– New Amsterdam squatters beg for price reduction
– town clerk tells them to pay or leave
NEW Amsterdam Town Clerk Sharon Alexander said squatters in the Stanleytown/Savannah area known as ‘Behind Tannery’ must pay the required sum of $700,000 per house lot, “or be free to leave.”
Alexander’s orders came after residents told reporters that the cost for lands measuring 48x 75ft, instead of the 101x45ft as was told by Council, which they have been sqatting on for as long as 18 years, was too pricey.
Robintha Thomas, a mother of four and other residents have agreed to pay for the land, but said they need a price reduction, considering the cost at which lands were sold to other squatters, primarily those in Angoy’s Avenue.
Thomas said she was forced to seek refuge in the wastelands, on the northeastern fringe of New Amsterdam after she became homeless 12 years ago.
One of her children is preparing to sit the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination.
Thomas’ humble home is a four-post shelter with tattered vinyl carpet which was removed by night from a nearby garbage dump.
“I came here because I was desperate. I had nowhere to go with my children. What the residents of the town disposed of, I made use of. I had to survive. I rode around on a bicycle selling cakes to put food in my children’s mouth and clothes on their backs. I cut down trees, cleared the land and post by post I now have a home for my family, which now includes five-year-old twins. All I need is a reduction. I simply cannot afford $700,000 with half that amount as down payment,” a sad and worried Thomas said.
Her story is not an isolated case. Her neighbours who shared similar sentiments of struggle and hardship are also begging the authorities to give them a reduction in the price for the land they occupy.
Their cry came amid reports of lands 150x45ft and 45×50 ft are being sold to councillors and municipal staff for a mere $100,000 and less.
Another resident referred to as “Greens lady” who plies her trade as a vegetable vendor in New Amsterdam also contend that the $700,000 being demanded from the squatters is unreasonable.
She said some persons in Behind Tannery are employed as school janitors while others are self-employed. These situations, coupled with family expenses they say make it difficult for them to raise the $700,000.
POOR CONDITION
“We have no electricity, no nearby pipe, we have to walk long distances for water or wait until it rains. Then when it rains the access dam is impassible… all we, the 27 households with approximately 150 residents need, is a reduction in the cost,” “Greens Lady” told this publication.
Alexander noted that the Council did not invite anyone to occupy the land or squat on the land and in so doing, these persons should have been aware of the risk involved.
“Accordingly, Council had the land valuated at a cost ranging between $2M to $1.5M. We know some would have been there for a long time, yet they were there at their own risk. They were instructed to move. They were sent notices, but they never moved. We are not obligated to any of them. After all, they are squatters,” the town clerk said.
She said because the aggrieved persons are from the township, they were offered to pay a reduced cost of $700,000.
“In all fairness to the Council, if they still want to occupy the land, they pay the $700,000 or be free to leave, take their belongings and go, because there are plenty applications on file, that are in need of a plot of land.
“Further, for the persons who are having land for $100,000, I am not at privilege to disclose the figure. But the Council is autonomous and they can sell the lands to whomever they would have felt the need to, at a cheaper cost, and those persons would have been Council workers and persons who are part of the Council. They are the only persons who were given that privilege. All other persons had to pay market value,” she said.
Alexander also said if the residents are not pleased with the $700,000 they have been asked to pay, then they should raise the matter with the Council which has the final say.
