WHAT HAS been described as Jamaica's most valuable piece of real estate, located in the prime commercial area of New Kingston, is now home to Emancipation Park. The Park was constructed on the over six acres of land by the National Housing Trust, with its offices next door, as a gift to the capital city and to the nation at large in commemoration of Emancipation.
The involvement of the housing agency with the project and the development price tag of $100 million, which does not include the market value of the land, have triggered some controversy. But the people of the city and nation, in general, have welcomed this beautiful commemorative park. In a full-page advertisement in The Sunday Gleaner (August 18), the NHT boasted of 30,000 visitors in the first week after the opening of Emancipation Park.
The curiosity factor is, of course, a big pull. We believe however that its central and "safe" location will serve to guarantee the long-term popularity of Emancipation Park. We would hope that the significance of what it commemorates as well as its architectural beauty will also attract visitors in numbers. But already there are some concerns about the abuse of the park. Several other city parks have been run down by a combination of neglect and ill use. The paternal NHT has assured that there will be no neglect. The thornier issue is the regulation of the use of the park without resorting to stifling security which would defeat its intended purposes. But the park cannot be left at the mercy of destroyers and lay-abouts.
In a letter to the Editor also carried in The Sunday Gleaner, H. Dale Anderson has refreshed our memories that it was the Liguanea Club which gave the land to the Government several years ago for use as a public park. That plan was sidelined and the land sold to the NCB. It became a dust bowl, periodically used as an entertainment venue while it awaited development by its new owners. FINSAC acquired the land with the bank and the NHT through its Chairman, Kingsley Thomas, negotiated its acquisition, for a token $1, to be developed at the expense of the Trust as Emancipation Park.
Mr. Anderson has rightly called for appropriate recognition of The Liguanea Club whose dream of a public park on its very valuable land has now been realised, albeit in such a roundabout fashion. By this gift of Liguanea Lands, the Club has set an example as a benefactor of the public good which is worthy of emulation.
