The recent contretemps in the vicinity of the High Court over parking has underlined the failure of successive governments over decades to address the issue of the vehicle population and where their wheels are to be planted.
In one of a growing number of confrontations, an attorney stood on the parapet to ‘hold’ a space for a friend while an irate woman tried to force herself into the prime parking spot, jamming him several times with her vehicle. She ended up in court pleading guilty to the assault that was captured on CCTV and he sustained injuries. Things could have turned out much worse.
The only relevant takeaway from this is that the city remains bereft of a parking solution that would rescue the parapets in Georgetown from the trampling that they endure each day, not leaving aside the acts of parking rage that have been occurring.
As the PPP/C has been in office since 2020 why has it failed miserably to address this problem while enabling the wanton importation of vehicles, the majority of which will be aiming to compete in appropriating parapets?
Parapets no longer exist in the centre of the city. The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) sprawl is evident on a daily basis. From the early hours, persons doing business with the GRA position their vehicles in all manner of contortions on the parapets, destroying them. Parapets are not meant for this. They have long enabled residents to entertain a friend or two or a relative parking on the parapet while they spend some time together.
Times have changed. When you peer out of your window in the centre of the city, the cars on the city’s parapets and reserves do not belong to friend or foe; they are driven by people scurrying to do business with the GRA, the courts or nearby businesses.
One wonders why with its coffers overspilling the PPP/C government has failed to massage its collective grey matter to work out how parking is to be handled in the city which is increasingly overrun by gas-guzzling vehicles.
Is it beyond the ability of the government and the city to work on this? We should not continue to be traumatized by the disastrous parking meter proposal presided over by the Chase-Green city council which is still being contested at arbitration. That was a most contemptible plan which the people of Georgetown overturned. However, there were simpler parking options available to the city which it has shown no interest in.
Again, it is the private sector that shown the way. Banks DIH has created multi-level parking for its employees in the quiet and restrained way that some companies operate. This, however, has not appeared to inspire the government. Their preoccupation is with mega projects that are lapped up by the contracting community.
To rescue the parapets in Georgetown, central government and the city have to work together on two initiatives. The first is deciding where in the city dedicated parking facilities can be situated. One possible choice, as has been recommended by others are the decaying pavilions on the former famous horseracing course. It has been suggested that there is adequate room for parking there together with a minibus hub and other transport options so that drivers can get into the centre of the city without actually parking there.
The second challenge is de-incentivising the wasteful use of motor vehicles and their unhealthy emissions. The government for the last six years has shown no interest in curbing the profligacy that is occurring here. It believes that the middle to upper classes that are thriving on the oil and gas industry are entitled to have two and three cars in the driveway and that there should be unrestricted importation of secondhand vehicles. That is clearly not sustainable in the city of Georgetown as thousands of vehicles are joining the disorder each year. What about incentivizing electric vehicles?
The government has got to get to work on this. That’s what they are being paid to do. The President and the ministers of home affairs, local government and public works must begin tackling the usurpation of parapets in the city and limiting the parking rage that threatens.
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