– outraged Bourda Market vendors demand free parking

More than 100 residents and motorists of East Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown are petitioning President David Granger to disassemble the paid parking area, which was established along East Street, by particularly removing the steel barricades.6
The Government, in collaboration with the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), in an effort to implement good parking practices in the city, targeted northern East Street, paving the area between the eastern and western halves.
The entire area was paved with asphalt concrete with the intention of providing improved parking facilities for the GPHC employees, along with students and visitors of the Hospital.
But the area that was paved serves as a restriction for residents, as they are blocked from parking their motor vehicles off the street. The residents are forced to pay for parking, which is adding to their financial burden, this newspaper was told.
The petition states that the residents are complaining that the additional tax of ‘pay for parking’ in Guyana is overwhelming as they continue to work tirelessly for the development of Guyana by paying property rates and taxes, Value Added Tax,  National Insurance Scheme contributions and the Pay As You Earn tax.
It further added that the barricaded area was also encroaching on the shoulders of the road, was poorly designed, inadequate for easy navigation and  was another avenue for gross financial corruption among officials of the M&CC and the City Constabulary.
The petition is being made to President Granger for him to act with compassion and righteous judgment in issuing the command to disassemble the East Street Paid Parking Area.
In the petition, the residents stated that the infrastructure was an additional hardship and gigantic burden in numerous ways on the citizenry, commuters and individuals seeking livelihoods, as well as medical and social care and assistance.
They explained that the disassembling of the parking area would see thousands of Guyanese benefiting from the generosity of the Government of Guyana.
Meanwhile, unknown construction of additional stalls began early Monday morning on the Orange Walk, Bourda Market parking lot area, leaving vendors in a state of shock as to what was happening.
This was under the direction of the M&CC which without notice directed that because of the high demand for market facilities, it would go ahead and construct additional stalls along that path, and would shift parking for those persons who utilised that spot to the other side.
This decision was met with outrage from vendors who stated that they needed answers from the City Council about the rapid construction that began all of a sudden without their knowledge.
However, Town Clerk Royston King denied that the vendors were not informed, stating that ‘they were informed by Charlotte Lovell, the market clerk’.
One businessman who requested  that his identity be withheld reported that when he arrived yesterday morning to park his car, the entrance to the parking lot was blocked by a truck, workers were digging and construction tape was around the parking area,  preventing him from parking which eventually led to him seeking  a paid parking lot.
He added that “the economy is already down and business is not flowing as usual and I don’t know how I would be able to maintain this paid parking every day or be able to protect my vehicle from burglary as there are many in the city. I also have mortgage to pay, a family to maintain and if business is not good, I don’t know how I would survive”.
Meanwhile, other vendors also expressed their concern about how they were going to cope with this situation.
“We’re having problem with parking our own vehicle, much less customers that are coming in the Market to shop and what is going on outside the Market will affect us a lot because we don’t have anywhere to discharge our goods when it comes in, so we’re asking if the City Council can take steps to remove this project,” another vendor explained.