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City Council is not responsible for seawall regulations – Mayor
Georgetown Mayor Ubraj Narine has categorically stated his council is not responsible for the vending activities happening along the seawalls.
Speaking at statutory meeting held at City Hall on Tuesday, the Mayor noted the seawalls which stretch from Pegasus Hotel in Kingston to the Rupert Craig Highway does not fall under the responsibility of the council but the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
Mayor Ubraj Narine
Mayor Narine was at the time responding a column published in the Kaieteur News, a few weeks ago.
According to the Mayor, the Peeping Tom article highlighted the unsavoury conditions created along the Georgetown seawalls due to activities associated with vending.
The column compared the seawall vending activities to a flea market or a fair ground.
The writer of the article noted that many vendors who operate on the main tarmac of the seawall, 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 columnist also accused the Council of earning a fortune in fees from the commercial activity taking place at the Georgetown Seawall.
However, the clearly upset Chief Citizen used last Tuesday’s meeting to clarify Council’s position on the issue.
“Council is not responsible for seawall regulations. We don’t collect any fees there. The seawalls are the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.”
In fact, the Mayor stated that the Council has met with persons from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure on the matter.
“We have discussed the concerns of the vending along the seawalls with the people from the Ministry but we can’t act on our own.”
According to the Peeping Tom column, the situation of the Georgetown Seawalls is 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 columnist noted too that the Mayor of Georgetown successfully contested the constituency to which the Georgetown Seawalls 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 trampolines and massive slides and tents selling all manner of items from teddy bears to imitation jewellery. Massive speaker boxes blare music at such high decibels that you can hardly hear yourself speak. Vendors are even laying out on the floor of the tarmac itself making navigation even more impossible.”
However, Mayor Narine stressed that the columnist is totally misguided in directing those to the Mayor and Councillors of Georgetown.
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