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Forward........................................................................................................................

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Physical Aspects ..............................................................................................................4
Dangerous sidewalks ..............................................................................................5
Some Speaking Photos ................................................................................................8
Dangerous sidewalks - JGRA hits at beautification projects ...............................10
Poor Corporate Area road and sidewalk surfaces .................................................16
Cost Benefit Analysis For Road Projects...............................................................24
Introduction To The Cost- Benefit Format As Presented...........................................24
COST ITEMS............................................................................................................26
BENEFITS EXPLAINED.........................................................29
COSTS ITEMS.............................................................................................................34
Total costs .............................................................................................................36
Benefits......................................................................................................................36
Value J$..................................................................................................................36
Criterion For The Location of Road Projects............................................................39
Project location Table.................................................................................................43
MATRIX ANALYSIS................................................................................................44
Road Matrix...............................................................................................................44
The Issue Of Economic Rent And Economic Rights.....................................................47
Vendors arrested for selling on sidewalks .............................................................48
The Work of a “Thinking Mayor”..............................................................................49
Invisible Road Users and Residents-.........................................................................50
Moving the higglers - again ..................................................................................53
Dons extort millions - Businesses, sidewalk vendors said paying $400m a year
Friday | September 1, 2000....................................................................................59
Roads In History, Roads In Rebellion........................................................................67
The History of Falmouth
Boom Town Of The 19th Century.........................................................................67
Kingston today.......................................................................................................78
Riots Here: Send Help At Once.............................................................................80
ROADS & RESISTANCE ...................................................................................85
THE TOLL GATE RIOTS OF 1859 .....................................................................85
The Canvas, The Medium, The Stage............................................................................93
Christmas A Come.................................................................................................93
Jonkonnu ...............................................................................................................94
Santa Visits Downtown .........................................................................................95
The Fall Of A Gentle Giant
The Collapse of Tom Cringle's Cotton Tree..........................................................96
Side Walk Art Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica W.I.....................................................99
On A Wall In Three Miles, In Kingston.................................................................99
Art From A Lane From Central Kingston............................................................102
A Wall In Arnett Gardens....................................................................................103
Note..........................................................................................................................105
Thug Art,..................................................................................................................106
A word from my daughter. .....................................................................................117

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Forward

This collection of articles, letters to the editor, and other published pieces that address in
one way or the other, sidewalks and roads, is intended to bring to the fore in the mind of
the student of urban planning, urban geography, urban economics and other branches of
urban study, the complexity of those issues related to sidewalks and streets within the
urban setting.

If one should start by trying to find a generally acceptable definition of either sidewalks
or roads, then one would then begin to see the challenge. For a traffic engineer a sidewalk
or road are but channels designed to facilitate the unobstructed flow of vehicular and
pedestrian traffic, for the urban planner roads and sidewalks in addition to facilitating the

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unobstructed flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic also contribute to the demarcation
and definition of the urban space, for the urban geographer the issue is one of the
distribution and or usage of both sidewalks and roads as a subset of urban resources.

From the standpoint of the final consumer of these urban resources, roads and or
sidewalks could be seen as part of the domestic space where families and friends gather
to eat , to catch water from an open pipe,and discuss current events, roads and or
sidewalks possibly could be seen as an arena for male rivalry for women and other
community resources, for the Church it could possibly be a place for Ministering to the
wider public and for demonstrating God’s love for the poor, for the activists roads and
sidewalks are possible venues for the propagation of various views, the collection of
signatures or the handing out of pamphlets, for the artist or the artistically inspired roads
and sidewalks are possible segments of a larger canvass or medium for sculpting into
shape or possibly a gallery for the display of ones expressions or impressions of the
world and life around us. For others in particular the police and health authorities, roads
and sidewalks define and locate scenes of trauma and death, murder, robbery and crime.

Regardless of the point of one’s datum of measure, sidewalks and roads, as parts of the
urban fabric, give birth to relationships defined either by conflict and competition or
relationships of cooperation. This reader , is not intended to identify common ground
between the conflicting definitions, nor to raise issues of theory, but rather to encourage
debate among urban planners, geographers, economists and sociologists about roads and
sidewalks as part of the “living space” with each having its own individual character and
rhythm , for example the rhythm and life of Collie Smith Drive in Trench Town is in no
way identical nor similar to the life and rhythm of Red Hills Road in the parish of St.
Andrew, thus each has to be studied as an independent entity in its own right.

Secondly this reader is intended to raise question about the “ownership” of the roads and
sidewalks as “living spaces”, are these spaces owned by the state that built them or to the
community or communities that give life to them. A housing contractor can build a house,
but only his home he can build, would the communities form their own “living spaces”
with or without the state building of roads and sidewalks, were these roads and sidewalks
to be taken away would it bring to an end that living space or would it lead to
modifications or changes in the “living space”? Is the state’s attempt to end or regulate
sidewalk vending the same and equal to the state attempting to force a community or
communities to redefine or bring to an end a given “living space”? Is the state acting in
the interest of the wider community or is it acting in its own self interests which are not
necessarily the same as nor similar to the interests of the wider community? Is the state a
neo-colonialist entity which has a mission of denying the community its sense of
responsibility and authority over its own affairs or is the state acting on behalf of the
dominant classes in society and is in essence an instrument trying to preserve male
dominance given the fact that the vast majority of vendors, peddlers and hawkers are
women? Are the criminals who lay in wait along the sidewalks and the police, the law
enforcement arm of the state in an informal alliance aimed at denying women and
children equal rights to the road and sidewalks and in that create a social and cultural
environment very similar to that prevailing in Saudi Arabia, Iran or Afghanistan? Is it the

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task of the student of urban studies to seek to bring peace and compromise or is it his or
her task to join the fray on one side or the other? Does the character of these living
spaces define the social and cultural character of the wider urban environment?

For Whom Do We Plan? (2) Why Do We Plan? (3) How Do We Plan? (4) Where Do
We Plan? (5) Who Approves Our Plans?

Finally and most important, the aim of this reader through the various articles, letters to
the editor, columns and photographs, to bring to the fore some of the views of officials as
well as those of the final consumers of the urban space, the creators of the “living space”
to bear on those issues related to the urban roads and sidewalks of urban Jamaica. In
short, while it is , in my view, important to study the role played by organizations such as
schools, businesses, government offices, non-government organizations and others , in
shaping urban culture and urban life, none of these organizations would exist in their
current forms without roads and sidewalks. Here the question is what is the role of roads
and sidewalks in urban cybernetics and urban ecology?

Special thanks and recognition is given to the Daily Gleaner from whose pages most of
these articles, letters to the editor, columns and photographs were taken. Special thanks
must also be given to Dr. Carol Archer and to Mr. D. Hall of the Department of Urban
and Regional Planning of the University of Technology, Jamaica who provoked me to
give thought to this area of study.

Dedicated to my daughter “Jodi-Ann” who stood with me through thick and thin, with the
promise that I will as soon as possible begin to address the views and concerns of “Those
Who Live On Our Streets-Those Who Fell Through The Cracks.”

Basil Fletcher

Physical Aspects

Wednesday | August 30, 2000

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Dangerous sidewalks
THE FRONT page photograph in yesterday's Gleaner showing gaping holes in a sidewalk is a graphic

illustration of government stupidity and dangerous stupidity at that.

For this, believe it or not, is part of a project called the Urban Renewal and Upgrading Programme under

the aegis of the Ministry of Water and Housing. As we understand it, the sidewalk holes encased in concrete

boxes are supposed eventually to contain trees and plants.

The programme came to light last month when we reported the congregation of workers in various sections

of the Corporate Area as a revival of the old "crash programme". Dr. Karl Blythe claimed paternity for the

sidewalk project as part of urban renewal upgrading.

Thus the ridiculous destruction of the sidewalks has proceeded apace not only along Mountain View

Avenue, as our picture shows, but also along the street between Gordon House and Heroes Circle. And

having erected the concrete boxes, work has apparently been suspended leaving the gaping holes and

protruding steel waiting to trap the unwary.

Thus far the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association has shown civic sensitivity in pointing to the dangers

inherent in ruining the sidewalks in this unthinking manner. For not only will normal pedestrians be put at

risk by having to resort to the street pavement, but moreso the visually impaired. Clearly these sidewalks

are not wide enough to accommodate trees.

It is astounding that this 'make work' project could have proceeded with bipartisan blessing. As Dr. Blythe

said, his Ministry came up with the project after consultation with the Prime Minister, Opposition Leader,

and the Members of Parliament of Kingston and St. Andrew.

The Prime Minister's own vision in this area focuses on unsightly zinc fences in the inner city communities.

If both parties conspire to destroy the sidewalks who or what will be left for the middle of the road!

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.

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Damage control Monday | September 4, 2000

THE MINISTER of Water, Housing, and Sidewalks, Dr. Karl Blythe, assumed personal supervision of the

urban renewal project which was shown last week to have gone haywire.

Specifically, the Minister on Friday was directing reconstruction of concrete planter boxes on sidewalks

along Duke Street, Central Kingston. Intended to accommodate trees, the so-called planters had

monopolised most of the width of the sidewalks, posing potential hazards for pedestrians, including the

disabled and visually impaired.

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In a classic exhibition of damage control the Minister was accompanied by a supporting cast, including the

Project Director of the renewal programme, his Information Officer, and what was perhaps intended as a

master PR stroke, the blind Senator Floyd Morris.

The reconstruction, which is to reduce the size of the planter boxes, will also extend to Mountain View

Avenue where the sidewalks had also been disabled.

While there has been no public disclosure of what the urban renewal programme will cost the Minister had

stated last month that the initial phase would involve tree planting which will extend to the watershed areas

of Long Mountain and Blue Mountain. No sidewalk problem is anticipated in the hills.

A second phase would see the replacement of zinc fencing in inner city communities, and small-scale

economic projects such as block-making and carpentry.

