Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 25, 2016 Letters
Dear Editor;
I refer to Sherod Duncan’s statement that: “… all the Town Clerk’s actions led to chaos…” (KN, Oct. 19, letter pages). Respectfully, I would let the public be the judge of that. I will make no further comment on that strange expression expect to say that, the city of Georgetown is cleaner, more organised and more efficient today than it was one year ago under another administration.
Our canals and water ways are clean and flowing, our parapets are clean, streets are no longer littered with garbage, citizens do not have to navigate piles of rotten garbage in the streets to carry out their daily chores, new green spaces and recreational facilities for our children and seniors have been created, avenues are properly kept, bridges are being repaired in many local communities, our markets and vending activities are better organised.
Again, about 5000 local residents benefitted from small contracts to the tune of one million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000.00) to clean up their neighbourhoods. We had the twin benefit of employment for our citizens including women many of whom are single parents and a massive clean-up in our local communities in all areas of the city. Citizens’ participation proved extremely effective in cleaning Georgetown.
Also, we have reduced crime in the city, particularly around the Stabroek Market area. Reports from the constabulary revealed that over the last eight months the number of crimes committed around Stabroek Market has been reduced by 85%. We are still dealing with crimes committed especially at nights in that area but we are making steady progress. As a result, some stall holders are reporting a steady increase in sales in that facility as more people feel safe to do business there. This is impacting on our revenues and our image and reputation as a city.
The Kitty Market is being restored with additional space for new vendors, the City Engineer’s Building has been restored; it is no longer a public eye sore, our public health clinics are being refurbished, the constabulary is better equipped and more mobile to police and enforce the by¬laws and there has been a general significant improvement in the aesthetics of our national capital.
At the moment, council is considering a number of options to accommodate vendors and young entrepreneurs in proper market facilities with the appropriate amenities. Also, council is contemplating reforming and reorganising the city transportation system with a view to making the city much more efficient. All these were sustainably achieved under this new administration at City Hall, with a very narrow revenue base and extremely limited financial and other resources. These changes are gathering pace as more citizens see and appreciate the need to do their part to assist the council. But our modest achievements do not hide our imperfections and frailties. We have not gotten it all right; no public or private corporation has ever made perfection not even the companies Jim Collins called “Great”. But we are on a path that will facilitate the sustainable development of the City and the revitalization of local communities.
The constant suggestion, apparently reflective of a deep desire, by Mr. Duncan that the Town Clerk should be removed is a very simplistic way of attempting to resolve very serious and fundamental issues affecting the development and progress of the city. Many of these issues have their genesis in actions and decisions taken by previous administrations and inherent systemic weaknesses in the municipality. The myriad of challenges facing not only the Georgetown City Council but all local authorities in finance, public and community health, environment, drainage and irrigation, infrastructure, markets and security, are very complex and intricately woven deep in the social, environmental, cultural, economic and political systems of our society, particularly in circumstances where prior to the last local government elections in 2015, we have not had renewal of local democracy for more than two decades. Therefore, solutions and resolutions to these challenges require leadership not showmanship; substance not paraphernalia; responsibility not casting blame; critical thinking not criticisms; and commitment to serve [servant leadership] not merely the furtherance of personal, political or other ambition.
Council has an implicit contract with its citizens: that the council will enforce it’s by-laws, be positively and appropriately sensitive and responsive to the felt needs of local communities and sustainably improve the health and well-being of all citizens. Beyond that, we remain grateful to all stakeholders and citizens for their confidence in our intention so aptly and visibly demonstrated to improve conditions and their commitment to our collective effort to restore Georgetown and to make it comparable with the great cities of the world.
Royston King
Town Clerk
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