Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has given new Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez a mandate to enforce the law so as to stamp out lawlessness plaguing the city, fix the parking problem and urgently deal with the growing homeless situation.
Rowley described Chacon Street, in the heart of the city, as an “open sewer” at 5 am because of the growing number of homeless people living in the capital city.
He said the lives of burgesses and the hundreds of people who spent significant hours in Port-of-Spain would not be improved unless there was law and order.
Rowley said free parking in the city was “not a constitutional right,” adding that the time had come for the implementation of parking meters to ensure there was some structure.
The PM said one of the aspects of local government reform was an expansion of the city’s police department, which he said was commonly referred to as “market police.” As part of the reform the Government intends to recruit 100 police officers for each of the 14 municipal districts.
“When we expand your constabulary we are not expanding it to take care of general issues of the market. We are talking about general enforcement by way of improved patrols to bring about an increase in safety and security,” Rowley said.
Rowley who spoke at City Hall during the swearing-in ceremony yesterday appeared to be under the weather as he spoke in a hoarse voice, saying that within the last 48 hours he could not have even uttered a word.
He said the office of mayor must be one of accomplishment, adding that plans must be implemented with whatever resources were available given the challenging economic times.
“We have had many executives and the issue of parking has always been a challenge. The absence of proper traffic flows is an indication that this is an area of improvement that is sorely needed. I trust that we could move to the promise of parking metres so there could be some proper utilisation of the streets.
“Free parking in a city is something that only workmen in a very large city with very large streets in a very small population do....our city is very congested and the streets are very narrow. The right to free parking is not a right enshrined in the Constitution,” Rowley said.
He said it was his expectation that with collaboration with Central Government parking meters would soon be implemented.
The PM added that like free parking, no one had a right to live on the streets or pavements as there were shelters for such people.
He said within the last 20 years there has been a reduction in the resident population but Port-of-Spain has growing infrastructure which must be made to accommodate more people.
Rowley said while those elected represented only the PNM, there was a danger as there was no opposition to ensure proper checks and balances.
MAYOR: MORE PATROLS
More patrols in the city are just one of the anti-crime measures which would be implement to make the city safer, Mayor Joel Martinez said.
On complaints that CCTV cameras around strategic parts of the city were non-functional for some time, he said, he would have to investigate this.
Regarding calls made by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley for proposed parking metres and measures to tackle the homeless problem, Martinez said, he would be meeting with various stakeholders to listen to their proposals. On the issue of illegal vending, he said, he had already spoken to President of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) Gregory Aboud and was expected to hold further talks soon.