This project may bring no joy to the Kingston municipality, however. Last weekend Town Clerk Errol

Greene said the KSAC will be getting less than the $56 million it needs for maintenance of drains and

gullies because the Government says it does not have the funds.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.

Sidewalks to be fixed Wednesday | August 30, 2000

SEVERAL PLANTER boxes constructed on the sidewalks of some Corporate Area streets under

the Government's Urban/Renewal and Upgrading Programme are to be demolished.

The boxes have been described as hazards to pedestrians.

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Project co-ordinator, Paul Buchanan, told The Gleaner yesterday that under the Town and

Country Planning Act (1965) which guides the parochial statutory provision for pedestrian traffic,

two 30-inch allowances must be made on either side of any object erected on the sidewalk.

Under the current "make work" project, where planter boxes are being constructed, allowances of

36 inches are being made on either side of the boxes. If this is not possible, then a three-feet

clearance to the roadway will be allowed.

According to Mr. Buchanan, the extra six inches are being given to ensure that someone who is

wheelchair-bound will have smooth passage.

"Where planter boxes are constructed in a way that will breach that statutory provision of 30

inches to three feet, we will move the offending ones," the project director said. Of the work that

has gone bad, he said "we are in the process of correcting all of that". He said what was being

created in places like Mountain View Avenue and Duke Street was a safety zone for pedestrians

which will be free of manholes and light poles.

On Tuesday, the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA) criticised the beautification

work, stating that it could compromise road safety and endanger pedestrians. The association

pointed to the construction of planter boxes on sidewalks as an oversight which demonstrates

insensitivity to the effort of road safety in Jamaica. It said sidewalks should be free of all

obstructions.

The Ministry of Water and Housing has oversight responsibility for the project which also includes

the planting of trees in the Blue Mountain area, and the replacement of zinc fences with concrete

structures in inner-city communities.

Some Speaking Photos

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A roadside dump on Grange Lane, St. Catherine, Jamaica W.I.

Where should I walk? A road without sidewalks,


West Henderson Boulevard, 7 East, Greater Portmore, St. Catherine, Jamaica W.I.

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Waiting for the bus at the official bus stops on West Henderson Boulevard, could be fatal,
no sidewalks no barriers separating pedestrian space from vehicular traffic..

A community bus stop on West Henderson Boulevard, away from the side shoulder, and
well away from the road.

Dangerous sidewalks - JGRA hits at beautification projects

Tuesday | August 29, 2000

The gaping holes created by beautification work on this section of the pavement of

Mountain View Avenue are potentially hazardous to pedestrians including the visually

impaired. One of several similar projects now being undertaken across the city, work on

this section appears to have been halted.

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THE JAMAICA Gasolene Retailers Association (JGRA) says beautification projects being

undertaken in the Corporate Area could seriously compromise road safety and endanger

pedestrians.

Commenting on sidewalk work being done under the Urban/Rural Renewal and Upgrading

Programme, Leonard Green, incoming president of the JGRA, has written to the National Road

Safety Council about its concerns. The letter has been copied to Prime Minister P.J. Patterson,

chairman of the Council and Transport and Works Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips.

In pointing to the installation of concrete planters on Duke Street and Mountain View Avenue, the

JGRA said the project was being carried out in contravention of Government's commitment to

road safety. "This oversight by the implementing agency clearly demonstrates insensitivity to the

effort of road safety in Jamaica," the JGRA said, adding that "our sidewalks should...be free of all

obstructions". The installation of planters where the minimum sidewalk reservation is not met, is

especially dangerous to pedestrians who are forced to compete with vehicular traffic. "While we

understand the concept of this particular project, the preservation of human life must take

precedence over the short-term benefits to be derived," said the JGRA.

The association noted that planter boxes on Duke Street and Mountain View Avenue will force

students of St. Aloysius Primary and Excelsior High Schools as well as the visually impaired and

others into the street.

In urging the Government to reconsider its position, the JGRA pointed to other countries which it

said had been successful in reducing pedestrian fatalities by removing pedestrians from

mechanical traffic. The association has urged the Government to repair and expand the sidewalk

network while implementing other road safety initiatives.

The 'planters in the sidewalk' Saturday | October 28, 2000

THE EDITOR, Madam:

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I HAVE sent the following letter to the Project Co-ordinator of the Lift up Jamaica project C/O the Urban

Development Corpora-tion:

Dear Sirs:

With regards to your letter dated 2000 October 19th, in reference to my speech at the J.I.A's Awards for

Excellence in Architecture Banquet on 2000 October 14th, it is clear that I was in error in attributing the

wasteful and unsightly "planters in the sidewalk" work to your programme, when it was actually done by a

programme under the Ministry of Water and Housing.

I very much regret the error, and wish to apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused. However,

several people with whom I spoke before and after the function, were under the same impression as I.

This illustrates the confusion, and reinforces the point I was trying to make - that there are too many

Ministries and Agencies of government, several with overlapping responsibilities, and this tends to

contribute to the mismanagement and waste of public resources. For example with regards to sidewalk

maintenance and upgrading:

1) The KSAC owns and is responsible for most of the roads and sidewalks in the Corporate Area.

2) Any other roads, and sidewalks not under the KSAC are the responsibility of the Ministry of

Construction and Works.

3) The Ministry of Water and Housing created a programme to do work on sidewalks, which were not

authorized bythe KSAC, and did not meet with their approval.

4) The Lift Up Jamaica programme, also spends money on sidewalk upgrading, according to your letter,

although you are not a part of any of the three entities already doing work in this area, but instead, are

operating under the Urban Develop-ment Corporation.

Based on the foregoing, it is obviously difficult to keep track of who is doing what, to which sidewalk, so I

will endeavour to be more careful in the future.

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I trust however, that in all of this, my message of greater efficiency and less waste in government, through

whichever agency, will not be lost.

I am, etc.,

CLIFTON YAP

President

The Jamaican Institute of Architects

LETTER OF THE DAY - Toll road benefits need further study


published: Saturday | August 12, 2006

The Editor, Sir:

I would like to believe that more could be gained from the debate on the cost to use Portmore Toll

Road, if one should take an approach that seeks to examine the effect of the toll road on the

various stakeholders. Given that the National Housing Trust is a major stakeholder and possibly

the largest owner of residential property in the municipality of Portmore, it has clear and

undeniable interests to protect. It is known, that while the toll road will bring some benefit to

residential users, the commercial interests form the group that benefits the most from the coming

into being of the toll road, in terms of accumulated savings.

Equally, it is known that the increased access that the toll road has created in conjunction with the

absence of a current Development Order, can lead to the accelerated depreciation of residential

property on one hand and the appreciation of commercial property on the other hand. This

process could also result in a significant increase in the change of use of existing property, i.e. the

transfer of real property from the housing market to the commercial market. This process would

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not be in keeping with the stated objectives of the National Housing Trust, and requires timely

study by its Research Department and measures to contain or minimise the impact of these

negative changes.

Secondly, the argument is being made that the Government of Jamaica is subsidising the

residents of Portmore who use the toll road. This argument is not only essentially false but comes

as a result of an inadequately conducted cost-benefit analysis and shadow costing. Portmore

already has a very high per capita distribution of motor vehicle owners as compared with other

communities, while suffering from a lack of adequate green areas, coupled with low rainfall which

means that carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and micro particles remain suspended in the air

over the municipality for a longer period of time.

The new toll road has further compounded the problem of airborne pollution by increasing the

traffic flow through the municipality. Equally, the cost of one tree in Portmore is far higher than the

cost of a similar tree in Mona, Havendale, Rio Bueno, Browns Town, Black River or Junction. The

construction of the toll road removed hundreds of trees from the municipality and destroyed the

natural habitat of countless species of wildlife. These and other environmental costs are borne by

the residents of Portmore.

I am, etc.,

BASIL FLETCHER

donovanfletcherhotmail

Portmore Community College,

LETTER OF THE DAY - Road Code needs to be modified


published: Saturday | December 30, 2006

The Editor, Sir:

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I believe that the year 2007 should be one in which the existing Road Code and associate laws

are modified to be more in keeping with the current usage of the road.

The Road Code in its current form does not take into account traffic density, the relatively easy

access to motor vehicles or the appearance of large quantities of both legal and illegal taxis on

the roads.

Under existing laws, a motor vehicle can swerve from behind a lead vehicle, come in front of it

and brake up. Should the person who was overtaken in such a manner hit the now stationary

overtaking vehicle in the back, he or she would be deemed to be in the wrong.

A second frequent habit of a number of taxi drivers is that of coming to sudden stops in a line of

traffic, without regard for the vehicles behind them. Once again, should the vehicle immediately

behind the taxi hit it, the driver of that vehicle would be in the wrong.

On today's roads, it is not always possible to drive two or three car lengths behind the lead

vehicle, nor is it possible for drivers to be always prepared to be overtaken and 'stopped on' by

the same vehicle in a single act. There is in my view a need to review what is defined to be

'dangerous and reckless driving'.

Also the large number of both legal and illegal taxis on the road forces their drivers to be

extremely competitive and to subject anyone driving a white or grey vehicle to the most

aggressive driving practices. The police force, the traffic authorities and insurance companies

such as Key Motors, General Accident, and others, need to make concerted efforts to remove the

illegal taxis on the road, while reducing the number of legal taxis.

Finally, the parish councils should be empowered to grant to the various citizens associations and

other community-based organisations the right to construct traffic dampening and controlling

systems in their communities.

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At this moment the citizen associations do not have the right to construct 'sleeping police',

pedestrian crossings, traffic islands or any other traffic dampening unit where they are needed in

the communities. This situation should be corrected.

I am, etc.,

BASIL FLETCHER

Donovanfletcher@hotmail.com

Greater Portmore

St. Catherine

Poor Corporate Area road and sidewalk surfaces

Thursday | January 24, 2002


Chester Burgess

THERE IS much talk about highways and roads these days. The Old Harbour bypass, well overdue, has

now been opened to traffic. We understand that the cost was originally put at $1.2 billion it will be

interesting to see what the final figure will be. The fabulous Highway 2000, first announced over a year

ago, continuing to hiccup into 2002, is now scheduled to get started this month.

