I WRITE with regard to an issue that has appeared in several newspapers recently, that is the issue of parking in the city and more specifically parking at the new GRA location. Earlier this month I noted that one Ms. Burke experienced much difficulty while trying to find parking at GRA’s Camp Street location. On February 4, 2013, Stabroek News featured an editorial on the topic entitled “Big buildings but no parking.” In that article, the editor noted that “Ms Burke rightly asks about the thought process that went
into the selection of the GRA location. The answer would likely be that very

little consideration went into the decision.”
Ms Burke seemed to have stirred up an ant nest, since our beloved Mayor Green chose to join the bandwagon a few days later. Mayor Green in his deliberation of the situation noted that the “Government has a diabolical plan to destroy the city” by allowing the erection of big buildings around the city’s business district. It is my interpretation that the Mayor believes that the current traffic situation in the city is out of control. I tend to agree with the Mayor about traffic and the lack of parking in downtown Georgetown. This is the reason I was so pleased, but had much skepticism about a letter coming from the GRA claiming that they were in the process of acquiring parking space for their staff and more important, the tax-paying public.
Imagine my surprise when my nephew, a taxi driver, who works around the Camp Street area, told me that the GRA had in fact made good on its promise to provide parking. According to him, the GRA started this process by erecting signs on both sides of the Avenue in front of their location to advise persons to park diagonally along that area. This in itself would allow about 15 additional vehicles to park in that area. In addition to this, I was informed that they also have functional parking lots on Waterloo Street bordering the Parade Ground and the Avenues extending from Quamina to New Garden Streets with security guards.
In my 60-plus years I can’t think of any other government agency that provides parking with security for its customers. So I take this opportunity to say to the GRA boss, “Well done, thank you for thinking about your customers”.