Right under the noses of the City Council, the police and the GRA

Oct 28, 2019 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

At one stage I thought I was in a flea market or a fair ground; then at a massive concert, then in an open-air bar; then at a fun park; and also at haberdashery. In fact, I was at none of these places; I was simply at the Georgetown Seawall.
I have written about the decline of the Georgetown Seawall and how the many vendors which operate on the main tarmac, just east of the Pegasus Hotel, have created a crowded, rowdy and stressful environment, rather than the relaxing concrete boulevard it was expected to be.
The Mayor of Georgetown successfully contested the constituency to which the Georgetown Seawall belongs. He should take a stroll on the tarmac on Saturday afternoons and ask himself whether this is his or his Council’s vision of a place for people and their families to relax on the evenings.
You can hardly walk along the tarmac. It is cramped with all manner with trampolines and massive slides and tents selling all manner of items from teddy bears to imitation jewelry. Massive speaker boxes blare music as such high decibels that you can hardly hear yourself speak. Vendors are even laying out itself on the floor of the tarmac itself making navigation even more impossible.
The Council must be earning a fortune in fees from the commercial activity taking place at the Georgetown Seawall.
The least it can do in return is to regularly empty some of the undersized bins which are placed therefore persons to dispose of the rubbish, most of which find themselves spewed on the breach front. It is a most disgraceful scene.
The few benches which have been placed there for citizens are much too few and dirty. But unless you get a bench on the front the sight of the ocean is totally concealed by the many tents and slides and concessions which operate on the tarmac. When you do get a bench to sit on, there is someone with a tent or stall or stand behind you. There is therefore no privacy at all.
Things are getting rough in the country. People are struggling, regardless of what the economic number state. Vendors are descending on the Seawall, some with ugly and unsightly, old and discarded refrigerators and wooden pallets. It is just too many vendors for such a limited space. It is really a dismal scene at what was once a location of pride within the capital city.
The situation is quite chaotic; there is not even arranged parking. This is the view that tourists will get when they look out of their hotel windows from the extension of the Pegasus Hotel.
The Georgetown Seawall is also dangerous. This creates perfect conditions for persons to be pounced upon robbed and raped further west.
The Georgetown Sewall is the backyard of the headquarters of the Guyana Police Force and it is not very far away from the head office of the Guyana Revenue Authority. Perhaps the latter can say whether those persons selling liquor and beers at the seawall are licensed to deal with an intoxicating substance.
The smell of marijuana is pungent. Instead of people being able to relax on the Seawall, they are getting “high” from inhaling all that marijuana fumes. The police should take an interest in the illegal three-card operators who are doing brisk business there on weekends.
The Georgetown Sewall represents a yet another failure on the part of the local authorities. It shows what can result when governments and municipalities allow people to feel that they have a right to “hustle” wherever and whenever they feel.
An important part of Georgetown’s and Guyana’s heritage is being destroyed and desecrated. And this destruction and desecration is being done in the name of progress and right in front of the authorities.
(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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