Latest update January 6th, 2025 4:00 AM
Jul 03, 2019 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
At 6 p.m. on the holiday evening of Monday, GTT held the finals of its jingles competition at the car park of MovieTowne. One of the dimensions of the event was an international concert with performers from the Caribbean. The decibels were equal to any international concert in any part of the world. I have been to such concerts when I studied abroad.
The walls of my home were literally vibrating. My wife asked me if my seat was shaking, because hers was. Then suddenly the computer went dead. My neighbour is a Mexican diplomat. My other neighbour is John Chin, the manager for Stanley Ming’s company, and my other neighbour works with the USAID. What are these people to think of Guyana? John Chin has a 76-year-old mother-in-law. That lady had to leave her home. My wife decided it was time to go somewhere, anywhere.
I decided to check my facts before I wrote. I went on the UG Road. This street is bordered by Cummings Lodge. I stopped at Cyril Potter College of Education to listen to the way the sound was being carried by the wind. It was loud at that site. I drove into UG. You would think if you were in UG that the event was across the road at the college.
This article is being typed on a new computer. John Chin said he cannot be sure that the vibration was the reason. I called in UG technician. Khemraj Naraine. He said he cannot say definitively if the vibration damaged the system. On Tuesday morning I bought another system. I buy all my computers from Isaac Investment Computer Business in Regency Mall. On Tuesday morning, its owner, Anthony Sarjoo, told me he had no more computers.
I would never know if that sound system damaged my CPU. On the very Tuesday morning while my new system was being installed, I got a call from GTT’s PRO, Jasmin Harris. I told Ms Harris I could not speak to her because the technicians were at my home. One thing led to another and my exchange with Harris was volcanic on my part.
Ms. Harris’ position is that she cannot consider where I live a residential area. She cited the location of CARICOM, Giftland Mall. I really got annoyed with Harris. That music system was directly facing the community I live in, which has more than three hundred heads. Next to Movie Towne car park – to the west of it – is Pattensen, where hundreds more persons live. Across the road, east of MovieTowne on UG Road, are the Beharry family home, Gafoor’s gated community and University Garden, where several diplomats live. Then there is Cummings Lodge, where thousands have their homes.
The second thing Harris told me is that the Police Commissioner gave GTT permission to use the sound system until 2 a.m. I asked Harris why have the speakers face the south where thousands live, rather than north where only the Atlantic Ocean can be found. She said the sound company positioned the speakers; it had nothing to do with GTT.
Tuesday afternoon, I got hold of the owner of Traveller’s Sound and Lighting System Company, Mr. Leonard Shim. First, Mr. Shim said, at a concert like that, his system is geared to provide sound that would go further than UG. Well, one can just imagine what was happening to where I live, across the road from MovieTowne. Secondly, Shim said he had no jurisdiction in the placement of the speakers. It was MovieTowne officials that gave him a logistical map and told him not to go beyond the boundaries outlined.
Here is the interesting part of the six hours of horror that thousands of Turkeyen, Pattensen and Cummings Lodge residents had to bear up with. John Chin said when he drove on the old highway where MovieTowne is located, you could hardly hear the sound. Why did they turn the speakers south? Because to put them facing the north would have affected patrons at Kosmos Restaurant, KFC, Hard Rock Café and the movie-goers. We the residents were expendable.
Efforts to contact MovieTowne CEO, Kirly Bacchus were laughable. I went to see her. An attendant said she just went into a meeting and he was not certain when she would be out. I called Operations Manager, John Quelch. He said he had no part in the decision to rent the car park to GTT but if I had waited just five minutes, I would have met Bacchus. The Police Commissioner did not return my call. GTT and MovieTowne, next year, will get a big fight from residents.
Jan 06, 2025
Kaieteur Sports- Guyanese Mixed Martial Arts international star fighter, Carlston Harris is set for a return to the Octagon this coming Saturday against Argentina’s Santiago Ponzinibbio. Having...Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Bharrat Jagdeo has long represented an unsettling paradox in Guyana’s politics. He... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- It has long been evident that the world’s richest nations, especially those responsible... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]