ALBOUYSTOWN is one happy-go-lucky neighbourhood, where the rattle of the drum threatens to overpower the smell of freshly cooked food.And speaking of food, the buying of it can be pretty much a challenge, what with the variety on offer on an afternoon at Supreme’s, down on James and Hunter. There one can find foods ranging from the ever-popular metemgee to fried rice to cook-up to souse to baked-custard and to an irresistible display of golden-brown macaroni and cheese.

Cruising along the eastern half of James Street, one quickly comes to realise that, grinding poverty or not, Albouystown holds bitter-sweet memories for close to 10,000 people, 40 per cent of whom are children; and that is because it’s the only home they’ve ever known.

And in spite of being regarded as a dangerous place to life and limb, we soon enough learnt that it’s also a hive of economic activity, from the mobile fruit cart to the many roadside stands selling pickles made of just about every fruit under the sun; or from a man selling black and white pudding to cozy, semi-rugged corner shops.

There are also any number of social activities that can be found in Albouystown — from the occasional game of cards or other table games to kids playing football on the streets, as two adult men, well decked out for the game, have a great time dribbling and kicking a discoloured cricket ball.

Over on Independence Boulevard, young men and boys could be seen having a whale of a time playing a game of football; while young women, dressed in all sorts of garments, enjoyed a late afternoon stroll in the company of friends; or mothers sat with their babies and young children at various points, which appear to be just outside their homes, bonding with each other and just having a jolly good time.

MAIN STREETS
In Albouystown, Sussex Street, James Street and Independence Boulevard are the main streets which run east to west, while 18 streets run north to south. Of the latter, Hunter Street is the most popular, with vibrant traffic 24/7 as the street is fast becoming a main carriageway leading from Georgetown to the East Bank public road.
Supreme Restaurant is located at that very corner, and just outside the popular junction is where concerned citizens are asking for the construction of speed humps.
One citizen there, popularly called ‘Nat Cole’, spoke to the Guyana Chronicle about the importance of the humps, among other things.

He said Hunter and James Street is a dangerous junction without the structures, what with traffic flowing in both directions.
“It does create a lot of accidents, especially to Hunter and James Street,” Natty said. “This is a main thoroughfare; this thoroughfare carry you to ‘The Scheme’; carry you till to Timehri. You know how long we begging them to get a speed hump in Hunter Street? They had one years ago, but never returned to do it. And this corner here, everybody does jumping the corner and it does cause problem,” he told Guyana Chronicle.

A frightening occurrence was when a young man speeding east on James Street on a bicycle almost collided with a minibus travelling in the opposite direction on Hunter Street. But what was scary to the Guyana Chronicle was a sight ‘Natty’ had grown accustomed to but is becoming increasingly concerned about.

Recalling an incident that occurred when Albouystown Boy, the late Andrew ‘Six-Head’ Lewis, won the world boxing title, ‘Natty’ said it was at that very corner that a motorcyclist on a CBR, attempting a stunt in excitement, careened out of control and broke his neck.

Noting that many persons were killed by accident at that very corner, ‘Natty’ said one happened just recently: “A man name ‘Junior Talk-out’,” he said, “nearly get kill the other night here, too…. He get knock down, like 2 o’clock de morning, and de driver and dem drive away and lef’ he…. Is only by people was on the road that they get to identify is who.”

As a result of that accident, ‘Junior Talk-out’ is now in hospital, nursing a broken leg.
But, accidents aside, another pet peeve of Natty’s is the lack of a proper recreational facility for youths of the neighbourhood.

Calling for the reconstruction of the now run-down YMCA building on Albouys Street, so that it can be used as a training centre for various skills’ development, he said:

“We have the Independence Boulevard, where we can develop for the youths. When they come home from school, they don’t have no kind of recreational activities to do… We used to go to the YMCA on an afternoon on Albouys Street; we used to go and play table tennis, boxing, football,” he said.

He added: “A lot of international players come out from Albouystown.”

To their credit, persons within the community have already indicated their willingness to pass on their skills to the younger population; but without a proper venue for holding such classes, their hands are tied.

Said ‘Nat Cole’, “That is why you find a lot of idle youths in Albouystown…. If they get back the YMCA, they could develop some sort of craft…. We need li’l more activities to keep the youths them from getting idle and going astray.”

LGE CANDIDATE
The Guyana Chronicle was able to catch up with Heston Bostwick, a candidate in the upcoming Local Government Elections (LGE) slated for March 18. He is contesting for leadership within the Albouystown/Charlestown constituency. He has a list of several concerns about the development of Albouystown.

He said Albouystown is bordered by Charlestown to the west, and West La Penitence to the east, with Saffon and Callendar Streets at its borders.

The city community has three main streets and eighteen cross streets, and is home to thousands of people. Still, he pointed out, there are no recreational facilities, no library, and no impact of the Impact Albouystown programme which was launched about two years ago by the past government.

The community is owned by the Mayor and City Council, which purchased it from one Mr Albouys since the 1960s.

As a community, he said, “We sit and we decide that the Independence Boulevard should be converted to be a playing area.”

He highlighted that, in any depressed community, the education of residents, especially youths, is one of the key solutions to pushing it out of such a state, yet there is no library within close proximity of Albouystown.

“That is Number One in solving any problem in any depressed community…. Reading is something we need to have the youths involved in; you will able to open their vocab,” Bostwick said.

He has identified a piece of state land at the corner of Albouys Street and Independence Boulevard, which he said was once occupied by the Corriea Group of Companies, to be transformed into a community centre where more than 10,000 youths can assemble for recreation and development.

Meanwhile, the man also pointed out that the frequent police presence in the area would be a welcome development if only the Force could become more friendly with residents of the popular urban neighbourhood.

“I live in this community,” he said. “I know what goes on in this community; and, yes, you need police presence. But, are they friendly?”

He is, however, of the view that the residents of Albouystown do a better job of policing their own community than anyone else has done so far.