The triumph of anarchy over order

Aug 29, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – Is there nothing we can get right in Guyana? Take for example all these commercial and industrial concerns that are propping up in housing districts; they are destroying the quality of life of citizens.

Imagine you are a pensioner and want to retire in peace. But the authorities decide to grant permission for your neighbouring property to be turned into a religious house, or a bar or even a factory, oblivious and unconcerned as to the effects on you.

This is what is happening in Guyana. Zoning, once the herald of order and sanity in urban planning, has become the relic of a bygone era. It has become as obsolete as the rotary phone or the typewriter.

In Guyana, it appears we have dispensed with zoning in favour of a wild, unfettered use of land, where the boundaries between residential and industrial are blurred, if not obliterated altogether. The recent inferno that consumed a furniture and pillow factory, a storage bond, and inflicted damage on a nearby building within a residential housing scheme on the East Coast is but a symptom of a deeper malaise—the complete abandonment of common sense.

The rules were once clear: housing schemes were meant for housing, not for factories, not for storage bonds, not for the kind of industrial concerns that transform tranquil neighborhoods into potential firetraps. But somewhere along the way, these rules have been eroded, forgotten, or willfully ignored. Zoning laws, it seems, have been sacrificed on the altar of expedience and profit. What use is a law if it is not enforced? What good is a regulation if it can be sidestepped by the greasing of palms or the right connections in high places?

When the Diamond Housing Scheme was first developed, it was supposed to be one of order and planning—a community designed for families, not for commerce or industry. Today, what was once a residential haven has morphed into a commercial free-for-all, where former housing lots have been converted into a medley of businesses, each one chipping away at the peace and safety of the neighborhood.

One does not need the wisdom of Solomon to understand that this would never have been possible without the tacit or explicit permission of those in authority. And so, we must ask: who is responsible for this descent into chaos? Who has allowed the rules to be bent, broken, and discarded like so much refuse?

The consequences of this laxity are not confined to the occasional fire or the creeping blight of commercial encroachment. For those who have the misfortune to live near these industrial concerns, life becomes a daily gamble. The threat to their homes is ever-present, an unseen menace that lurks in the background, ready to strike at any moment. Insurance companies, ever wary of risk, become reluctant to offer coverage, and when they do, it is at a premium—an additional burden on homeowners already stretched thin. Safety and security, once taken for granted, are now luxuries to be paid for.

Yet, the most egregious example of this creeping anarchy comes not from the factories and businesses, but from the disruption of the sacred. In the Mahaica area, a temple, a place of worship and tranquillity, finds itself besieged by the raucous cacophony of a nearby resort. Or so says the members of the temple. Regardless, however, one wonders what considerations, if any, were given to the temple when permission was granted for the resort. Was there no thought to the potential disruption of religious ceremonies, no respect for the sanctity of the space? In a society where the spiritual still holds sway, the thoughtless granting of permission for such an establishment is not just a lapse in judgment; it is an affront to the very fabric of the community.

The situation demands not just inquiry but action. The government must investigate how and why these breaches of zoning have been allowed to occur. More than that, there must be accountability—those who have allowed residential areas to be overrun by commercial and industrial interests must be held to account. Higher charges for rates and taxes may be a start and a deterrent, but they are not a solution.

The time has come to restore order, to reclaim our neighborhoods from the chaos that has been allowed to take root. Zoning may seem anachronistic to some, but without it, we are left with a landscape of disorder, where the line between home and hazard is erased, and where peace is sacrificed on the altar of profit.

Zoning was meant to protect us from the folly of our own greed, to ensure that homes remained homes, and factories remained factories. In abandoning it, we have invited anarchy into our midst, and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

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