Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
Desmond McKenzie
BATTING FOR the rights of businesses in the Corporate Area to advertise during the staging of World Cup Cricket next year, a livid Desmond McKenzie, Mayor of Kingston, lambasted the Cricket World Cup 2007 organisers for demanding that businesses in close proximity to Sabina Park pull down their advertising signs and billboards.
In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Gleaner yesterday, an irate mayor said that the request was illegal.
"I have difficulties with some issues ... There are too many head cooks and bottle washers dealing with World Cup Cricket 2007," stressed Mayor McKenzie.
Jamaica Cricket World Cup 2007, organisers of the Jamaican leg of cricket's world cup, has guaranteed that the grounds of Sabina Park will be clear of third-party advertisements. This means that there will be no advertisements from any organisation outside of the sponsors within the grounds. In addition, they have also designated a 'red zone' around the park where the same rules will apply. The expanse of this radius has not yet been ascertained.
However, businesses in the immediate vicinity of Sabina Park are being told that they will have to take down their signs.
'CANNOT BE LEGAL'
But, a fuming Mayor McKenzie said he would have none of it in his municipality. "It just cannot be legal. You can't just come throw down these things on people just like that," he said.
"If I had a business, nobody could tell me to do that," said an irate Mayor McKenzie.
Mayor McKenzie, whose administration has gained much notoriety for its campaigns that removed hundreds of illegal signs and billboards, told The Sunday Gleaner that there was no way the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) could tell its paying customers in the proposed 'red zone' to give in to the constitutionally-controversial demand.
"To me it really doesn't make sense. We can't force people to comply with these regulations," he said.
At this pace, Mayor McKenzie is convinced that the staging of the grand gala of international cricket is poised to create problems for the capital city.
While mum on details, the mayor said that the organisers of Jamaica Cricket World Cup 2007 have also made draconian demands of
the KSAC.
However, the mayor made it crystal clear that his administration would not "mortgage the city to private individuals".
The KSAC is scheduled to meet with the organisers of the event on Friday to iron out the kinks. The mayor believes that the plans to stage World Cup Cricket 2007 should be taken out of the closet. "We need some public discussions. These closed-door meetings with stakeholders (will not work)," he said.
Mayor McKenzie also chastised the organisers of the event for what he tagged as their "tardiness" in educating the public on the impact the event would have on their day-to-day lives.
