Ammar and Greene MERCHANTS IN downtown Kingston plan to lock down sections of the area's business district next Tuesday to protest what they say is the Government's failure to improve conditions there.
The decision was made at meeting of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce's (JCC) urban renewal committee yesterday and later explained to the press at a briefing at Club India, Lady Musgrave Road, Kingston.
Committee members said that they had written countless letters to Government about unsanitary conditions, illegal vending, drugs being sold openly and protection rackets to no avail and have put forward renewal proposals which have been basically ignored.
They are calling on Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, backed by his Government, to put in place the required security personnel and financial resources to return law and order to downtown.
They scoffed at Government's failure to commit to a response to a plan they had put forward and to provide finance and personnel to an action plan for the phased removal of illegal vendors, put forward by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) and outlined in a meeting between KSAC officials, Local Government Minister Arnold Bertram and business persons on Tuesday.
The committee said that the KSAC's Town Clerk, Errol Greene, had said that he only had $1.5 million to fund a plan that would cost an estimated $5 million a month.
New committee chairman, Frank Kennedy and new JCC president, Michael Ammar, said that the business community was tired of Government promises and would hold a series of protest demonstrations, beginning with a one-day shutdown next week until they get some responses.
The demonstrations will continue until they get some concrete proof of commitment to restoring law and order in the area from Government and are shown that downtown Kingston is a priority.
The JCC issued a similar threat last October. That shutdown was averted when the Prime Minister met with them and gave his personal commitment to seeing to the removal of the vendors by November 2001 and to have the markets refurbished. Last year, $20 million was allocated for the refurbishing of the markets, but the vendors remained on the streets over Christmas. They were removed a few months ago, but have returned since then.
Town Clerk Errol Greene told The Gleaner yesterday that the action plan on vendor removal is to be put into place within the next two weeks. It is one of an estimated 250 plans developed since the 1960s to deal with Kingston, the committee said, adding that nearly all of them have been ignored.
