By Petulia Clarke, Staff Reporter
Black
ROSE TOWN citizens are slowly ironing out their differences and the politically divided community should be headed for integration soon, Citizens Association president Michael Black said.
He told The Gleaner yesterday that a meeting in bottom Rose Town (near Trench Town) on Saturday was well attended - shocking compared to low turnouts over the years - and that he had been surprisingly welcomed at another meeting in top Rose Town (near Whitfield Town) last Monday.
"The people there are looking forward to seeing me again," Mr. Black said. "Once you couldn't hear of that happening. Pretty soon we'll be able to unite to form the Rose Town Citizens for Change again."
Mr. Black had expressed concern last month that the community, which hasn't had development for decades, was missing out on opportunities because the citizens were not coming together to reap the benefits.
Rose Town, South St. Andrew is a run-down inner-city community which runs from Gem Road, Maxfield Avenue to Spanish Town Road next door to Trench Town.
Benefits are promised and have been pouring in for much needed development in the community, but a lack of communication between upper and lower Rose Town had led to them not being able to form the development committee needed to enact a community development plan for progress. Rose Town was once a part of Whitfield Town and, in the 1980s, the borders were switched for political reasons, causing some to end up as part of Trench Town. Top Rose Town has allied itself with Whitfield Town and bottom Rose Town is often linked to the Trench Town area.
Mr. Black said both needed to come together so the entire community could benefit through the available programmes.
Help has been offered through Government's Inner-City Renewal Programme (ICRP) and others, but what is lacking is community members coming up with the ideas to get the commitments.
Planned developments include the erecting of a much needed community centre that, Mr. Black said, would be available to both sides. A nearby football field should be developed for youth in the community and there are plans to get the residents into already structured self-help classes that only some people have been benefiting from so far.
