- Ian AllenMembers of a police party maintaining a presence outside the Kingston Parish Church, South Parade, downtown Kingston, last week Monday. The KSAC recently removed vendors who sold their wares in front of the church.
The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), declaring that public disorder and urban decay were threatening to destroy Kingston, said that now was the time for corrective action. The JCC made a presentation on the subject, 'The restoration of public order and the renewal of Kingston', which proposes measures which, they say, must be implemented in order to restore downtown Kingston. This is the presentation which was delivered by Michael Ammar, Jnr., 1st vice-president of the JCC, at a media briefing last Tuesday at the Courtleigh Hotel, New Kingston.
OVER THE past 30 years Kingston has developed in an unplanned, unmanaged and increasingly lawless manner, particularly over the past five years. In particular, downtown Kingston and its central business district have become a model example of social decay, unchecked public disorder and a total lack of effective municipal leadership. We could spend all morning trying to figure out how we got here or who is to blame but that would only waste more time, and believe me we have wasted enough.
Over the past three years, the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce has been making concerted efforts to highlight the harsh realities of downtown, where a breakdown in public order, congestion, underdevelopment and general lawlessness continue to threaten and undermine the lives and livelihood of those who live, work and operate businesses in the area. In addition, the reputation of downtown Kingston continues to destroy the image of our country and negate even the best efforts to promote Jamaica as the 'One Love' land.
All over the world the phenomenon of decaying urban centres is not unique, as this occurs throughout North America and the Caribbean. The difference is that most of these cities have recognised that they have a problem, sat down and defined the problem and formulated workable and practical solutions to turn back the forces of public disorder and urban decay.
The time has come for Kingston to experience a renaissance. The citizens of our capital city, the private and public sectors, must unite to arrive at a common vision and path to make Kingston what it should be the proud capital of Jamaica and the cultural capital of the Caribbean.
In today's world tourism can no longer only rely on sun and sand to lure visitors to our shores. Local entrepreneurs cannot rely solely on exporting relatively unknown products into a global marketplace to boost their sales. What must be done is that Kingston must be repackaged, redeveloped and re-energised to make it a prime tourism destination with culture, entertainment, cuisine, history, commerce and location as its underlying strengths.
Imagine, if you will for a moment, the new Kingston. A city filled with orderly shopping districts, busy, clean markets, a myriad of exciting restaurants offering the best in local and international cuisine, a modern harbour front, cruise shipping and entertainment complex. Imagine a city buzzing with business by day and pulsating to the rhythms of reggae by night. A city where law and order are commonplace and a city where our children can play safely in its parks and playgrounds.
If this is the type of city that we want Kingston to become, then we must realise that downtown is the gateway to urban renewal and that the restoration of public order and strong municipal enforcement are the pillars of this gateway.
The Chamber proposes that the following be implemented in order to restore downtown Kingston and open the gates to our new city that all the world will want to share.
PUBLIC ORDER ISSUES
Restore and sustain adequate police personnel in the downtown commercial district in order to retake control of the streets.
Implement a centrally monitored CCTV surveillance system throughout the central business and market districts.
Establish a municipal police force which will work with the KSAC to enforce muni-cipal law in particular, as it relates to vending, parking, littering and other breaches of municipal code.
Implement a policing strategy which will break the protection rackets and criminal gangs operating in and around downtown Kingston.
Design and implement a co-ordinated private security patrol for downtown with panic response capabilities. This could be done through multiple companies in full co-operation with the police.
STREETSCAPE IMPROVEMENTS
Repair, restore or demolish all abandoned and derelict buildings in the downtown business districts.
Design new streetscapes for all main streets to reflect a tropical atmosphere (in particular King Street, Harbour Street, Parade, Duke Street and Ocean Boulevard.)
Design a facade improvement programme to complement the streetscaping, as well as to include all other buildings in the downtown commercial district.
Upgrade the retailing and restaurant facilities in the business district in order to bring them up to uptown Kingston standards. In addition, undertake a complete 'paint-up' campaign of all buildings downtown.
MARKETS, ARCADES AND VENDING AREAS
Implement fully, the KSAC market district plan and continue to repair, renovate and enhance all the downtown markets.
Relocate all vendors to the prescribed vending areas within the market district and implement the licensing system for newspaper and fruit type vendors to allow them to sell in prescribed areas throughout the business district.
Redo the craft market and transform it into a major attraction with a restaurant and entertainment component.
Amend the penalties for street vending to result in higher fines, and upon repeat offences, forfeiture of the merchandise.
Fully empower the KSAC Market Company to be established, funded and be allowed to run the markets in a business-like manner.
(iii) Employ the development corridor strategy to improve the entrances and exits to downtown and in so doing start to spread the redevelopment throughout Kingston.
(iv) Strengthen the schools, health centres and police stations within the downtown area.
(v) Completely renovate St. William Grant Park to create an oasis in the centre of the city with facilities to include restaurants, some types of vending, entertainment areas and green spaces.
