By Telesha Ramnarine

SINCE City Hall plans to impose a financial “burden” on owners of motor vehicles, through the establishment of a parking meter system in Georgetown, democratic principles and respect for the public dictate that such individuals should have been consulted before a definite decision was made. These were among some of the thoughts expressed recently by former Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran on his blog, conversationtree.gy.

Mayor Patricia Chase-Green had announced at one of City Hall’s fortnightly statutory meeting that the municipality signed a contract last May 13 with a company called National Parking Systems. This was irrespective of the fact that City Hall had an existing contract with Chief Executive Officer of Astrolobe Technology Incorporated, Mr Saratu Phillips, since 2007.
The former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Executive observed: “Owners of motor vehicles who park them on the roads in Georgetown, either for long or short periods, while at work or for any other purpose except residential, have not been consulted.”
The streets in which the meters are to be installed are reportedly Avenue of the Republic, Regent Street, Robb Street, Camp Street, Main Street, Brickdam, Water Street, America Street and Church Street.
“Coming so soon after the elections, the decision to install parking meters was clearly on APNU+AFC’s agenda prior to the elections. During the elections, APNU+AFC contestants had ample opportunity to inform the residents of Georgetown that parking meters were on the agenda but they kept this plot a secret for obvious reasons,” Ramkarran charged.
He said the election of the City Council to office does not give it a right to unilaterally exercise authority where the expectation exists that consultation will take place or where the public has a right to be heard if its interests are to be affected.

UNJUSTIFIED BURDEN

“This is particularly so in relation to the installation of parking meters. There is no case more deserving of consultation than this unjustifiable burden that is now proposed to be placed on citizens. There is such a dearth of information and so many imponderables that it is incumbent on the City Council to speak with and consult the citizenry.”
Ramkarran is of the view that even basic information is lacking with regards to the parking meters. “For example, are employees who park outside of their offices for eight or nine hours a day expected to pay what may be unaffordable sums per month for parking? And if they have to get their children to school every day from out of Georgetown, what are they to do in the absence of an efficient, cheap and safe transport system?
“And why are specific streets selected? For example, why Church Street and not North Road? What answer would the City Council give to the person who is employed in Church Street who asks why he or she has to pay for eight hours of parking while the North Road employee has to pay nothing?

“We also learn that the contractor will take 80 per cent of the revenue from the parking meters while the City Council will get 20 per cent from off the top. This smells very much like a get-rich-quick scheme to exploit owners of motor vehicles, many of whom are regular working people, for the substantial benefit of the 80 per cent private contractor(s) and not the City Council,” Ramkarran said.

CANNOT SUPPORT

Meanwhile, Georgetown Mayor (Ag) Sherod Duncan has also voiced his refusal to support the parking meter system, citing a lack of verifiable Information on the parking meter company.
Duncan, on a social media post, said he has been provided with little information by National Parking Systems (NPS) / Smart City Solutions from which to make a quality judgment.
“It is my firm belief that the architecture of a traffic and mobility management policy must be the construct of several stakeholders, and the culmination of signing such a contract should have had due diligence done.”
In the roll out, the parking meters project National Parking Systems (NPS) has touted Smart City Solutions years of experience in the area of the subject matter, Duncan said. “In my research, I have not found any company by the name ‘Smart City Solutions’ associated with parking meter systems in any of the places the company is purporting to have done business like Panama.”
Furthermore, Duncan said in his independent research on Simon Moshevilli who represents Smart City Solutions, he has found no one with said name connected with the said company. In fact, he said there is no evidence that such a company even exists.
“Again, the total lack of verifiable information on the company and its capacity to execute the scope of the project and the absence of a contract on the proposed project I cannot offer my support and reaffirm my grave reservation of such a venture.”