city.
Digging a few drains and repairing a few buildings does not secure or maintain the competitiveness of our capital and the livelihoods of the people who live here. We need to find more sustainable, resource-efficient ways of managing Georgetown. City Hall has to improve processes and services from urban planning to much better financial management. Georgetown as the President has said needs to be self sustaining and managed like a corporation with a proper Chief Executive Officer who will secure all revenues due, explore investment partnerships, embrace technology, make organizational changes that eliminate overlapping roles, and manage expenses.
Also, if designed and executed well, private–public partnerships would be an essential element of smart growth, delivering lower-cost, higher-quality infrastructure and services.
Debra Gibson

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