Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
This worker gets ready to apply the finishing touches to tow a Fire Brigade vehicle illegally parked on Orange Street in downtown Kingston, on Monday. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
NO ILLEGALLY parked vehicle was spared as Kingston's Mayor Desmond McKenzie led a no-holds-barred campaign against illegal parking in downtown Kingston on Monday morning.
A vehicle bearing the insignia of the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), which was parked in front of the Ministry of Health on King Street, was the first to be towed away.
Despite livid protests from onlookers, the tow crew moved swiftly and within a matter of minutes, the PAHO car was off to the pound.
Onlookers hurled dagger-sharp, abusive remarks at the mayor as he walked with his team of officials from the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC).
However, a stonefaced McKenzie uttered not a word in response.
UNFLINCHING
"Take up that," Mayor McKenzie said unflinchingly, as he pointed to a Jamaica Fire Brigade mini-bus that was illegally parked along Orange Street.
One of the first stops on the campaign, which centred around illegal parking on King and Orange streets, was the Police Co-op Credit Union on Harbour Street where it is alleged that police officers perpetually breach the no-parking orders.
However, when the mayor and his tow-away crew arrived on the scene, the spot was clean as a whistle. "We have not taken any police vehicles ... but there are other vehicles that were parked illegally that we have removed," Mr. McKenzie said.
Later on the mayor, Lincoln Evans, who is the acting Town Clerk at the KSAC, and senior officers from the Organised Crime Investigation Division hammered out an agreement that would permit the police to park on one side of the road. The mayor said that within a week the new arrangement would be finalised. "We are going to be erecting those signs and we are going to be issuing the police with special stickers ... so they can be easily identified."
