…several others on radar for demolition

WHEN the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) begins its campaign of demolishing derelict buildings in the City, the first one to go would be a building on Waterloo Street, a few doors away from John Lewis Styles.At the Council’s fortnightly statutory meeting at City Hall on Monday, Town Clerk Royston King informed that numerous complaints have been received about this very building, and because people are very fearful for their lives, this one would be the first to be demolished.

City Hall is currently trying to ascertain the owners of some 52 buildings located in North Ruimveldt, Kingston, Campbellville, Werk-en-Rust, Lacytown, and several other areas in order to serve them the requisite notices.
The City Engineer’s Department, King said, had conducted inspections and had found each of these buildings a threat to life and limb. While four of these buildings were taken down last year, City Hall will begin demolishing the current set during the first week of October.

King explained that the municipality would be taking down the unoccupied buildings first, and then would be moving to deal with the occupied ones. However, he said the municipality would be seeking the support of other agencies in relocating the occupants of these condemned buildings.

“Many of these (condemned buildings) do not have the basic sanitary facilities; they are extremely dangerous,” he said. King also said that once the buildings are taken down, City Council would attach the cost of demolition to the rates and taxes of those concerned.

The Town Clerk had previously told this newspaper that the decision to remove derelict buildings follows the launch of the Green City initiative which is intended to restore Georgetown to its former glory. “We’re having a holistic approach to cleaning up Georgetown and to pushing this whole concept of a clean and green city. It is an inter-departmental approach wherein all the departments will be involved, including the Constabulary, Engineers and Public Health departments, along with the volunteer corps as part of the Green City initiative,” King had said.