Those who seek to obstruct the parking meters are on the losing side of modernization

Dear Editor, The introduction of parking meters in any jurisdiction in the world attracts opposition. Similarly, a vocal minority opposes the establishment of paid parking in Guyana’s capital, Georgetown. The group launched a campaign to dissuade motorists from parking around the city to starve the city of funds. The dissenters who seek to obstruct this initiative are on the losing side of modernization.

Ultimately the policy will normalize when an informed citizenry accepts that its benefits overwhelmingly outweigh the inconvenience. The manufactured opposition therefore is no empirical indicator of the potentiality of paid parking in Georgetown.

The unveiling of this project indeed featured operational and implementation challenges, which were resolved. Glitches during the launch of technology projects are common. When the Air-train to the JFK Airport was launched in New York in 2002, the train derailed from 150 feet in the air, killing the test engineer on the very first test run. Today the Air-train is a perfect system, because those initial glitches were fixed. No one died from the introduction of parking meters in Georgetown. Initial glitches will be fixed, and the system will work perfectly over time.

Parking meters are presently law in Georgetown. Opposition to this law is not grassroots driven. It is believed to be clandestinely driven by ‘special interests’ who did not win the contract to execute this project. Institution of fees and taxes on the citizenry normally elicits legitimate scepticism and dissent. These are characteristics of an open, democratic society. But generating public chaos under the pretence of opposition to a policy that one previously espoused, and will otherwise support if given the commercial benefit of its execution, is illegitimate, deceptive and scandalous.

We elect governments to make decisions to advance development, ie, improve living conditions, create economic and social growth, enhance infrastructure and services and transform the social order for citizens to realize successful lives in a modern society. This vision can only be realized by generating the requisite revenue. Parking meters are a feature of every major city in the world. They are a hallmark of a modern city, and serve three purposes. They regulate parking and bring about order; generate revenue to maintain and develop the city, and provide an avenue for motorists who reside outside that city but utilize its services, to contribute to its upkeep.

Parking on city property is not a right, but a privilege granted by an authority. The law empowers the Georgetown Mayor & City Council to levy fees, rates and taxes. Parking meter fees are a tax to park on city property, similar to fees paid to park on private property, which is far more expensive and unopposed. Paid parking is the same concept as property tax, which the city levies for services concomitant with owning a property ‒ except the city outsourced the parking meter project to a private company. The city contributed zero dollars to this project. It will receive 20% of gross receipts, a percentage I concede should be renegotiated upwards. This fund should be dedicated to a specific modernization project for citizens to see the tangible benefits of paid parking.

Georgetown needs drastic development. The city administration must therefore generate additional revenues to fund a modernization programme. Develop-ment comes at a cost to the people. Good drainage, efficient garbage disposal, effective building and environmental code enforcement, good, safe streets, modern integrated traffic signal networks, superior sanitation and quality garbage disposal, excellent water purification and supply, state of the art sewage disposal, etc, all require significant financial resources. Budget allocations to municipalities from the central government are inadequate to fulfil their mandate. Therefore, alternative revenue generation is crucial.

Georgetown must also enact policies to facilitate citizen education and participation in city government. There will not be unanimous agreement with every policy, but public engagement is essential for accountability and good governance. Furthermore, in an established democracy, we do not obstruct the decision of the majority because we lost a vote. We embrace and implement it as a decision of the body.

Education is power. When citizens become knowledgeable that they will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this new policy; the manufactured opposition will become irrelevant, new citizen-city partnerships will emerge and the policy will be successful. I am also mindful that a less vocal majority supports paid parking, and that some dissenters do not even drive, much less park.

As an act of transparency, the city should open a dialogue with its residents to solicit their support and feedback on a reasonable fee for parking. This effort cannot be an act in futility. It should be done in concert with the investors who made the capital investment in this project. The outcome must be a settled fee based on consensus or a majority opinion. This is how you empower citizens to help manage their government. The citizenry must be mobilized to embrace a vision for a modern Georgetown. This is the real challenge of the city council. Yours faithfully, Rickford Burke President Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy