THE EDITOR, Sir:WHEN MAYOR Desmond McKenzie arrived on the scene, I was one of those who admired his energy and his 'go-getter' attitude as he strove to prove to his detractors that he could get the job done.
Of late, however, the mayor's actions have moved from the sublime to the ridiculous as he is hell-bent on proving that he is nothing more than a bully in the schoolyard.
His more recent attempts to curtail 'illegal' parking in the wee hours of the morning at some of Kingston's more popular entertainment spots under the guise of reducing traffic build-up, is nothing more than a shameful attempt to generate revenue and distract from the more serious problems affecting Kingston and which he, as the city's manager, would be better advised to spend his time on.
I witnessed on Friday, October 14 an operation mounted by the mayor on Musgrave Avenue at The Deck nightclub at around 9:00 p.m., which involved over 20 heavily armed police personnel and four wreckers to tow vehicles that were parked outside the club.
The traffic pile-up that the mayor spoke of occurred only when the officers attempted to move the vehicles, with traffic backing up all the way down Trafalgar Road.
How much did it cost to mount an operation of this scale? Who is going to pay for it? Wouldn't those resources be better allocated in patrolling Mountain View, Arnett Gardens, Tivoli Gardens, Spanish Town Road, Maxfield Avenue, etc?
Kingston is one of the dirtiest parishes in Jamaica with numerous abandoned properties, overgrown empty lots that harbour not only the four-footed vermin but the two-footed ones as well.
Blocked drains, clogged-up gullies, improper street lighting, numerous potholes on our roads, inadequate signage for our roads, increasing crime levels, etc should be on his menu.
He would do well to generate his efforts towards cleaning up his city and ensuring that the economic life of the city is sustained. I guess he's hell-bent again on proving his detractors right.
I am, etc.,
PETER CALLEN
callen@jamweb.net
Kingston
Via Go-Jamaica
