A team of senior officials of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) went on a walkabout exercise yesterday afternoon along Regent Street, Georgetown to observe the congestion, pavement vending, and external environmental conditions that obtain in the City.In the process, they spoke with members of the business community, who aired their concerns.

Acting Public Relations Officer Debra Lewis told this newspaper that the team, led by Town Clerk Royston King and comprising Deputy Town Clerk Sharon Harry-Munroe, Assistant Town Clerk Sherry Jerrick, Chief Constable Andrew Foo, City Treasurer Ron Mc Almont, Solid Waste Director Walter Narine and herself, began the exercise from the M&CC office and proceeded to the Bourda Market, where they interacted with several business owners and vendors as well.

The team first visited the Acme Building, where one store owner complained that taxi drivers were utilising the parking area outside her place of business, leaving her customers with nowhere to park.

The team then went to Bhena’s Footwear Store, Kanhai’s Electrical, Sookraj’s, Ariel Enterprise and Hamid’s General Store, where these owners said they would like the alleyways to be cleared of refuse, cleaned and fenced, because persons living outside the area usually dump rubbish in the alleyways.

Lewis said the team noted that the Bourda Cemetery is filled with garbage and is partly occupied by vagrants. Accordingly, a gate would be installed for security purposes after the ground has been cleared of refuse.

Lewis said it was also noted that some businesses had done work on their bridges, and this had consequently blocked the drains, which are filled with garbage. She said that Council would begin some work in Lacytown and in parts of the Bourda wards by breaking some bridges to clean refuse.

The acting PRO of the M&CC
disclosed that during the walkabout the team observed that several roadside tattoo parlours were operating, and those will be closed, since they pose serious health concerns. She also said that vendors blocking traffic at the corners of Regent and Camp Streets will be removed, since they constitute a traffic hazard.

She said Chief Constable Andrew Foo was instructed by the Town Clerk to have those vendors relocated at the earliest. (Michel Outridge)