Simultaneously, there is overwhelming activity along a short stretch of New Kingston's Trafalgar Road.

Government is giving itself credit and praise for these and similar undertakings. They are introduced and

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projected as gifts to the nation, descriptive of a calculated policy for the development of the country, to say

nothing of the employment created.

There has been, as a matter of course, the customary Christmas work on streets and roads, for which the

selected contractors and hired workers are expected to be grateful, especially given the talk of general

elections in the air. And now, beyond the Santa Claus phase, there will have to be repairs and reconstruction

following the severe rains that have plagued Jamaica over the recent period. To this latter must be added the

realisation that in some rural areas road conditions have been discouraging to such as farming, travel to do

business and to get to work or school, as well as the use of vehicles given road surface hazards.

All in all, there is much road construction in Jamaica what is being done, necessarily or unnecessarily, and

what has to be done, all at taxpayers' expense. However, this article which will deal solely with the

Corporate Area, is based on the contention that what has taken place and continues to take place seems

unsatisfactory in the extreme. It is recognised that others may have other views regarding the record in

other parts of the island. If so, this would be as much as a comfort/surprise as it would be of a surprise/

comfort.

There is something known as acquiescence in all or most of us, to a greater or

lesser extent, a tendency to go along with things as they are. At different times in history and in different

places on earth people have accepted, to a greater or lesser extent, exposure to such as slavery, serfdom,

poverty, poor government and much more. Well, judging from the Corporate Area, it seems that Jamaicans

are acquiescent, to a greater than lesser extent, to poor quality roadways and walkways.

Now most people do not realise that the address of the Office of the Prime Minister is nowhere on Hope

Road, but is 1 Devon Road, Kingston 10. Devon Road is a narrow two-stream road, some six hundred

metres or so long, leading from Waterloo Road and heading east to its end where an off-balance sign

indicates entry to the Prime Minister's Office. It is in an abominable state: sub-standard and much-patched

surfacing, recurrent potholes that are a threat to tyres (living on Devon Road, I've lost two) and shabby

sidewalks generously endowed with plant life. However Devon Road is but a sample.

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We must pass from seeming acquiescence and complacency to concern with the quality of surfaces laid

down, in the Corporate Area in particular. Roadways are reorganised or resurfaced, such activities proudly

embarked upon, then boastfully declared ready for use, almost constituting the dawn of a new day. But how

long do their surfaces last? Within a few years the black surfaces fade and white and brown evidence of

barely covered gravel and earth appears. You get the impression that gravel and earth are in place and then

thinly covered with black eye-catching material. And this impression is strengthened as you drive around

and notice the white gravel protruding and hear the growl of tyre-surface contact.

Strengthening of this impression comes from the slightest examination of potholes. These may occur at any

part of the road, centre or edge, with much evidence of recurrence. You get a chance to see the thinness of

overlay and are not surprised at the erosion of surface and consequent collapse. The current construction

along Trafalgar Road clearly reveals that there is nothing admirable about what remains of what was laid

down a few years ago.

But the greatest evidence of poor overlay on top of gravel and earth is to be seen and experienced on

Corporate Area sidewalks. Surfaces break up and collapse, and pedestrians are often walking on broken

concrete and gravel, or bare earth. Some sidewalks are so unpleasant that people prefer to walk on roadway

instead. In some instances where there is breakdown vegetation begins to emerge.

Emergence can be where road surface meets kerb, or where kerb joins with sidewalk surface, or on the

sidewalk itself. As you walk on sidewalks you wonder if there is any city on earth with such disgraceful

sidewalks, or whether there is any capital city where plant life thrusts through road and sidewalk surfaces

other than Kingston, capital of Jamaica.

The matter of road and sidewalk surface in the Greater Kingston area, and elsewhere in the island for that

matter, must receive serious attention. In the final analysis, it becomes a question of whether enough

construction and/or maintenance money is being spent per kilometre of road and/or square metre of

sidewalk, or whether too much is being spent on unsatisfactory construction and maintenance.

Chester Burgess is Honorary Director of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce

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TYRONE'S WATCH - Potholes in paradise
published: Tuesday | May 23, 2006

Watch Your Step! Tourists avoid sustaining ankle injuries by skilfully sidestepping the huge potholes in the Pier Road,

which runs off Main Street in Ocho Rios. - NORMAN GRINDLEY /DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER

WHAT'S NOT WORKING:

Huge potholes on the Pier Road in Ocho Rios, St. Ann. This is the first local road tourists use

after leaving the Ocho Rios Cruise Ship Pier.

SYNOPSIS OF THE SITUATION:

This one is just ridiculous. Imagine yourself as a tourist visiting this island paradise in the sun,

armed with your camera and pregnant with expectations of seeing breathtaking sites, only to step

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off the ship and before you complete the stretch of road that leads to Main Street, you wring your

ankle in a pothole. Sounds far-fetched? That is the case in Ocho Rios as we speak.

A livid reader described the pothole-infested Pier Road as "the gateway to Ocho Rios for almost

one million cruise-ship passengers per annum." The reader said that several "impassioned

petitions" have been made to the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), which supposedly has

responsibility for the road. However, their cries have fallen on deaf ears.

A police officer, who was on foot patrol on the Pier Road in the vicinity of Island Village, said that

an average of five tourists per day fall into the huge potholes. The officer explained that despite

the potholes being so large, the fascinated tourists, who are more concerned with sightseeing,

are oftentimes derailed by the craters. "It is a big embarrassment," the officer said.

Another eyesore and potential hazard is located at the corner of Milford Road and Main Street.

Tourists were seen walking cautiously over marl that has been left on the sidewalk. Apparently

work was done and the persons responsible have not removed the remainder of the marl, leaving

it as an obstacle course for the locals and tourists. Plus, concerns were also raised about the

homeless on the streets of Ocho Rios.

WHAT'S THE STATUS?

Nobody knows what will be done about the Pier Road. However, other roads in the tourist resort

are getting some attention.

WHO'S RESPONSIBLE?

No one has officially accepted responsibility for the pothole-riddled road. However, it is said that

Pier Road is jointly owned by the UDC and the Port Authority.

A representative from the Port Authority told The Gleaner that everything behind the gate of the

Ocho Rios Cruise Ship Pier belonged to the Authority. However, the representative could not

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confirm or deny whether Pier Road falls under their purview. At the same time, a representative

from the UDC failed to provide a response, as promised, to queries regarding ownership of the

road.

CONCLUSION

Shame. Shame. Shame on the organisation that has responsibility for the Pier Road in Ocho

Rios. We can't be talking about the importance of tourism and a stretch of road in one of the main

towns is in such poor state.

Having visitors to the island falling into huge potholes just because they are admiring the

country's beauty is by no means putting our best foot forward. Action is needed promptly, or the

country could be faced with lawsuits from visitors and locals who are injured because of the poor

state of a public thoroughfare.

Also, something needs to be done for the homeless persons on the streets. Please, not anything

like the street people scandal of a few years ago. In addition, having garbage on display is not by

any stretch of the imagination a stellar attraction. Lastly, to the powers that be, clean up your

town!

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Tell us about problems in your community. We will visit and help to lobby for action.

Write to: Tyrone Reid, the Gleaner Company Ltd., 7 North Street, P.O. Box 40, Kingston;

Fax: 922-6223, Telephone: 922-3400 Ext. 6364 or Email: tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com.

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Staying on the side of law
published: Wednesday | June 23, 2004

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I HAVE been a careful driver for over 40 years with an excellent record. I support the work of the

police and fully understand the difficult task they have in performing their duties. I received a

ticket for careless driving. This happened on Constant Spring Road after the Sandy Gully Bridge

near Merl Grove High School. I made a U-turn after the bridge. Going home through the upper

Constant Spring Road is always hectic so I have been one of those who use West Kings House

Road and Drumblair.

Since last year, northbound traffic on Constant Spring Road could no longer turn onto West Kings

House Road. The narrow South Avenue was made worse by the added traffic that was forced to

come this way. West Kings House Road eastbound became under-utilised and with little traffic.

This became a great temptation for northbound Sandy Gully Bridge users to turn around to go

West Kings House Road.

Those of us being ticketed on this occasion were all furious because something must be wrong

since so many people are turning there. Technically, we may be wrong, and the police may be just

doing their job. But if they had simply erected a "NO U-TURN" sign after the bridge, most of us

would not have turned around there.

22
This section of the road is in a mess as far as directions are concerned. The lanes and lights are

not yet ready. The markings of the lanes are misleading. Road users have to rush to merge. The

sidewalk is dangerously narrow and the corner is not ready for the left-turn filter lane.

NWA's job is to move traffic smoothly and we wish those responsible would look at this part of

West Kings House Road closely and help the people to stay on the side of law.

I am etc.,

WAI YAN CHANG

Kingston

Christmas road accident caution


published: Sunday | November 26, 2006

The Editor, Sir:

Christmas is here once again and that brings many positives with the zenith of nostalgia for the

Christmas Story. However, it often also brings an increase in road accidents. One wonders with

regret at every traffic accident: Do we read and reread the Road Code as often as we should?

Are we a reading nation? There is so much for each pedestrian, passenger and driver to

remember in order to make the roads accident free.

First Rule

The first rule of the road is to drive on the correct side of the road, which, in Jamaica, is on the

left, Children and pedestrians are most vulnerable and must be especially catered to. Crossing a

road takes special care. One really should wait until a road is totally clear of vehicles and then

look in all directions several times before crossing briskly. Make use of every pedestrian crossing,

which should all be brightly painted, to be highly visible. The pedestrian should walk on the right

side of the road at all times, to face oncoming traffic, and where available, use the sidewalk.

23
Much depends on drivers who can be role models of courtesy and caution. Speed kills. It may be

the most frequent cause of accidents.

