PUBLIC Commentator, Ralph Ramkarran, is encouraging the ‘Movement Against Parking Meters’ (MAPM) group to support the parking meter project, but only if less sophisticated, more affordable parking is implemented by the Georgetown Mayor and City Council ((M&CC). Ramkarran expressed this view on Saturday on his weekly blog, “The Conversation Tree.”
With a current charge of $58 for 15 minutes, he said it is difficult to understand how the M&CC and Smart City Solutions (SCS) – the company contracted to operate the meters – could have failed to appreciate that Guyanese would not be able to bear such a heavy burden for parking.
Motorists can evade the charges by walking or parking outside the metered zone.
Ramkarran reasoned though that more modest fees, such as $40 an hour, eight hours a day, with a minimum of half an hour for $20, perhaps for an extended area, would be affordable and acceptable in the Guyanese economy.
He noted that while this would still be a “burden on many,” the City Council and SCS would have found more takers.
And should the rates be reduced and the City Council decides to implement a less sophisticated parking system in a wider area, he said that MAPM should support it.
“Who knows? The City Council might earn far more than the 20 per cent it was expected to bring,” he said.
The contract between the Council and the company states that the former will receive 20 per cent of all revenues generated from the metered parking system, while the latter will receive the remaining 80 per cent.
IN SYMPATHY, BUT…
Ramkarran pointed out that newspaper reports indicate that many people have no objection to paying for parking, since many are in sympathy with the City Council’s need for resources and to regulate the streets.
“No one doubts the dire need of the City Council for resources. Its current income from rates and taxes is inadequate to maintain even the basic services it now provides. The City Council has had to rely on the help of the Central Government in the past and continues to do so,” Ramkarran said.
However, he noted that MAPM’s current strategy to seek a reduction in the parking fees will not work.
He reasoned that a reduction to a sum that is affordable is not likely to be possible for SCS’s sophisticated operation.

He said that there is need for far higher charges than are affordable by most of the driving public, to make a profit.
“And if a profit is not made, the project will fail,” Ramkarran said, adding that one sign that it might not bring the expected return is the City Council’s announcement that rates and taxes will be increased by 10 per cent.
Having arrived at this conclusion, he said that MAPM’s strategy should therefore be to mobilise as many people as possible to park outside the metered area. He noted than in Georgetown’s small city, the walk to work or to do business is only 15 minutes.
“Facebook and demonstrations have to be supplemented by local organising and sustained legwork,” he said, in obvious reference to a social media movement which has gained much traction.
In examining the movement against parking meters, Ramkarran said that it took a while for resistance to develop, and when the reality of the charges hit home, it triggered the formation of the MAPM, led by some prominent citizens.
TOO MUCH
He contended that it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that organised resistance has emerged because the fees are beyond the pockets of private car, taxi and mini-bus owners who travel to or move around in Georgetown to work or do business.
Weighing in on a protest against the meters on Friday outside of City Hall, the political commentator said that the demonstration showed that big business, middle-class employees, vendors and taxi drivers were all represented.
He noted too that a major concern appeared to be the dramatic reduction in retail trade for stores, shops and vendors and this should certainly invite Government’s concern.
Meanwhile, Tow Clerk Royston King has refuted claims by the Private Sector Commission (PSC) that there was a lack of consultation regarding the implementation of the meters.
In an advertisement published in the newspapers on Sunday, the Town Clerk said “in the very first instance when the Mayor and City Council and Smart City Solutions (SCS) sought to consult with the PSC, the commission refused to meet and has consistently continued to refuse to meet.”
King also said that quick canvassing of a number of businessplaces on Robb and Regent Street quoted in the media as claiming losses, revealed that proprietors had not spoken to the media.
Accusing the PSC of also making this claim, the Town Clerk called for the commission to present an audited sales analysis demonstrating a decline comparable with sales at the same time of the year in previous years. He asked that variables such as the introduction of new taxes, and the decline in the rate of exchange of the Guyana Dollar to the U.S. dollar be taken into account.