Dear Editor,

I WOULD like to know the exact reason why the Georgetown City Council is refusing to rehabilitate and maintain the “Pergola Promenade” – the national monument located on Merriman’s Mall.The construction of this monument was financed during the 80s by the six institutions under the umbrella of the Cooperative Financial Administration, and was dedicated to the sterling performance of the late Shirley Field-Ridley, a former minister of the government and former wife of the immediate past Mayor of Georgetown.

For the last 21 years, during the Mayorship of Hamilton Green, this memorial was left to become a haven for vagrants of all sorts, and was subjected to all types of solid waste deposit, including human excrement.

Was this deliberate? Is there some sort of agenda to denigrate the memory of Shirley Field-Ridley? Does someone wish to have her contributions erased from our memory?

I have noticed that in the recent sprucing up and major construction activities going on at the Merriman’s Mall, this structure seems to have been deliberately ignored by the ruling cabal at City Hall, with bush and other unsightly garbage desecrating this edifice.

Rather than rushing off to build a Presidential Park, shouldn’t the Town Clerk have considered rehabilitating this monument first?

Sincerely yours,
NADINE JERRICK