King says city may move Linden bus park, vending shop
–to improve security, aesthetics around Public Buildings
In an effort to improve the security and aesthetics of the area around the Public Buildings, the Mayor and City Council is considering the removal of a structure west of it, which houses several vendors, according to Town Clerk Royston King.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, King said, “There is a structure on the immediate west of Parliament building, which was used in times past as a gas station and is now being used by an assortment of vendors. We are very worried about that structure.”
King explained that apart from it being a very unsanitary environment, “where people urinate around it,” it is becoming more of a public security risk and the council is very concerned since parliamentary sittings go very late into the night.
Currently the city is trying to contact the person the building was leased to, King explained.
He pointed out that the portion of land was given out by the council years ago for a “peppercorn rent,” but since then the lessee had changed and now there is no organisation and a loose arrangement that really could not continue in that area.
In addition to removing the structure, King said, council is contemplating removing the minibuses, which ply the Linden and Timehri routes, from around that area. “Again you have a disorganised arrangement and it poses a security risk and we have to consider cleaning the entire area and sanitising the entire area so that it will be fit for Parliament… and those kinds of activities,” he said. He pointed out that the vendors in the vicinity were not keeping to the agreement to ensure that the area was kept clean.
In addition to plastic and bottles, King highlighted that the city is facing a new dilemma of phone cards clogging drains and said he has since reached out to Digicel and Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) for them to meet and have a discussion on how they can move forward and prevent persons from disposing of the cards in an environmentally unfriendly manner.
“We have written to them [Digicel and GTT] because they must find it in their corporate social responsibility to manage the disposal. We have to find a way to move forward,” he said, stating that it might be a good thing for the companies to state on the cards how they should be disposed of and maybe offer incentives to customers for doing so.
“Every time we have to clean it costs a lot. It is unacceptable that people think they can just dispose of phone cards, wrappings and go about their business. So, this is a very worrying thing for us,” he added.