La Penitence Market should be torn down and a new facility built in its place

Jun 30, 2018 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
For these August holidays, parents can save themselves a bundle that they would have had to spend taking their children to fancy zoos overseas, or on a safari in some exotic foreign land, to enjoy a vast array of wildlife and nature, by just taking them to visit the La Penitence Market in Georgetown.
Certainly, the largest, most valiant, and audacious rodents and other pests in Guyana call the La Penitence Market home. One can only assume that these rodents probably sneak over to the nearby Pharmacy after hours and gorge themselves on Testosterone, as from their giant size and brawny appearance, it is logical to assume that they are on anabolic steroids.
And they don’t await the cover of darkness or the quietude of the closed market to move about and seek out food, but rather can be seen on a daily basis nonchalantly sauntering past patrons and vendors. I was told that they are going to be transferred to the petting zoo that the Town Clerk proposes to open on Merriman’s Mall, as soon as it is completed.
But witticism aside, the La Penitence Market, if you wish to call it a market, is the grimiest, darkest and most dank bazaar in this hemisphere. The Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown, should be ashamed of themselves for the squalid conditions they are subjecting the stallholders and shoppers to, while collecting substantial stall rents and property taxes from the citizens.
It is just unfathomable how the council bigwigs, who recurrently tour South, Central and North America, Asia, Europe and just about everywhere in between, having seen what modern shopping centres, malls, markets and bazaars are like, would be happy to subject the visitors and residents of Georgetown to such grime and insanitary conditions.
Is this a part of the plan to transform Georgetown into a ‘Green City’? Does this constitute their vision for a modern capital?
No attempt should be made to repair or rehabilitate that market, it should instead be torn down and a completely new facility built in its place. No sane, sensible or decent person would want to venture into that market to say they are shopping. How are these vendors expected to compete with modern supermarkets, shopping malls and grocery stores? It is just so unfair!
Sincerely,
Anu Bihari

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