We should drive calmly, giving the requisite indicator signals in good time. Allow right of way; and

avoid drinking before driving. As Christmas comes, let us celebrate and commemorate Baby

Jesus, remembering to proceed with all care and caution on our roads.

I am, etc.,

C.D. SMITH

Christiana

Cost Benefit Analysis For Road Projects


Introduction To The Cost- Benefit Format As Presented

The approach taken in designing the Cost-Benefit Analysis tools below took into

consideration the following two needs of the funding organization:- need to allow for

flexibility in identifying cost components as well as benefits , in keeping with the

focus of the funding organization at a given point in time , as well as the experience

and level of technical competence of the individual/s using the tools; secondly the

fact that the value cost and benefits identified are community based ( unique) and thus

may not have universal application.

The potential needs that may come about as a result of the implementation of

“Community Based Contracting “ was taken into account. It is to be noted that the

tools presented below went a bit further than “traditional Cost-Benefit Analysis” as

24
will be seen on further evaluation, while seeking to maintain an adequate level of

simplicity . As such while the traditional Cost-Benefit Tables are presented, a Project

Selection Table (Measure) is also added for completeness . The Lower cut off point

for project selection is one for management to decided on in keeping with priorities

and policies and thus is in no way a technical one. The Project Selection Table is also

intended to act as a control mechanism for the Cost Benefit Table. While owing a lack

of information ,the Cost Benefit Table might indicate that a given road project

proposal is undesirable, the Project Selection Table (or Measure) will either confirm

this finding or in the case of non –confirmation , indicate that there is a need to

reanalyze the proposal. The Road Matrix , is also an additional tool that maybe used

in conjunction with the Cost-Benefit Table and the Project Selection Matrix as

another layer of control. However please note that all three tools have been so

designed as to have “Stand Alone” capabilities, with none being dependent on the

other.

Once again it is important to note that any given “Cost” or “Benefit” may be included

or ignored without compromising ones objective.

Values of individual Costs and or Benefits must be relevant to and generated from

data from the community where the request was generated. The Project Selection

Table can be done based on data already existing in or available to JSIF. The Road

Matrix similar to the Project Selection Table (Measure) is a simple tool, it requires no

specialist knowledge and based on simple questions requiring a “Yes” or “No”

answer, to which a number value of either (1) or (0) is attached.

25
COST ITEMS

(1) The items presented in the COST column are to be valued at the prices

prevailing in the given community at the given point in time when the cost

benefit analysis exercise is taking place> There is in Jamaica no single unit

size price for land or agricultural outputs, prices are location / community

based.

(2) The effective span for the average tree is taken to be twenty years (20

years), it is however recognized that the average tree if undisturbed can live

up to any where between 30 to 100 years.

(3) The agricultural output value of the “Common Mango Tree” over a period

of twenty (20 years) is taken to be the “shadow/non market price” of any

given tree, regardless of type, genius or specie of that tree.

(4) The cost of restoring a given area of disturbed land to its natural state is

taken to be the “shadow/non market “ price of the damage done to the

environment.

(5) The real cost of health problems resulting from civil works projects is

difficult and politically even for JSIF undesirable, to calculate at full or true

value, therefore the cost of treating sinusitis in an individual for the duration

of the project times the population size, is used as the basis for the

calculating the shadow price of dust related illnesses.

(6) The cost of bringing direct benefits to a particular gender is not calculated

and should not be calculated for JSIF’s civil work projects, regardless of

their type. If the cost of the benefits of “Maternity Leave With Pay” or

26
“Equal Pay For Equal Work “ were calculated before their enactment,

their enactment would not be affordable or economically justifiable.

(7) The opening or restoring of long closed road ways, in some instances,

where this type of activity results in a sudden significant increase in traffic

flows or individual mobility/access to urban centres, can lead to irreversible

loss of cultural forms and or ways of life. The archiving of cultural

information within this framework and within the context of growing local

and tourist demand for Jamaican Cultural Information is of critical

importance. .

(8) An increase in access, and improved communications generally leads in the

Jamaican context of things to increase urban influences and pressures.

Along with these urban type pressures comes some level of urban type

crime e.g. murder, robbery etc. While it is not possible to predict how many

acts a particular type of crime will be committed in any give locale, its is

recommended that consideration, within the Jamaican Context, be given to

the inclusion of a shadow /non market price of this eventuality within the

Cost-Benefit Analysis.

Within this context the loss of an individual’s life due to murder is

calculated to be the amount one unskilled individual is expected to earn

over a his working life, while the base price for wounding regardless of the

type of wound or level of seriousness, it is taken to be the cost of visit the

nearest doctor plus the cost of any medicine used in treating a knife wound

to the limb or face. These values are then multiplied by the

27
number of these crimes that occur over the last year in the nearest township

or urban center in order to get the yearly cost of crime against the

individual, the cost of crime over the life time of the project would be the

yearly cost times 25 (the expect minimum depreciation time of road is taken

to be equal to be that of one human generation or 25 years). Please note,

that this is a minimum cost approach.

(9) In some communities, there is a cost to be paid by contractors for project

security and or social appeasement to the area leaders or dons or to the

police for permitting the carrying out of the road project. This is a constant

feature with civil works in urban and near urban settings, affecting road

projects of all sizes from Highway 2000 to the paving of a dirt road in a

squatter community.

(10)Jamaican driving habits have resulted to accidents and death on nearly all

paved surfaces in the country, urban or rural, especially in those

communities where “Robot Taxis “ are the main means of commuter

transportation. Therefore its is recommended that the loss of life of one

individual and the injury of one individual resulting in at least three months

hospitalization, be budgeted for each year of the 25 years life span of a

road’s normal unmodified life.

Please note that not each and every cost item will be relevant to each and

every road project. Many of the cost items listed have no relevance to road

works in urban settings.

28
BENEFITS EXPLAINED

(1) Not all benefits will be applicable to each and every community road

project.

(2) All prices are local i.e. community based, the cost of visit a doctor in one

community may be $2500.00 in another it may be only $500.00.

(3) The National Minimum Hourly Minimum Wage Rate is the Weekly

Minimum Wage divided by 40 hours, e.g. if the weekly minimum wage is

J$2500.00 then the National Minimum Wage Rate is J $2500.00/40 is

J$62.50 per hour.

(4) In some communities, there will be more quantifiable benefits, which

should be included in the Cost –Benefits Analysis. It is the duty of the

sponsoring organization to ensure that all possible benefits and costs are

duly identifiable and quantifiable and recorded.

(5) Transport hours saved refers to the number of hours saved by the average

individual over the period of one year owing to the rehabitation of the

road, times the minimum amount of money the individual could earn

doing one hour work in keeping with wages set by the National Minimum

Wage Act (see 3 above) times the traveling population (i.e. excluding

children under the age of six (6) years, adults over the age of 65 years and

severely physically challenged individuals).

(6) The reduction of teen-age pregnancies benefits refers to the savings made

by the community in not having to take care of a given number of

children not born owing to a reduction in pregnancies. It is the cost of

29
taking care of one healthy child for 16 years times the expected reduction

of teen-age pregnancies. For example if the birth rate fell by four births,

then this saving/benefit =4 times the cost of taking care of a child for 16

years times 25 years i.e. the expected life span of the road. Here it is

assumed that the reduction of the birth rate by 4 for year will be held

constant over the expected life span of the road.

(7) Increase in school attendance refers to the potential increase income to be

earned by the expected increase in literate skilled individuals resulting

from an increase in school attendance stemming from the rehabitation of

the road. It is equal to the expected increase in school attendance times

the yearly of a skilled workman e.g. mechanic times 25 i.e. the expected

life span of the road.

(8) Increase access to prenatal and post natal care, refers to the increase in

savings of the community coming from the expected reduction in home

deliveries times cost of hospitalization stemming from the most common

complications stemming from an unmonitored pregnancy times 25. It is

assumed that this yearly reduction in home deliveries will be the same

throughout the life span of the rehabitated road.

(9) Increased prevention of childhood diseases refers to the savings to the

community stemming from an increase access to vaccinations. It is equal

the increase in the number of children vaccinated in the first year of the

rehabitated road times the cost of treating a child for mums, measles, etc,

plus the income loss to one parent owing the illness of the child times 25.

30
(10)The increased ease of carrying shopping or household supplies refers to

the savings made by the individual in transporting household goods, in

terms of time and money, as a result of the rehabitation of the road. It is

equal to the expected savings in shopping time by the average female

times the national minimum hourly rate times the number of females in

the community falling within the age range of 14-to-65 years, times the

number of Saturdays in the average year times 25.

(11)Time saved going to and from church refers to the savings by the

community stemming from the rehabitation of the road in going to and

from religious activities/events at the church in terms of reduction in the

cost of transportation and in time by the church going segment of the

population times the number of Sundays in the average year times 25

years.

(12)Number of hours saved by children going to and from school, is

approached in a manner similar to (11) above.

(13)Number of hours saved going to and from cultural events refer to the

savings made by the young people and parents of the community in

maintaining a normal culturally active life resulting from the rehabitation

of the road. It is the hours saved going to and from the town centre once

per month times 12 (months in the year) times the number of individuals

in the community within the age range of 15 to 45 years times 25 (the

expected lifespan of the road).

31
(14)Number of hours saved going to and from work refers to the savings made

by individuals who have to go to work outside the boundaries of the

community. It is equal to the number of hours saved by the average

working individual going to and from work on the average working day

times the number of individuals working outside the community times the

national minimum average minimum wage (see 3 above) times the

number of working days in the average year times 25 (the expected

lifespan of the road is taken to be 25 years).

(15)Increase in the yearly value of agricultural output refers to that increase in

the value of agricultural output that is directly attributable to the

rehabitation of the road, thus for example, the increase in output

stemming from an increase in rainfall in a given year would not be

included in this calculation, nor would an increase in value stemming

from a shortage of a given agricultural product be included, however an

increase stemming from the greater use of chemical fertilizer, or from an

increase in the acreage under cultivation would be included in this

calculation. It is the increase in value of agricultural output directly

attributable to the rehabitation of the road in an average year time 25 (the

expected lifespan of the rehabitated road).

