Hey, Mommy, there’s a nightclub next door!

Aug 08, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

I wrote the column below ten years ago. Tell me what has changed!
There is always a benefit in being left behind the pack. We can learn from those who are ahead, see their mistakes and ensure that we do not repeat these. This is just one of the benefits of a country trying to catch up with the rest of the world.
Many of the problems that we are now facing were experienced before by other countries, and therefore we ought to look at those countries that have undergone the pains of development and try to ensure that we avoid the same pitfalls.
The more I look at our capital city, the more I am convinced that we are not learning from others. In fact, we are not even learning from our own mistakes, something that is far more important than learning from the mistakes of others.
There was a time when Georgetown used to be an orderly town with ordered development. It was never perfect, but there was at least a degree of central planning that allowed for ordered development.
There used to be a time when residential areas were separated from commercial areas.
There used to be a time when you could buy a home in one of these residential areas and not fear that one day you would wake up and find a huge nightclub or gym or business premises next door.
Yet, despite our growing affluence, instead of achieving an improved level of urban planning, what we have is total chaos. And I will not just blame the city’s municipality alone, even though it has contributed in no small measure to the problem.
I remember the Bourda Mall, which used to be an area of green; I remember Regent Street without vendors; I remember when this vendor problem developed and how it was allowed to grow into a monster, resulting in the city having to compromise standards.
One of the compromises made was that an area of the Bourda Mall, which was Guyana’s equivalent to Woodford Square in Port of Spain, was converted into a vendors’ market, even though not many people do shopping there.
I thank Yesu Persaud and the Indian Immigration Committee for having converted that green strip opposite the St. Rose’s High School into a garden.
Had he not done that and fenced the area, it would have been overrun by vendors or vagrants, or both. At least through his initiative, a part of the city has been protected from the encroaching concrete jungle, which is now defacing the once Garden City.
I, however, do not blame the municipality alone. I also lay blame on the Central Housing and Planning Authority for the ill-conceived expansion of commercial development in the city. Today it is difficult to distinguish between what is a residential area and what is not.
Schools are being opened up in areas, which do not have the requisite space and parking to accommodate such developments.
Nightclubs, churches, businesses, car sales agencies are all popping up in traditional residential areas, and this is making a mess of urban planning.
One day you move into a quiet neighbourhood and the next thing you know is that vehicles are honking their horns and parking outside your home and in your gap, because some business place was given permission to open an outlet in your area.
One day you are living in a peaceful neighbourhood and the next, you find that a church has been established next door.
Somebody has to stand up and say that enough is enough. There is no way that Georgetown is ever going to be the beautiful city that it ought to be if this trend continues.
The fact is that these things are not confined just to Georgetown. They are happening all over. How can any country develop if simply in this the eighth year of the twenty-first century it cannot have a consistent policy of central planning?
Something must be done and be done quickly to end this chaos. One of the things that I would urge is for a freeze on commercial expansion in residential areas.
Whatever businesses, for example, there are in areas such as Queenstown and South Ruimveldt should not be allowed to continue, because these areas which are traditional residential areas should see no new expansion.
If someone wants to open a new business, he should do so in the traditional commercial district of the city. However, please, let us try to bring some order to the city. This means that residential areas must be reclaimed. The sooner we do this, the better for all concerned.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)

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