MINISTER of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, on Monday said the door was still open for dialogue on the parking meter issue and said it was unfair for the Private Sector Commission to accuse government and the Mayor and City Council for not engaging or consulting the business community, when there is evidence of efforts to do so. Bulkan also on Monday released a letter he had written to the Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Edward Boyer on January 10, 2017, in response to a November 25, 2016 letter that Boyer had written to President David Granger seeking clarity on a number of issues surrounding the parking meters. In a statement Monday,Minister Bulkan made reference to reports in numerous sections of the media that made reference to the reactions of business representative groups, one of the largest and most influential being the Private Sector Commission (PSC). “As a specific example of such reports, I refer to an article captioned, ‘Hundreds protest city parking meters,’ (SN, February 4). The article states that business representatives are calling on central government to resolve the dispute. Among other assertions, the PSC – according to the report – states that, ‘The City Council have displayed unmatched arrogance in their refusal to engage businesses in any attempt to compromise.’ He said he has not received a response from the PSC to his letter and that “one may reasonably take such a failure to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by my invitation as a refusal by the PSC to engage the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown, through the Ministry of Communities.
“It is therefore, unfair of the PSC to accuse central government or the M&CC of not engaging or consulting the business community, when clearly there is evidence of our efforts to do so. In closing, I wish to make clear that the invitation for dialogue still stands. I believe that such dialogue is likely to be far more fruitful than confrontation, whether in the streets or via the media,” Bulkan said.
Meanwhile, in a swift response, the PSC detailed that in August of 2016, when the idea of parking meters being installed in the city by the Mayor and City Council was first introduced, it had convened a meeting with the mayor and other representatives of the M&CC. “At this meeting, when it became evident that the Council was not prepared to concede to any of the concerns of the private sector, the idea of a Tri-Partite Committee being formed was first mooted. This committee was intended to consist of representatives of the Private Sector Commission, the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown and the Government of Guyana.”
According to the PSC, this committee was formally launched by His Excellency, President Granger, in early September of 2016 and this first gathering included the Ministers of Business and Communities. “It was made clear to the participants that the purpose of the Tri-Partite Committee was to promote dialogue between the Private Sector Commission and the Council and to arrive at a mutually agreed position which would ensure that the Council increased its revenue without unduly burdening the citizens and the businesses which plied their trade in the capital. It was further agreed that the Tri-Partite Committee would be supported and facilitated by Government through the Minister of Communities.”
According to the PSC, after the first few meetings, it became increasingly clear that the Council was paying only lip-service to the initiative, since it soon became inconvenient for them to attend meetings because the mayor either was abroad, or was otherwise indisposed and no deputy was authorised to represent her.
The Private Sector Commission said it then wrote to the mayor, seeking to discuss alternatives to the metering project, and to His Excellency, the President, seeking answers as to the position of the central Government with respect to the parking meters. The unions were also appealed to for support. The PSC said as the project steamed ahead with unseemly haste, it engaged the services of a media and public relations consultant. This, the PSC said, resulted in a series of radio and television advertisements explaining the improper nature of the manner in which the project was introduced and the negative impact that parking meters would have on the populace.

Meanwhile, the PSC said it had received no response to its letter to the mayor of November 25, but on January 11, 2017, it received a letter from the Minister of Communities in which he stated that the letter had been written in response to the Commission’s letter of November 24, 2016, to His Excellency the President. The PSC said the letter further noted that the information “duly enclosed had been provided by the mayor in response to the Commission’s letter to the President.” It then proceeded to relay to the Private Sector Commission three pages of the mayor’s opinions.
Last Friday, hundreds of citizens protested the recently implemented parking meter system, even as City Mayor Patricia Chase-Green made it clear that citizens will have to get used to the meters as they are here to stay. The peaceful protest which comprised a wide cross-section of citizens, took a turn for the worse when City Hall brought out its own people to protest in support of the parking meters. Many of the protestors stood silently on the northern side of City Hall holding their placards, which read, “#notoparkingmeters,” “Can’t afford to pay for parking,” “No consultations, no meters,” “Guyana is not ready for parking meters,” “ Why y’all killing poor people” and “No zoning, no feasibility study.”
The protest was led by persons associated with the group, “Movement Against Parking Meters,” but their movement ended abruptly after one of their own was taken into custody following reports that he had threatened two women who were protesting in favour of the parking meters. The man arrested is said to be a former councillor of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) of Georgetown.