(16)Increase in the amount earned by truckers or country bus operators, refer

to the value of the yearly increase in “loads” carried by these carriers as a

direct result of the rehabitation of the road times 25. The standard load is

given as being equal to 50 pounds of agricultural output.

32
(17)The increase in the number of taxi coming into the area refers to the

additional income earned by the community’s taxi operators as a result of

the rehabitation of the road. It equal to the number of taxi entering the

community as a result of the rehabitation of the road times eight (trips per

day) times $200.00 (income earned per trip) times 365 (days in the year)

times 25 (the expected lifespan of the rehabitated road).

(18)Estimated number of jobs gained as a result of the rehabitation of the

road, refers to the increase number of jobs /employment gained as a direct

result of the rehabitation of the road. It could come about as a result of

individuals who previously could not get to and from work, now being

able to seek employment outside of the community, it could come about

as a result of new business opening in the community as a result of better

access or previously existing businesses expanding and employing more

individuals. It is equal to the number of new jobs times the national

minimum wage time 25 (assuming that the amount of new jobs created

over the 25 years period will remain constant).

(19)Increase in the number of community-based business refers to that

increase in the number of new business operating in the community where

this increase is directly attributable to the rehabitation of the road. It is

assumed that each business is expected to earn an income for its

proprietor at least an amount equal to the yearly Minimum Wage. Thus

value of this benefit is equal to the yearly National Minimum Wage times

33
the number of new businesses times 25 years (assuming that each year for

25 years the same number of new businesses will come into being.

(20)Increase in the number of individuals or tourists visiting the community as

a direct result of the rehabitation of the road, refers to those visitors who

pass through the community for no other reason than curiosity or for the

fact that the road allows one to drive through. The potential increase in

earnings from this source is calculated to be the expected number of

“visitors “passing through per year times the price of a Pepsi Cola times

25. The community may or may not realize this benefit.

(21)Improved pest/parasite control as a result of the road project, refers to the

savings made by the community as a result of better hygiene

/sanitation/bushing practices as related to the rehabitated road, resulting in

the number of breeding spaces available to vectors and pests. It is

measured as the amount of money saved by the average family in treating

insect bites and purging parasites in the average year times the number of

families in the community times the number of years.

Cost Pre Cost Post


COSTS ITEMS
Construction Construction

J$ J$
Construction & Labour Cost
The cost of agricultural crops destroyed by construction
Cost of land used or directly affected by construction ($

per hectare)
Cost of trees lost (20 years times price of 100 common

34
mango [i.e. average yearly harvest of mangoes] times 25

years (life span of road)


Cost of domestic removal of construction dust (i.e.

amount of hours lost per households for the duration of

project construction times national minimum hourly rate

time the number of households in communities)


Minimum cost of treating dust related illnesses (i.e. cost

of treating one individual with suffering from sinusitis

for the duration of project construction times the exposed

population)
Cost of restoring the total affected area to original state

(i.e. minimum cost of environmental damage)


Cost of anthropological recording and cataloguing of

local culture, its distribution and storage.


Cost of increased exposure to urban levels and type of

crime (i.e. number of individuals murdered in last

calendar year times expected life time earnings of one

unskilled individual plus number of wounding per year

in the nearest urban settlement times the cost of one visit

to the doctor and the cost of treating one individual for a

knife wound to a limb or face) times 25 years (life span

of road)
Cost of security and social appeasement for duration of

construction project
Economic cost of one life and one serious injury

(requiring three months hospitalization) for a period of

twenty five years

35
Total costs

Benefits Value J$
Transport hours saved (national minimum hourly rate

times number of hours saved for 25 years)


The reduction in teen age pregnancies ((The cost of

taking care of one child for 16 years times the expected

reduction of teen age pregnancies (, e.g. a expected

reduction by 4 pregnancies per year) times 25))


Increase in school attendance (the expected yearly

increase number of individuals attending school in times

the average yearly earnings of a skilled trades man times

25)
Increase access to prenatal and post natal care (measured

by the expected reduction in home deliveries times the

cost of hospitalization as a result of the most common

complication occurring to both mother and child during

delivery or as a result unmonitored pregnancy times 25)


Increased prevention of childhood diseases such as

measles, mums etc (the increased number of children

expected to be vaccinated against childhood diseases in

the first years after road completition times the cost of

treating illness in one child for each of the childhood

diseases vaccinated against times 25).


Increased ease of carrying shopping or household

supplies home (expected reduction in time to carry goods

36
from nearest market and supermarket/wholesale time

minimum national hourly rates times number of females

in community between the age ranges of 14-to-65 years,

time the number of Saturday s in the average year times

25)
Time saved going to and from church (expected

reduction in time on trips to and from church times the

national minimum hourly rates times the number of

church goers in the community times the number of

church days in the year times 25)


Number of hours saved by children going to and from

school. Same approach as above with hours saved going

to church.
Number of hours saved going to and from cultural events

or places e.g. cinemas, KFC, dances, library etc (hours

saved going to and from town centre once per month

times 12 (i.e. months in the year) times national hourly

minimum wage times number of individuals living in the

community between the ages of 15 and 45 years time 25)


Number of hours saved going to and from work (hours

saved times number of individuals working outside the

community times the national minimum hourly rate

times the number of working days in the year times 25)


Increase in the yearly value of agricultural output owing

to the rehabitation of the road times 25


Increase in the amount earned by truckers or country bus

37
operators owing to an increase in agricultural output

stemming from the road project (additional yearly output

divided 50 pounds times $100.00 (cost of transporting 50

pounds of goods) time 25 crop years. One load for the

bus top is assumed to weigh 50 pounds)


Increase in the number of taxi coming into the

community per day as a result of road project times eight

(8) trips per day times $200.00 (amount of money per

trip) times 365 (days per year) times 25


Estimated number of jobs gained per year as a result of

the road project times National Minimum Yearly Income

times 25
Estimated increase in new community based business

venture in the first year after completion of road project

times Year National Minimum Yearly Wage times 25


Increase in the number of individuals and tourist per year

as a result of the road project times the price of one Pepsi

Cola or Coco Cola time 25


Improved pest/parasite control as a result of the road

project (measured as a saving on the use of household

pesticides and medication for insect bite and internal

parasites per house hold per year times number of

households times 25.


TOTAL VALUE OF BENEFITS

COST BENETIF = Total Value of Benefits –Total Costs

38
If the Total Value of Benefits minus Total cost is positive, and if the Total Value Of

Benefits is greater than 25% of Contract value plus Contract value then JSIF can go

ahead with this project.

The Cost-Benefit Analysis Framework as presented above, is intended to be used the

“Project Selection Measure” (PSM) out lined below. This measure seeks to address the

fact that each Quartile 4 or Quartile 3 community is a unique entity, thus while a road

“rehabitation “ project might have measurable impact on alleviating the conditions giving

rise to social poverty in one given Quartile 4 community in another there might be no

significant impact on the determining factors of social poverty.

As with the Cost –Analysis Frame Work Outlined above, the PSM approach suffered

from a lack out enough time and related resources desirable to carry out adequate study

and testing before being developed. As such, it should be seen as a guide to action, and

not as a Bible neither defining right or wrong nor offering prescriptions to all selection

problems.

Criterion For The Location of Road Projects

Given that Jamaica Social Investment Fund road construction or road repair projects are

so designed to meet the objective of alleviating poverty, there is a need to ensure that

these projects actually do what they are intended to do. The construction of a road by

itself does not mean that poverty will be alleviated, if this road has little or no impact on

the day-to-day economic and social lives of the targeted population.

39
In addition JSIF movement towards CBC requires the development of more exacting

tools allowing for the filtration of those requests which are designed to mislead or to milk

the organization and in seeking to encourage the further development of JSIF capability

to alleviate poverty through road construction and or road repair projects, the following

table and formula is being suggested for use in project selection: -

Scoring System: -

(1) The Quartile from which the request originated (#2Q) is given a number value

matching the Quartile number, which is then multiplied by it. For example a request from

a Quartile 3 community would be given the value 3, which is then multiplied by 3, giving

Q the value 9, for a Quartile 4 community, the number value would be 4, which would

then be multiplied by 4 given Q a final value of 16.

(2) The level of isolation of the community takes the value i. Where the community is

over two miles from the nearest town the value of i is 3, if the distance of the community

is less than one mile but more than ½ mile from the nearest town i takes the value 1,

where the distance is less than ½ mile from the nearest town i takes the value 0. Therefore

the maximum value that i can take is 3. Whatever value is taken by the variable i is then

multiplied by 3, the product of which is then inserted into the PSM table.

(3) The level of female unemployment is given by the variable fum. Where female

unemployment is more than 20% of the female labour force, the variable fum takes the

value 3,where it is under 20% of the female labour force but over 10% fum is equal to 2,

40
where female unemployment is less than 10% of the female labour force fum takes the

value 0. Whatever value fum takes, multiply it by 4 and insert the product into the table.

(4) The job creation potential of the completed road project: - jcp takes the value 1 or 0. If

there is a job creation potential, then jcp is equal to 1, if there is no job creation potential

then jcp is equal to 0. Multiply the value jcp takes by 3 and insert the value into the table.

(5) Increased market access for agricultural products is given by the variable ima. Where

the completed road project significantly improves the access of the market for

agricultural products, ima takes the value 3, where the completed road product has only a

marginal impact on access to the market for agricultural products ima takes the value 1,

and if the completed road project has no impact on the access to the market for

agricultural products, ima takes the value 0. Multiply the value of the ima 2 and insert it

into the table.

(6) The potential impact on local business is given by the variable pib. If the completed

road project has a significant positive impact on local business pib takes the value 3, if

the completed road project has only a marginal positive impact on local business, then

pib takes the value 1, where completed road project has no positive impact on local

business the pib takes the value 0. If the completed road project has a negative impact

local business the pib takes the value –3 (minus three). Multiply the pib by 2 and insert its

value into the table.

