GEORGE LEE, chairman of the Portmore Municipality Development Committee, notes that there are open spaces in Portmore, but many of these remain, "just parched areas".
The developers have not done this. The authorities need to be firmer with them. They need to build a park instead of leaving it like this. Communities do not have the resources to even fence the lots around. Barbecues have been held and other fundraisers, but these are not enough. Cows and other stray animals need to be kept out.
"The smaller children... we see them playing in the roads with balls," complained Manorca Powell, .....Citizens Association representative.
In Phase III Braeton, as in many other communities in St. Catherine and Kingston and St. Andrew, the basketball courts and football are the roadway, or in the roadway. In a mini-park nearby swings and slides have been set up on the edge of an open lot with the remainder for football.
This lot needs grassing, water and fencing. The cost of refurbishing the swings and fencing has been estimated at $220,000.
According to (Miss) Powell: "We really need a big enough area to be fenced. We need a proper area for supervised play. Lift Up Jamaica agreed sometime in last year to do some work. We are disappointed. The national programme is almost concluded and nothing has been heard."
In Meadowvale, Carol McLean, chairman of the Portmore Joint Citizens Association, said: "We have gone to the Parish Council to get the land here from developers when we were told that they were planning to use it for more houses.
"Subsequently, we received a letter from Gore Tuca stating they were going to hand the land over to the Parish Council on our behalf. They have granted us permission to use to in the meantime.
"We got a basketball court built on the land by the Sports Development Foundation. However, I have began to wash my hands from it. There are three communities involved and apparently one community believes the land belongs to it for use by its residents. At the moment there is a car wash and garage on it and I can't be bothered.
"Our children have nowhere to play. When them go up there them run them off. They have broken down the fencing around the basketball court," Mrs. McLean said.
Apparently, not all communities are willing to co-operate for the benefit of their children.
