Dennis Coke/Staff Photographer
What should be a developed park is abandoned and left to animals.Avia Ustanny, Freelance Writer
BY TOWN Planning specifications, Portmore should have 100 acres of recreational space for every 10,000 units constructed. In an area populated by approximately 250,000 Jamaicans, there is not one developed park.
"Before any development is passed by the Town Planning Section, it should have completed facilities for recreational space. For every 40 lots or 100 units there should be .4 hectare (one acre) of land set aside for parks and play areas such as football field, with goal posts.
"It is the responsibility of the developer to provide these. They may later pass them over to the Parish Council or the Citizens Association to be maintained," said an official of the section.
Under the Housing Act, however, much of these development needs have been swept aside. Many units do not meet the minimum standards and there are no schools, clinics or playing fields. The requirements for green areas are both social and environmental, said the official, who did not wish to be named.
Green areas reduce heat, with trees that have a cooling effect. The social implications are equally dire.
"The consequences will be the same as the projects in the United States, where there is gang warfare and where the young with nowhere to play stay in the streets until they are ready to sleep," the Town Planning spokesman said.
The green areas of Kingston and St. Andrew are also limited. Today, they include the long mountain area, Kings House lands which are inaccessible to the public, National Heroes Park, Saint William Grant Park, Mandela Park, the Michael Manley Park (next to PNP headquarters) and Hope Gardens.
Plans to upgrade the zoo and recreational facilities at the Hope Gardens are yet to be implemented.
While the children of gated communities, such as Oaklands, benefit from facilities created for them by private developers, the minors in Government-subsidised housing live in dusty roadways, endangered by passing traffic.
From Portmore, one woman complained: "Our children are competing with the cows. If I had somewhere to go, I would go and sit. There is nowhere."
The lament comes from a 34-year-old professional whose eight-year-old daughter spends playtime watching television in the company of her dolls.
"Our children have been taught a different type of entertainment Discovery Channel, Disney and Nickelodeon.
"I am happy to pay a hefty light bill because at least I know she is safe. The schools are compensating in this area, but they have playgrounds of concrete and the children complain.
"Every now and again I have to do the Devon House scene, or take her to Hope Zoo. When she goes to the country, she goes wild. She does not even wear shoes. I take her there just for the play.
"I don't know if all parents are aware that their children have a right and need to play. Some children go to extra lessons every day, starting as early as grade one. I guess it's easier for them not to bother with supervised play," she said.
She feels that herself and other parents have an obligation to find alternatives for play for the children, but wish that the authorities would lend a helping hand.