41
(7) The potential increase in the area under agricultural cultivation resulting from the

completion of the road project is piac If there is a significant potential of increasing the

area under cultivation, piac takes the value 4, if there is only a marginal potential increase

in the area under cultivation, the piac takes the value 1, if there is no potential increase in

the area under agricultural production the piac takes the value 0. Should the completed

road project has a potential to reduce the area under agricultural production , the piac

takes the value –3 (minus three). Multiply the value of the piac by 4 and insert it into the

table.

(8)The distance from the nearest tourist resort is given by the identity ntr. If the

community in which the road is to be built is 5 miles or more miles from the nearest

tourist resort, the ntr is equal to 4, if the community is under 5 miles but not less than 3

miles from the nearest tourist resort, the ntr is equal 2, where the community is less than

2 miles from the nearest tourist resort, the ntr takes the value 1. Multiply the value of the

ntr and insert the product into the table.

(9) The level of teen-age fertility is given by the variable ff. Where teenage fertility is

higher than the national level, the ff takes the value 5, where it is lower than the national

level ff takes the value 2. Multiply the value of the ff by 6 and insert it into the table.

(11)The level of social organization of the community is represented by the

symbol #so. If a community is highly organized, the #so is equal to 3, where

42
the community is poorly organized the #so takes the value 1. This variable

will have a significant role in indicating the community’s ability to meet its

contribution to any given project. Multiply the #so by 3 and insert the

product into the table.

(12)The level of crime in a community is represented by the variable lc. In

communities with a high level of reported violent crime, the lc takes the

value 4, if there is a low level of reported crime in the community; the lc

takes the value 0. Multiply the lc by –6 (minus 6).

Add all the numbers in the values column. The higher the value ,the more

desirable is the project for implementation by JSIF, the lower the value , the

less desirable is the project for JSIF implementation.

Project location Table

Item Value
i
#2Q
fum
jcp
ima
pib
piac
ntr
lc
ff
Total

PSM= #2Q +3.i+4 fum+ 3jcp+2ima+ 2 pib + 4piac+ 5ntr+ 3#so-6lc+6 ff

43
Where PSM= Project Selection Measure

MATRIX ANALYSIS

The matrix given below is intended to be used in the main for desk screening. It seeks to

analysis the desirability of implementing a given road project on the basis of simple yes

and no answers, where if the answer to a question is yes a 1 is placed in the value

column , if the answer of the question is no , a 0 is inserted in the value column. At the

end all the number value is added. The maximum score (or value) a project can get at the

end of addition is six 6. This six (6) indicates that the proposal is desirable . The lowest

possible score a proposal can obtain at the end of addition is 0. This 0 indicates that the

project is undesirable for implementation. For projects with scores between the values of

3 and 6, the input of the Social Development Manager should be sought . For projects

with scores between 3 and 0 , they are not very desirable and should be rejected.

Road Matrix

Question Answer (yes Score

or no) Yes=1

No=0
Are there more than 100 potential road users per day residing in

the community?
Could the road be used as a by pass in the event of an

emergency?
Would the rehabitation of the road increase agricultural output

44
by at least 15% ?
Would the rehabitation of the road lead to an increase in the area

under cultivation?
Would the rehabitation of the road lead to the creation of new

business possibilities in the given community?


Would the rehabitation of the road lead to a significant increase

in the possibility of reducing unemployment


Total (add the ones (1) in the third column)

End

Basil Fletcher

James Bond Pier dirty - visitors


published: Tuesday | December 2, 2003

By Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer

OCHO RIOS, St. Ann:

THE POOR state of the former Reynold's Bauxite Pier in Ocho Rios which is being used regularly

as a berth for cruise ships has come in for sharp criticism from a top cruise ship official.

Captain of the cruise ship, Norwegian Sun, Constantinos Fafalios described the pier as a most

unwelcome site for cruise passengers who disembark there.

The pier which has been renamed the James Bond Pier is one of two being used for the docking

of cruise ships in Ocho Rios.

DISAPPOINTMENT

45
The Norwegian Sun brought in over 2,400 visitors to Ocho Rios and will continue to call up to

April next year. Some of the visitors who went on a walking tour of the area also voiced their

disappointment with the state of the facility at the pier.

Included among their dislikes were the trash and garbage seen along the sidewalk that leads to

the shopping centre in the town and the overgrown road verges that they said made the place

unattractive.

Captain Fafalios remarked that it was not appropriate for a dirty and unattractive cargo pier to be

used as a cruise ship facility.

POTENTIAL TO ATTRACT MANY VISITORS

He said that Jamaica need to improve the state of its cruise ship facilities because the country

has the potential to attract a lot more cruise ships to its shores.

The captain pointed out that Cozumel in Mexico has up to 17 cruise ships in port in one day and

that Cozumel has nothing to compare to Jamaica in terms of attraction.

"But the people there know how to treat the tourists. Can you imagine Jamaica getting 17 ships in

a day," he said.

Meanwhile vice-president of cruise-shipping and marina operation at the Port Authority of

Jamaica, William Tatham who was in Ocho Rios to welcome the ship, admitted that the James

Bond Pier was unattractive.

Mr. Tatham said that for some time the Port Authority has been trying to acquire the pier in order

to improve it, but has not been able to do so.

The pier is owned by Jamaica Bauxite Mining Limited and still operates as a regular cargo pier.

46
The Issue Of Economic Rent And Economic Rights

Those annoying taxi drivers


published: Friday | September 12, 2003

THE EDITOR, Sir:

WE WELCOMED the new sports field for our area. It is well lit at night and allows for different

activities in the community. What we are not welcoming are the taxis that park outside our home

from 6 a.m. in the morning to 7 p.m. and sometimes later, Monday through Sunday. The taxi men

argue or talk with each other loudly, which disturbs my home. They eat and leave their garbage

on the spot or worse throw it over into our yard. They also urinate and lean and fix their cars in

the same location- outside our gate. The section that they park in once had nice green grass.

Now it is just a patch of dirt.

The taxis also park in such a way that block the view of cars coming out from Sandhurst Crescent

on to East Kings House road, which may cause an accident.

Why have we waited until now to say something? Only because our diplomatic efforts to speak to

the drivers about their actions have not paid off. As soon as we speak to one set and they agree

to move, another set replaces them. Some are not welcoming of anything we have to say.

Nothing we have done has changed the actions of these persons.

I would like to encourage the police in their no-tolerance actions and ask them to have no

tolerance for these drivers parking on the sidewalk as they do.

We do not welcome that there are more vendors selling on East Kings House Road. Not only is it

illegal but on this particular road it can be a traffic hazard. Just this morning another vendor set up

for selling on the road. We strongly encourage the KSAC or whichever relevant authority is

47
involved to get on this matter before we have a market place on East Kings House Road and

MPM may have to be called to forcibly remove them.

Vendors arrested for selling on sidewalks

Aug 23, 1999

LINSTEAD, St. Catherine - AT LEAST four vendors selling on the streets and sidewalks of

Linstead were on Saturday arrested by the St. Catherine police for doing business on the streets

instead of in the market.

Sergeant D. Brown, attached to the Linstead Police Station, also seized their goods and said the

vendors are booked to appear in court this week.

It was only on Tuesday last that 11 vendors were arrested by Superintendent in charge of the St.

Catherine North Division, Donald Pusey when they disobeyed orders from the police to carry on

their vending activities in the Linstead market and not on the streets.

The vendors were granted bail in the sum of $5,000 each. They are booked to appear in the

Linstead Resident Magistrates Court this week to answer charges for selling on the streets and

sidewalks.

The police said the vendors are also considered a traffic hazard and there are frequent clashes

between motorists and vendors.

The police said the vendors are blocking the entrances of business places in Linstead, including

banks, supermarkets, the post office, bakeries and other places, while managers of the

businesses continue to complain of loss of customers due to the blocking of their entrances.

48
Meanwhile, some of the vendors told The Gleaner that there was not enough room inside the

market to accommodate all the vendors. They also said sanitation has been a problem, posing

health and environmental hazards, while the roof of the market leaks.

The administration of the St. Catherine Parish Council, which has responsibility for the market,

said they are aware of the problem, but failed to say what was being done to address the matter.

However, the St. Catherine police say they will not be letting up on the vendors, whom they said

were intent on staying on the streets.

The Work of a “Thinking Mayor”

Vending furniture and space added to create a pedestrian safe and friendly experience by
the Nelson Mandela Park, in Half Way Tree, St. Andrew, Jamaica W.I.
The work of a “Thinking Mayor” and a staff which includes Urban Planners.

Some of the vending stalls and a section of the space as seen from across the road.

49
By listening to the concerns of the vendors, albeit after several futile attempts to remove
them from Half Way Tree, His Worship Mayor Desmond Mackenzie working along with
his staff which includes at least two Urban Planners was able to come up with a solution
which satisfied pedestrians, vendors, and motorists while improving public order and
enhancing the aesthetics of the location. This is an example of a successful “Corrective or
Remedial Urban Planning” exercise.

Invisible Road Users and Residents-

A mentally ill man resting by an auto dealership on Halfway Tree Road, St. Andrew,
Jamaica W.I.

50
Ghabbi my long time friend, at rest by a bank in Halfway Tree.

The mentally ill both as road users and long term residents ( Ghabbi has been living on
the road for more than fifteen years) poses special challenges for students of urban
studies and urban planners in particular. While cooperate architects in the main have
designed structures with wide sidewalks and wide steps in order to facilitate all classes of
clients including the physically challenged, thus as an externality created safe places also
for the mentally ill, the city and local authorities are still caught with conflicting views as
to whether or not to plan to include the mentally ill and homeless or to plan to exclude the
mentally ill and homeless. City architects are still at a loss as to how to design garbage
skips and containers which maybe friendly to the mentally ill while enhancing the
hygiene of the location. Here the Church, in particular the Catholics and Salvation Army,
through their feeding programmes , have to some extent assisted the architects.

