Dear Editor,
CITY Parking and Parking Meters are very hot topics these days, so I thought I should add my two cents for all that its worth.I will begin by saying that the atmosphere of hostility which surrounds this issue is very common these days whenever the system is challenged. We are now living in different times, brought about by continuing advances in technology over a very short period.
Social media is now a great force to be reckoned with as we here in Guyana saw during the last elections and are seeing again over the parking meter issue. Whenever a people feel strongly or threatened by social issues, the social media will automatically kick in, as we are now experiencing.
The Movement Against Parking Meters, a non-political and peaceful movement which got started when just one person on WhatsApp suggested that it was time to show our resistance and within a very short time (less than three hrs.) over 300 persons weighed in with their responses and in less than two weeks were able to galvanise thousands of supporters forcing those few who started it to act quickly, with  stickers, flyers, and other methods of communication which grew so strong that it successfully pulled off a protest of hundreds in just a few days. This is for sure a remarkable situation never experienced in Guyana by any movement — political or non-political — that this writer has ever seen.
The city and its PR agents are doing everything they could to turn things in their favour, but this meter thing resonates deeply with all citizens who never saw the drastic and draconian action the meter roll-out had coming their way. So, our city fathers need revenue, especially since they are unable to collect the millions owing to them in rates and taxes which they negated to do much about or could not do much about, depending on whatever pressures they faced over the last few decades.
All of a sudden, the new first family of the council have awoken and decided that if they can’t collect from these delinquent taxpayers, then they are going to make all of us “Tom, Dick, Harry and their friends and family pay up (Peter will pay for Paul).
True, some of us were aware of the coming parking meters through some PR bits and pieces on TV and the press, but never saw the method of implementation being forced on us, coming as it did. Our citizens were not engaged by survey or sensitisation education in the media as we are normally accustomed to when major changes such as Parking Meters are about to happen.
Why only a few focus groups, we are constantly told were done? What about a national or at least a city survey to gather information on How, Where, Why and at what Cost should this thing be introduced. Further, were there any other studies on economic impact etc. done and if so, what were the findings?
It is one thing to argue for modernization, but it must be consistent with the economic realities that exist.
Our people are burdened because of a severe tax-driven economy that keeps asking us to pay more and more from our meagre wages. Our level of unemployment is very high and a large number of employees work at the lower to middle end of the retail trade and have to take care of theirs and extended family members from these low wages.
The Parking Meter contract that has been forced on us is cruel — not to mention highly suspicious — since it is a well-guarded one, and the by-laws that govern it are extremely draconian.
Instead of the City Council getting defensive and talking down to its citizens, calling them backward and elitist, it should reach out, late as it is,  and find better, more constructive ways to deal with it before a larger crisis develops. We the citizens of Georgetown are very upset at the Council’s take-it-or-leave-it attitude.
The M&CC and Smart City Solutions can’t be so smart if they continue to ignore the protest of the social media Movement Against Parking Meters. Madam Mayor and Councillors, we humbly implore you to discuss this in a more civil way to find a better solution which is acceptable to all the Citizens of Georgetown and its environs. Our future depends on it.
Regards
Bernard Ramsay