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Parking meter controversy…Third court action filed against Mayor and Town Clerk
A third court action has been filed against Mayor of Georgetown Patricia Chase-Green and
Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green
Town Clerk, Royston King, as it relates to the parking meter project.
According to reports, the action has been filed by Attorney-at-law Kamal Ramkarran. The purpose of the action is for the High Court to rule on the legality of the contract. This third action comes at a time when Smart City Solution is continuing its enforcement activities by clamping the vehicles of motorists who would have committed paid parking violations.
It was recently announced by the M&CC and SCS that these activities would have been relaxed until further consultation exercises were completed. A number of attorneys have opined that if the M&CC and SCS continue with these acts while there are pending court actions questioning the contract, the two parties would be in contempt of court.
At present there are two actions engaging the attention of the court. The first is being led by The New Building Society Limited challenging the placement of parking meters outside its Avenue of the Republic Office.
In that matter Justice Brassington Reynolds ordered Town Clerk Royston King and Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan to make presentations in the High Court, arguments as to why the parking meter project should not be rescinded.
The second action is being led by an employee of a law firm in Georgetown. Chief Justice (ag) Yonette Cummings-Edwards in that matter has ordered the Town Clerk Royston King and Mayor Patricia Chase-Green to present similar arguments.
It was explained by one attorney Pauline Chase at a Town Hall Public Forum on parking meters at the Saint Stanislaus College that what has been ordered in the earlier actions is an ‘order nisi’.
Town Clerk, Royston King
She said that as far as her learning is concerned, the order nisi acts as a stay on activities and at the very least, parties should not take any step that would in any way render the proceedings void for any reason.
The parking meter project has received a considerable amount of rejection from the civil and business society. The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry had supported the call for the revocation of the parking meter contract.
The body encouraged its partners and members in the business community to maintain their protest efforts until the contract has been fully revoked. According to the GCCI, it was irresponsible for the Mayor and City Council to continue with the metered system due to a lack of transparency during the implementation process and a lack of adherence to public procurement procedures.
The GCCI said that it has received numerous complaints from its memberships regarding the metered system and its negative effect on customer traffic and sales. The Chamber said that it supports the M&CC’s efforts to engage in public-private partnerships to raise revenue but refuses to support the flawed and illegal methods that the M&CC have employed to implement the project.
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