51
KSAC targets roadside garages Thursday | February 22, 2001

By Trudy Simpson Staff Reporter

THE KINGSTON and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) yesterday signalled the start of a concentrated

drive next month to clear vehicles, containers and other obstacles from Corporate Area sidewalks.

Councillors at yesterday's monthly meeting of the Building and Town Planning Committee were told that

motorists who insist on parking on sidewalks will have their vehicles towed away. Just over 1,300 vehicles

were towed to the car pound on Lyndhurst Road, St. Andrew, during February and March last year.

Wreckers will also remove large containers blocking sidewalks such as those beside KFC's New Kingston

branch; they may even remove a shop which was constructed on the sidewalk at Hyde Park Road. In fact,

"anything blocking the sidewalks" would go, vowed Committee Chairman, Councillor Trevor Bernard

(Maxfield Park division). He said that the fines for these breaches, ranging between $5.00 and $5,000, were

a joke.

Roadside garages will be specially targeted. The committee announced that February 28 was the deadline

given to operators of many of the Corporate Area's roadside garages to find other sites. After that date

wreckers will be brought in to put them out of business.

"We are going to remove the vehicles that they are working on," Mr. Bernard said. He had earlier warned

that there were plans in place to give roadside garages a warning via press advertisements, telling them that

52
they had seven days to lock shop. "The aim was to give the warning through the press. After seven days, we

get a number of wreckers to go and clear the streets," he had said in January.

At that meeting, committee members had expressed anger at the obstacles which force pedestrians to walk

in the streets.

"Roadsides are for people to walk. They are not for cars or garages. So many people get hurt because they

are forced into the road," Councillor Bernard, had said.

Roadside garages on Slipe Pen Road, Howard Avenue, Aldington Avenue and Newark Avenue, Kingston

had received notices and were said to be removing vehicles but Councillor Bernard remarked that the

companies were taking too long to remove their businesses. March will be their deadline to do this.

Last month, the councillor dismissed suggestions that there were no commercial spaces available to house

these garages.

Moving the higglers - again

Sunday | September 9, 2001

Norman Grindley

A Saturday traffic jam in the downtown Kingston commercial district.

By Lloyd Williams, Senior Associate Editor

53
So the streets of the heart of the downtown Kingston commercial district are to be rid of vendors

who have again captured the sidewalks and the streets causing chaos and congestion and

forcing traffic to a snail's pace - where anything can move at all.

So what's new?

The problem has been recurring from heavens know when. Only, this time it's at its worst. Every

so often over the years the KSAC and Metropolitan Parks and Markets have made a few well-

intentioned attempts to move these illegal vendors.

But after a few skirmishes, the smashing of wooden stalls, the tear-smoking of higglers by the

police enforcing the removal orders, invoking the Litter Act and even putting a few people before

the courts, it has been back to square one for the illegal vendors.

On November 11, 1986 the sidewalk vendors resisted MPM's efforts to relocate them, demanding

instead "a just slice of the cake".

"No higglers, no stores", they chanted in defiance, calling for a meeting with then Prime Minister

Edward Seaga, after claiming that the MPM had refused to meet with them.

Neville Lewis, Minister of Local Government then, promised that within a few days there would be

regulations to license vendors to operate in specified public places already identified.

He charged that "elements in the minority have sought to create dissatisfaction and disorder".

Errol Anderson, National Security Minister at the time, warned that if the vendors went back to the

streets and sidewalks, they would be dealt with firmly.

The higglers returned to their usual spots on the streets and the sidewalks within a few days.

Business as usual.

54
On July 20, 1991 the vendors again ignored a campaign begun by the MPM that April to get them

off the streets.

Fear

On July 26 vendors again objected to being moved from the streets of downtown Kingston,

claiming that there was inadequate security in the areas to which they were being relocated. They

expressed fear of being robbed if they stayed in some areas too late in the afternoon when the

shopping crowd thinned out. The MPM claim they were seeking an excuse.

May 16, 1994 was to have been D-Day for vendors illegally occupying the sidewalks and streets

of downtown Kingston. They had been ordered to clear the streets by that date or be moved

forcibly.

A joint statement then from the Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Local Government

warned that the police would be "ensuring that the law is upheld and will continue to do so until

such time as discipline returns to our streets and illegal vending is stamped out."

According to the statement, illegal vending had obstructed pedestrian and vehicular traffic as well

as business activity and had provided a cover for criminal activity.

The chaos, congestion and violence grew and with it the "protection" racket, which is sheer

criminal extortion.

But it reached a head on June 11, 1995 when Lloyd Bernard Hoo-Mook of Jack Palace

Wholesale was shot dead at his businessplace. The merchants downtown Kingston closed their

businesses on June 14 and 15 in protest, and the political directorate went into their usual re-

active mode.

55
K.D. Knight, Minister of National Security and Justice, declared on June 16, 1995 that all illegal

vending on the streets and sidewalks of downtown Kingston would cease from Monday, June 26

as the Government intensified its efforts to restore order to the nation's capital city.

He said the areas for vending would be upgraded and all vendors would be moved to those

designated areas.

New measures

Mr. Knight went further. He said that a monitoring committee under his chairmanship and

including the Commissioner of Police, the Permanent Secretary for National Security and Justice

and representatives of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, the vendors and Metropolitan Parks

and Markets would meet fortnightly to ensure the enforcement of the new measures.

The previous day Prime Minister P.J. Patterson had announced a massive security presence in

downtown Kingston to engage in a variety of operational and intelligence activities; a programme

aimed at improving the social conditions of the people in the area, and a Government/private

sector partnership to provide employment opportunities for downtown residents.

For the next several weeks the sidewalks and streets of the commercial district in downtown

Kingston were actually clear of street vendors. (One was reminded of the King Street of the '60s

where people would dress up and go for a stroll on a Sunday evening).

Since then the situation has again reverted to the usual chaotic state which has now worsened to

the point where the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce is calling on the Government to act now to

"reverse the general state of public disorder and chaos in downtown Kingston," warning that if it

did not act immediately it ran the risk of "losing Downtown Kingston where the rule of lawlessness

and badmanism flourishes."

A walk on Orange, Princess, Beckford streets, North, West and South Parade, West Queen

Street or the lanes and streets running off is an exercise in agility. Many a store seem to have as

56
much goods on its piazza as inside. Sidewalk vendors render entry to some stores almost

impossible. At least one store has had to put in full-length turnstiles.

At some stalls ganja is sold openly - like peanut or sorrel.

The Government, through Mr. Knight said last week that the street vendors will have to move.

Once more, with feeling!

But now, there are many more important variables.

This time, there are a great many more vendors, many people having turned to vending because

of the downturn in the country's economic situation. The vendors this time around are more

militant than usual. Consider this. On December 17, 1999 many businessplaces in downtown

Kingston had to close as angry vendors on hearing that the MPM was going to enforce their

removal, marched through the area pulling down store shutters declaring that "If we can't sell,

then nobody will sell."

Over the years there has been weak enforcement of the illegal vending law by the authorities,

with the vendors always being allowed to creep back onto the streets and sidewalks. The vendors

claim the alternative sites being offered them are neither comfortable nor secure, plus the fact

that some of the locations would be far from the buying crowd.

The CofC desperately wants the Ministry of National Security and the Minister of Local

Government and all the other agencies to finalise plans to implement the Market District, the

associated relocation of vending and the implementation of Phase 1 of the Inner-City Renewal

Project.

It's now up to the Government to give meaning to its mouthing of zero tolerance. With Christmas

fast approaching and the general election not too far behind, the Government is going to have to

57
be at its persuasive and organisational best to get the vendors off the street - having provided

adequate selling areas for them..

But even more, it will have to bring to bear its political skills and assert its legitimacy in

persuading the ranking dons of the area that it is in the nation's interest to have the vendors

involved, move to the designated areas.

As the CofC warned, "Never before has the state of public order been so threatened as it now is

in Downtown and in our country as a whole".

And lest you forget, the dons of Downtown Kingston - no less than the dons from elsewhere in the

Corporate Area of Kingston and St. Andrew - are powerful people.

During a demonstration by vendors who were attempting to block the intersection of West Queen

and Princess streets in Downtown Kingston on May 20, 1994 to protest against the actions of

MPM in ousting them from the sidewalks and the streets, some "soldiers" from Matthews Lane,

acting supposedly in the performance of their civic duties, slapped up the demonstrators and took

away their placards and sent them packing. So the street vendors are to be moved again?

Even with a little assist from those "soldiers", one should not hold one's breath.

©Copyright 2000 Gleaner Company Ltd. | Disclaimer | Letters to the Editor | Suggestions

58
A light and power company stores concrete

poles on a sidewalk in Portmore, St. Catherine Jamaica.

Dons extort millions - Businesses, sidewalk vendors said paying $400m a


year Friday | September 1, 2000
Claude Mills, Staff Reporter

A THRIVING extortion racket estimated to involve millions of dollars is slowly crippling businesses in

sections of downtown Kingston, investigations by The Gleaner have found.

But even with their businesses on the edge of collapse, many business people remain tight-lipped about the

practice, apparently afraid of retaliation by armed thugs.

"Nobody has ever admitted paying any extortion money. I would do my best to help in whatever I can in a

confidential manner but if no one talks, you can't help them," Mr. Laurence Heffes, of Heffes Sales Co. Ltd.

said.

"I personally have never been approached by anyone for money. I have a good relationship with the

community, and I would encourage those with complaints to report them confidentially to the JCC",

(Jamaica Chamber of Commerce), Mr. Heffes said.

Others have not been quite as fortunate.

59
"You have to give. It is understood that it is in your best interest to give something back to the community,"

a business owner said.

"They may disguise it as a community building effort, or some charity for the 'youths of the area', but in the

end, you have to give either cash or merchandise."

And if you refuse?

"They either burn you out, rob or kill you. I know several business people who have been the victims of

arson, who have been intimidated or shot over the last couple of years. Extortion has always been around,

from the '70s, but it is big business now because these guys are armed ... and dangerous. The situation is

volcanic now."

