THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE RESIDENTS who held two demonstrations recently outside the proposed site for a new U.S. Embassy at Bamboo Pen are by no means only from Bamboo Avenue. The associations in the Liguanea Area Coalition of Citizens' Associations (LACOCA) opposed to the siting of the embassy in Liguanea are from the following 19 communities: Bamboo Avenue, Barbican Drive, Barbican Terrace, Beverley Hills, Blue Castle Close, Canberra Crescent, Hope Pastures, Karachi Avenue, Long Mountain, Mona Great House, Mona Heights (my own community), Munroe Road, Ottawa Avenue, Pines of Karachi, Salt Hill, Suarez Close, Wally Close, Wellington Drive, and Wellington Glades.
The disruption of traffic at Liguanea, the destruction of the lively but basically small community atmosphere of the Liguanea Shopping Centre and its surrounding services for residents gas stations, Post Office, schools etc. by the activity the embassy generates will affect far more than Bamboo Pen's immediate residents.
All the communities from the hills north of Papine, Papine itself, Kintyre, August Town, all the communities west, east and south of Bamboo Pen, all the traffic to and from the University Hospital and the two universities will suffer the same traffic congestion and delays.
Residents are calling on our MP, St. Aubyn Bartlett, to table those questions in Parliament that he publicly promised to table two weeks ago, and on the councillor for the area, Mr. Garfield Lee, and the energetic Mayor of Kingston, Mr. Desmond McKenzie, to ensure that our covenant laws are not broken and that the voice of the citizens is heard.
Above all we are calling on our Minister of Land and Environment, Mr. Dean Peart, to put a stop to this invasion of citizens' rights. There are far more appropriate locations for the U.S. Embassy complex for example Twickenham Park, where the Registrar General's Department is now located, would provide space away from residences and easier access for rural applicants.
I am, etc.,
JENNIFER JONES-LEVY
jj33@n5.com.jm