(vi) Establish a historic preservation programme to save the important buildings downtown especially in the residential neighbourhoods.
3. Infrastructure Improvements:
(i) Repair and maintain all storm drains, gullies and sidewalks in the downtown business and market districts.
(ii) Replace or repair all street signs (street names, no parking, directional signs etc.)
(iii) Repair and re-mark all damaged road surfaces especially in the market district.
(iv) Repair all JPS street lights and tidy up overhead wires throughout the business district.
(v) Repair the sewer mains in downtown Kingston and restore and repair the sewer connection in the residential areas surrounding the business district. The NWC should immediately stop pumping raw sewage into Kingston Harbour and fix the treatment plants as needed.
(vi) Improve the public parking by introducing a shuttle bus system to link all downtown public parking lots, bus terminuses and main business areas.
(vii) Redo the transport plan to relocate some of the busses from South, West and North Parade into the market district of West Street and to the vacant land entering downtown from Marcus Garvey Drive.
(viii) Remove all illegally parked taxis from the Parade area and relocate them in designated bus loading bays.
(ix) Introduce parking meters in downtown Kingston.
(x) Create a transport hub around the municipal bus terminal and railway station.
(xi) Establish additional public parking lots in the north of the business district using abandoned and vacant pieces of land.
(xii) Develop the railway station complex into a shopping, transport and eating centre to service the busy market district.
(xiii) Enforce stringently the anti-litter laws and prosecute individuals and businesses that dump commercial garbage on the streets and empty lots downtown.
(xiv) Repair and replace all non-functioning traffic lights in the downtown commercial district
4. Recreational Spaces / Entertainment / Sports:
(i) Establish the Ward Theatre Entertainment and Arts Complex on North Parade.
(ii) Work with the National Gallery and the Institute of Jamaica to enhance both as attractions to downtown Kingston.
(iii) Improve and increase the number of playing fields, basketball courts and recreational areas around downtown, especially in the residential communities.
5. Residential:
(i) Do an audit of the housing stock surrounding downtown to determine the viability of restoration versus redevelopment. Establish a land bank to be used as a land assembly policy to create larger parcels of land on which to create new mixed level housing stock for downtown.
(ii) Develop a funding proposal for a mix of financial and Government funds for low-income persons to access to be used to purchase new housing.
6. Social Agenda and Community Development:
(i) The street feeding programme for the indigent now taking place on the main streets of downtown needs to be relocated and supported.
(ii) The problem of increasing drug addiction and beggars in the commercial district needs to be addressed.
(iii) There now exists a number of training programmes in and around downtown. To support this, a job bank should be established and downtown businesses should utilise these persons whenever possible for their staffing requirements. In addition, an apprenticeship programme should be established to give the youth of downtown an opportunity to gain job experience.
(iv) The children's homework and recreational programmes should be expanded and supported by the downtown business community in order to better educate and train the children of downtown.
7. City Management:
(i) The KSAC needs to be supported and its capacity enhanced and strengthened to make it into an effective city management organisation.
(ii) Legislation needs to be enacted to formally establish special improvement districts such as in downtown Kingston. This will allow for better management, maintenance and development within these specific areas.
(iii) Establish a development fund to be used to finance the redevelopment of downtown. A bond could be floated for this purpose and serviced through the sale of restored properties and buildings or the revenue from their rental.
(iv) The tax incentive programme in effect downtown needs to be enhanced and simplified in order to encourage businesses to expand, improve or relocate downtown.
8. New Developments:
(i) Design and implement the Kingston waterfront development project to include a cruise ship docking pier and facility, a recreational marina, a major outdoor entertainment concert facility on the old Myrtle Bank lands and a well-lit ocean front promenade to link these facilities
(ii) Create a restaurant/ bar/club district in close proximity to the promenade, possibly along Port Royal Street.
(iii) Establish a Chinatown district on Barry Street between Orange and West streets. This should be done to enhance the attractiveness of the area in typical 'Chinatown style'.
(iv) Undertake the cleaning and restoration of Kingston Harbour so as to allow its full potential to be realised.
(v) Relocate the General Penitentiary and restore the existing facility and turn it into some type of tourist attraction.
I realise that this is indeed an ambitious dream but we must understand that unless we undertake Kingston's redevelopment now, the forces of lawlessness will only grow to fully engulf our capital city.
We as a people must stop thinking small and realise the full potential of what our capital city could be. Those in leadership positions must also come to realise that they must lead for the greater good and not continue to pander to the forces of anarchy and disorder.
Kingston will be reborn with or without our current set of leaders. Downtown Kingston will regenerate itself with or without the current business community. The only question is - when? What the JCC proposes, is a coming together of the forces of civil society, the public sector and private enterprise to create a coalition to restore public order and create a renaissance in our capital.
The time for action is now. We can wait no longer. Public disorder and urban decay threaten to destroy what can be the gem of the Caribbean and the No. 1 visitor destination of our island home - Jamaica.
