-cost definitely has to be reduced – Councillor Garrett

“THE parking meters are here to stay!” Councillor and Member of the City Council’s Finance Committee Junior Garrett declared on Monday. The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) had invited business owners to a meeting to discuss the way forward regarding commercial waste disposal.

During his comments, Bourda businessman Suresh Narine voiced his opinion of the parking meter system, which is currently on a pause, and remarked he could not see himself giving support to it since 80 percent of the profits were going to Smart City Solutions (SCS), the company that was granted the concession by M&CC to install the meters.

In response to Narine, Garrett made it clear that the parking meters are here to stay, but was interrupted by Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, who asked that he stick to the issue of garbage disposal. Contacted for a comment following the City Hall meeting, Garrett told Guyana Chronicle that he merely uttered the words of Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan, who expressed the same sentiments last week during a radio programme.

“It has to remain! How are you going to have development in a country without order? People are driving wild on the road. All of the ABC (American, British and Canadian) countries that help us, pay parking fees. Why shouldn’t we?” Garrett expressed.

He recalled that parking meters date back to 1966 when the Council was in negotiations with a company called Sandach Parker to have them installed. Garrett is of the view, though, that the cost to park will “definitely” have to be reduced.

Meanwhile, Town Clerk Royston King, at the City Hall meeting, in his response to the businessman, pointed out that the City Council was getting 20 percent of the profits although it had to spend nothing.

“The spaces that we’re getting nothing from now…we could’ve been getting 20 percent. Some people are even selling on them but we are getting nothing,” King expressed.

Former Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan had referred to King, Garrett, the mayor, and Councillor Oscar Clarke as the “fantastic four” following their overseas trip to look into the matter of parking meters.