Michael Ammar (left), new head of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, and Francis Kennedy, chairman of the chamber's urban renewal committee, speaking to the media Wednesday night about plans for a shutdown of their shops in protest against the continuing situation downtown.
- Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
ERROL GREENE, the KSAC's Town Clerk, has expressed surprise at the decision of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce for its members to shut down their businesses in Downtown Kingston next week Tuesday to protest deteriorating conditions there.
Mr. Greene told The Gleaner yesterday that the decision to close down the shopping district between Princess and King streets came just hours after the merchants had approved the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation's vendor-removal action plan.
He said he felt he had allayed the concerns of the CofC over the funding and timing of the project, explaining that certain administrative requirements such as mechanisms for increased penalties, were necessary before the plan begins within the next two weeks. He remarked also that funding was being made available from property taxes to cover the costs.
Yesterday the CofC stood firm by its decision, with Francis Kennedy, the new urban renewal committee chairman stating that both vendors' associations had backed the shutdown and that Arnold Bertram, Local Government Minister, could not guarantee funding from property taxes for the action plan until later in the year.
Kennedy stated that although the CofC had approved the plan, $15 million would be needed up front to ensure its efficacy against an army of between 10,000 and 15,000 vendors. Only $1.5 million is available now.
"That is not going to last a week," Kennedy said.
According to him, "vending is only part of the issue", highlighting security as the main problem in the area.
"The Ministry of National Security has not stated that they are going to give us continued policing," he said. "If a police presence is there, crime will deteriorate."
Kennedy explained that although there had been correspondence with the various ministries, commitments had not been forthcoming.
Extortion, drug-dealing and dealing in stolen goods remain rampant throughout the area, so much so that vendors have been forced to uproot and head to uptown areas to ply their trade.
Kennedy warned that if no serious commitments were made to the decade-old problem, more action would follow.
"If nothing happens, we will have to go back to the membership," he said. "But the mood is for more shutdowns and for longer periods."
"The last thing we are looking for is a fight with anybody," Michael Amar, president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, told The Gleaner yesterday. "But we would prefer to lose business for a couple of days than let downtown Kingston die."
Mr. Bertram was unavailable for comment yesterday, one of his "constituency" days. No comment was available from the Ministry of National Security.
According to Supt. Carl Wilson of the Kingston Central Police Division, East Queen Street, the lack of multi-agency involvement has made policing the area difficult.
"We are ready to deal with the issue," he said, noting that all parties involved had to make a concerted effort "to really get rid of the problem and have it sustained."
A police anti-extortion unit is in operation under the command of Senior Supt. Reneto Adams, head of the Crime Management Unit, and is reported to have made inroads into the problem. However, police sources suggest that until all members of the business community downtown reject extortion rackets, the problems would persist.
