Parking meter fiasco…City Mayor, Town Clerk remain defiant on deal

Jun 16, 2016 News

-Bulkan wants more details

As top city officials remain in Mexico on a controversial trip, Government yesterday said that it is seeking a briefing on the plans to implement parking meters in Georgetown.

Deputy Mayor, Sherod Duncan

City Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green; Town Clerk, Royston King; and Councillors, Oscar Clarke and Junior Garrett; are all in Mexico to learn about parking meters and other “innovations” to improve traffic management in the city.
However, the parking meter plans have been shrouded in controversy as the Mayor and City Councillors have remained divided on the issue. There have been no details on who funded the Mexico trip, among other things.
The Town Clerk has, since late last year, reportedly signed an agreement with Smart City Solutions which is partnering with National Parking Systems (NPS) to introduce the meters.
According to details, M&CC will be receiving a 20 percent cut in the parking fees which could see vehicles being charged up to $500 per hour.
It is unclear what criteria were used by King and his advisors to arrive at the 20 percent and what impact a parking meter system will have on the city.
There have been little details with the deal signed with some M&CC officials complaining that they have not even seen the contract.
Deputy Mayor, Sherod Duncan, is demanding answers, saying that his research could find little details about NPS, owned by Guyana-born Ifa Kamau Cush, and its partner, Smart City Solutions.

Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and her team in the Mexico meeting. At left is Ifa Kamau Cush.

NPS, on its website, had claimed a Park Avenue, Manhattan address as its office. However, investigations by Kaieteur News this week found that no such office exists.
The website itself seemed to have been hastily thrown together.
Yesterday, Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, disclosed that the parking meter deal has been engaging his attention.
Unsatisfactory
“I am aware that there are concerns by a number of Councillors in the Georgetown Municipality. They claimed that they have been asked to endorse or ratify an agreement or a contract that was entered into a long time ago for which they have not been provided sufficient details.”
In fact, Bulkan said, the Councillors have reported that they have not been given the contract. This is an unsatisfactory state of affairs because of the implications and there is the potential for a fall-out on M&CC if the implementation is going to take place under their watch.
“So personally, I don’t think it is fair to the current Councillors to give their approval or

Mayor Patricia Chase-Green checking out one of the parking meters. At left is Councillor, Oscar Clarke.

endorsement for an implementation of this measure. In the absence of sufficient public education, the situation has the potential of doing much harm to the image of the Council and it would be unfair to the Councillors,” Minister Bulkan said during an exclusive statement to Kaieteur News.
“I am trying to ensure that all of the Councillors receive copies of this contract. It would allow them to make a determination if indeed the arrangements would bring maximum possible benefits to the Council as well as to the population in general. We do need traffic management, we do need to pay attention to these areas but public buy-in is critical.”
The Minister was unable to comment on the questionable background of NPS and Smart City Solutions.
“I am unsure how accurate it is; in terms of the company being a ghost…I have been unable to meet with the Town Clerk because he is out of the jurisdiction. I would like to have all of these issues addressed.
“The Ministry will take an active interest. I would not want to take a definitive decision in the absence of the discussion with the Mayor and Town Clerk. As soon as possible after their return I would like to meet with them.”
Minister Bulkan, however, pointed out that ultimately the issue will have to be addressed and dealt with by the Municipality.
“The position of the Central Administration is one where we respect the authority and autonomy of all of our local democratic organs including our Municipalities and our NDCs.”
Meanwhile, a statement from the Town Clerk indicated that at least one section of M&CC is willing to go ahead with the parking meter deal.
King disclosed that the Mayor, the Chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee and the Town Clerk are among the officials of the City of Georgetown visiting Mexico City to be presented with the final roll out schedule of the new parking project, which is actually more of a mobility solution for the City of Georgetown.
The statement did not say who paid for the trip and whether it was sanctioned by the M&CC.
The statement did not mention that NPS official, Cush, was also on the trip to Mexico.
King did say that the delegation is being presented with other innovations, which may be offered and brought to the city.
“The Mayor and city leadership continue with their hands-on approach in their overseeing of a project which began with extensive due diligence on a parking solution, and continues now with their involvement in consideration of other complimentary projects that can be offered by the Smart City Solutions consortium to enhance the intelligent products, services and amenities available to the citizens of Georgetown,” King said in his statement.
“As a result of the visit, the delegation’s opinion has been strengthened that the parking and mobility solutions coming to Georgetown will become the pioneering center of wider modernization and improvements coming to the city that will accelerate it towards parity with the other great capital cities across the world.”
Promising to hold a press conference, the Town Clerk said that it is unfortunate that “certain individuals” have taken advantage of the absence of the Mayor to advance negative, divisive and completely untrue narratives.
More info needed
Yesterday, Deputy Mayor, Sherod Duncan, when questioned, disclosed that the M&CC is not officially informed.
While it is not a requirement, the official said, courtesy and professional behavior will dictate that the Council be notified.
“When the Mayor went to Suriname last month for a few days, she informed the Council. If you using that as a custom, well…”
The Deputy Mayor said that he is awaiting the return of the Mayor and her team to learn more details of the parking meter project.
“I emailed the Mayor and Town Clerk on Saturday morning shortly before the team left. I expressed my concern and I suspect they had a chance to look at the email.”
Duncan noted that it is presumed that proper due diligence would have been conducted on the company that M&CC wanted to do business with.
“It is being reported that this company has extensive business dealings in Mexico and Haiti. If you type these names in the search engines they were supposed to generate information. We have little information. It raises suspicions therefore about the experience of this company. I am awaiting information.”
In Mexico, the Mayor, her team and Cush reportedly met with officials dealing with parking meters and other traffic management tools like wheel clamps and camera systems.
There were several photos taken with even an example of a parking ticket for M&CC printed out.

1 thoughts on “Parking meter fiasco…City Mayor, Town Clerk remain defiant on deal”

Emile_Mervin June 16, 2016 at 7:06 am

Minister Bulkan must be commended for his voice of reason, because the Councilors back home appear not to even know the Mayor was away on a trip. Is this the leadership change voters pushed for when they demanded Sooba be ousted? How is Chase-Green or King different from Sooba on this issue? And these persons have the nerve to accuse the Councilors of being DIVISIVE?

Anyway, New York City has the exact type of parking meter machine shown in the picture. The difference is that the machines are owned and operated by the City Government as a revenue source.

And even if the machines were going to be privately operated, as happened in Chicago, the process would require approval by a majority of elected City Councilors.

I am flabbergasted that the process in Guyana does not appear to cater for accountability, responsibility and transparency. This Mexico trip should have taken place after a Council deliberation, vote, public tendering process and a decision on the awardee. Right now, the cart is pulling the horse! Or is the horse whipping the cart?