Crisis in Georgetown

Sep 01, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

I would be grateful if my concerns and disappointment with the crisis after crisis, which Georgetown has been experiencing for the past decades, under continuous PNC management, can be afforded space in your publication.
I spent the first 11 years of my life in Regent Street, between Bourda and Alexander Streets, in the yard of the store of my uncle, S B Nawbatt, the first to be burnt in the disturbances of the 60’s. The next 30 years plus were spent in Wortmanville, so I am a product of Georgetown. I remember the days when Georgetown was proudly and legitimately described as the Garden City. Sadly, that description was damaged savagely by the continuous political MISMANAGEMENT of the City. It is inconceivable and baffles one’s imagination as to how such incompetence could be rewarded by being voted into office election after election. I’m convinced that therein lies the basis for the deplorable situation and condition of Georgetown and is exactly the reason for me, a few weeks ago, advocating for the installation of an Interim Management Committee for the City, as a previous Government had to successfully do some years ago.
I was prompted to write again, following a recent letter, in which a “Senior Citizen,” raised among other items, the condition of the Le Repentir Cemetery. My brother and grandfather are buried there and many attempts to locate their graves have been impossible due to inaccessibility to get anywhere near to where their final resting places are. I often wonder if such a situation exists anywhere else in the world. For those who like to take to the streets protesting (as recently as the unimaginable anti-vaccine protests) I suggest their efforts can be very well appreciated by protesting against the conditions of this cemetery. I am sure THEIR loved ones are similarly inaccessible.
However, I have a suggestion, which I know is going to raise a firestorm. The Bourda Cemetery, which has not been a burial site for decades (maybe for plus or minus a hundred years?) is also in a deplorable condition, resembling a jungle, in the heart of Georgetown. I remember a suggestion to convert this area into usable space was raised before and since consensus could not be reached, was abandoned. I am throwing out a suggestion for this cemetery, with all the necessary precautions taken to preserve the sanctity of the deceased, to be converted into a parking lot. The City Council, with efficient management, can garner much needed revenue. Another suggestion, also made previously, is for the canals along South Road/Croal Street/Avenue of the Republic and other such spaces, be covered (to permit removal of the covers, to allow cleaning) and for vehicles to park, for fees.
I am impressed by the owner of Sleep-in Hotel, for his initiative in converting a part of Merriman’s Mall for parking. The voice ‘in the wilderness,’ in this case, being that of the now irrelevant former mayor, Hamilton Green. It is obvious that his motives for opposing this arrangement were motivated by reasons only such a relic can contemplate.
Many more businesses need to follow this example, if only to ease the problem of finding safe parking spaces in Georgetown and for financial gains, both for the Council and the businesses. I am well aware that both these suggestions would rightfully generate much discussion, but am convinced that there is much room for improvement of the City, and therefore any suggestion for ending the CRISIS being engendered by the clique headed for a few years now by the “travelling pandit,” must be open for public discussion.
I have stayed away at this time, at least, to mention other matters, which I’m sure the majority of citizens of Georgetown are fed up with, including the now ongoing attempts by those at City Hall to oppose the acting appointment of a Town Clerk. My hope is that sensible judgment would prevail, and should this not be forthcoming, an NCM may need to be considered for this Council as well. “Tek” warning “wid” the NCM now engaging the Region Four administration…

Yours faithfully,
H N Nawbatt

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