The police have admitted that intelligence reports indicate Chinese immigrants who have set up businesses

in downtown Kingston are often the favourite targets of the extortionists.

But, the police say, there have been no complaints from either the Chinese immigrants or Jamaican

business people.

"The New Chinese, not the Jamaican Chinese, are a big part of the problem. They are docile. They see

Jamaica as a stepping stone to head off to Canada or wherever, so they come here just to make some money

to leave. Further, what they experience in Jamaica is paradise compared to what happens in their country,

so they just put up with it. Some of them are followed home and robbed, but don't even bother to report it,"

an irate businessman said.

Efforts to get a comment from some of the Chinese immigrants in the area were futile. They denied paying

any extortion money, but the wry smiles on their faces told another story.

Most local business owners contacted denied paying "extortion money", but admitted that they gave to

"various community projects".

60
"What else are they going to say? A lie dem a tell. Everybody is paying, people have been doing it for

years," a policeman from the City Centre police station, said.

"Some gladly pay the so-called dons because they feel they can get things done, while the police is bound

by rules and regulations. If they go to the so-called don, he may be able to get your goods back so they

don't rely on the police."

Crazy figures

According to the police, street-side vendors sometimes have to pay as much as $500 a week, while

businessmen fork out as much as $5,000 weekly. A businessman said he had heard crazy figures such as

"$40,000 to $50,000 per month."

"Most times, the men doing this simply use the names of Zekes or Dudus to intimidate them, but ... these

guys know nothing of what is going on."

A vendor who sells close to the Portmore depot confided:

"Is not really extortion really; dem just ask for a 'dues', a small contribution like $200 to the community

centre, or something. They collect the money in a black scandal every Saturday. You pay according to your

ability or conscience."

One man was arrested for extortion on August 11 this year of a well-known businessman in the area, and

his case is before the Corporate Area RM Criminal Court at Half-Way Tree.

"The man went there several times, and one Saturday, he refused to leave until he got some money, then he

became boisterous and attacked the businessman. The police were called, and the man was held," a

policeman said.

The police contend that they are powerless to do anything about the extortion racket unless people begin to

take a stand.

61
"Nobody wants to go to court. We know it is going on, but they (the businessmen) seem to have no problem

with paying. They simply use fear as a reason to do nothing," a policeman said, speaking to The Gleaner

on condition of anonymity.

A member of the Chinese Benevolent Association added:

"The criminals do not just target the Chinese immigrants alone, but other Jamaicans as well. The ones I

know who have been robbed have reported the matter to the police but the police don't follow through.

They are not docile, they work hard to get ahead. I ask them if they pay extortion money, they say no; I

believe them."

Confidential sources say that in many downtown areas the security forces rarely carry out normal policing

duties, and private security firms are loathe to serve in the area.

A source estimated that the hundreds of businesses and higglers targeted, may pay up to $400 million

annually; and there are additional expenses.

Many businesses can no longer take delivery directly from their trucks because some streets are blocked

with vendors. They have to unload down the street and then pay handcarts to complete the deliveries.

In addition there are calls every week for businesses to finance funerals, medical and other personal

expenses for friends of the extortioners.

A restaurant built on a sidewalk, near to Caymanas Park, St. Catherine, Jamaica

62
Cops raid sidewalk 'pharmacies' - Three held for seized prescription

drugs Friday | February 23, 2001

DETECTIVES FROM the Organised Crime Investigation Unit yesterday arrested two women and a man

who were selling an assortment of prescription drugs in downtown Kingston.

Up to press time the police were still questioning the three but they were unable to say when the detainees

would be charged.

"The investigation has to take on an inter-agency approach," said Assistant Commissioner Reggie Grant

who is in charge of the OCIU. He said other agencies like the Ministry of Health might have to be

contacted to help in the probe.

Asst. Supt. Karl Plummer who led yesterday's raid, said members of his unit along with an inspector from

the Pharmacy Council of Jamaica (PCJ), went to a section of West Queen Street and found the three

higglers peddling Canesten, Cutivate, vaginal tablets, Betnovate and the anti-depressant Anapranil,

otherwise called "gungo".

"They were selling the drugs in their stalls and on the sidewalk," he told The Gleaner. He said that one of

the women was, 33, the other was 35 and the man was 25 years old and they were all from downtown

Kingston.

The West Queen Street raid follows a January 21 Sunday Gleaner news report that several street-side

vendors were involved in a lucrative "open air pharmacy", selling prescription drugs.

According to the report, the illegal trade had baffled the health sector, and had raised concerns about the

health risks likely to be caused by so many different prescription drugs being sold on the street.

The report stated that at downtown pharmacies, Betnovate cream costs $247, Canesten cream costs $290

and Dermovate cream is sold for $346.

63
In an interview with The Gleaner earlier this week Dr. Charles Thesiger, chairman of the National Council

on Drug Abuse and Senior Lecturer in Community Health and Psychiatry at the University of the West

Indies, expressed concern over the easy availability of black market pharmaceuticals.

He said that the antidepressant, Anafranil, was readily available through "street pharmacies" and was being

sold as a sexual performance enhancer called "Bomb".

The United Nations International Narcotics Board, INCB, in its 2000 report launched on Wednesday has

also expressed concern about the excessive use of narcotic and psychotropic drugs such as sedatives and

stimulants, to treat social problems.

The Gleaner was unable to contact Granville Forbes, chairman of the PCJ, for a comment up to press time

last night.

KSAC tackling urban decay


published: Tuesday | June 8, 2004

THE KINGSTON and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) has a Mayor and Town Clerk who are

determined to get things done. If only they had the money which the serious management of the

municipality requires. Mayor McKenzie is estimating that up to $500 million of revenue goes

uncollected annually. If only 40 per cent of this could be collected most of the problems which the

municipality now faces with parochial roads, gullies, public sanitary conveniences and so on

could be satisfactorily dealt with, the Mayor says.

Blatant violations of building regulations, illegal billboards, and the non-payment of fees by some

3,500 barbers are among the many causes of loss of revenue to the cash-strapped Corporation.

Seventy per cent of buildings erected in the Corporate Area are constructed illegally with no

building fees paid. The new firmness of the KSAC with respect to building codes has been

demonstrated in its stringent review of the application for the construction of the US embassy at

64
Liguanea including requiring an environmental impact assessment from NEPA. A similar firmness

must be directed towards non-applicants who are operating outside the law.

Ramshackle disorder characterises the nation's capital and the extended Corporate Area, like the

rest of the country. The Mayor and his Town Clerk are determined to restore some order while

boosting the revenue intake of the Corporation. Earlier on, a drive to remove illegal billboards was

started, and before that was the stubbornly resisted drive to regulate street vending. Now the

Corporation is closing in on illegally operated sidewalk garages, massage parlours, and even

basic schools. Apart from the obstructive nature of some of these operations to the rights of other

citizens in the municipality and the loss of revenue from the non-payment of fees, there are

concerns about health and environmental risks in many instances. The KSAC is not just wielding

a big stick but plans to educate citizens on the functions of the local government body and on

their responsibilities under the law.

This month the Corporation plans to embark on an aggressive public education campaign in

tandem with more stringent measures to curb the blatant disregard many persistently delinquent

persons now show to the legitimate authority of the KSAC. Breaches have become so

widespread for so long that a great deal of bawling and resistance are to be expected in any drive

to restore public order in the municipality. But civilized social life, and in particular life in the

confines of urban space, absolutely depends on rules and regulations which must be generally

respected and enforced. The deterioration of the Corporate Area in this regard must be halted. As

Mayor McKenzie has said, "enough is enough."

65
Punters park on the sidewalk near entrance to Caymanas Park, St. Catherine, Jamaica

66
Roads In History, Roads In Rebellion

The History of Falmouth


Boom Town Of The 19th Century
By Dr. Rebecca Tortello

Named for Falmouth, Cornwall, the birthplace of then British governor William Trelawny, it became the

capital of the parish of St. James (of which Trelawny was once a part), in the 1790s, thus taking over from

the town of Martha Brae in a move sanctioned by the Vestry (or Parish Council). Falmouth was created

from seaside land owned by famed English Romantic poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning's grandfather,

Edward Moulton Barrett, in 1790. Barrett sold portions of land off to planter friends, kept the waterfront

and donated what remained for the building of a courthouse, church and public gardens.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning thought often of Jamaica even though her lifelong battle with frail health

rendered a visit impossible. She expressed her desire to see Jamaica, as she expressed many of her desires,

in her poetry:

My dream is of an island place

Which distant seas keep lonely

A little island on whose face

The stars are watchers only

In the 1830s, Elizabeth was cut off from her family as a result of her relationship with fellow poet Robert

Browning. Her favourite uncle Samuel, who resided in Jamaica managing the family property, bequeathed

her the family's Falmouth holdings, giving her much needed financial independence. Not surprisingly, she

asked that her wedding announcement read "...of Wimpole St. and Cinnamon Hill, Jamaica" (Kritzler,

2003, p. 117).

THE SHAPING OF THE TOWN

As Falmouth took shape, government offices were moved and churches such as St. Peter's Anglican

67
Church, located in the town centre were built. Today St. Peter's, after an 1842 extension stands as one of the

largest Anglican churches in Jamaica. Its supporting columns are of solid mahogany and its floor includes

crosses inlaid with mahoe and mahogany. Graves spanning over 200 years grace its cemetery.

Falmouth was carefully laid out with narrow streets named after 18th and 19th century British sovereigns

and heroes: King St., Queen St., George St., Rodney St., Charlotte St., Pitt St., Victoria St., as well as

Wellington, Stanley and Albert Streets (Buisseret, 1996, p. 95). This was the heyday of King Sugar and

Jamaica's fortunes were on the rise as the world's leading sugar producer. Planters flocked to Falmouth,

their slaves in tow. In the late 1820s there were some 25,000 slaves in Trelawny alone. Merchants such as

Delgado, DeSouza and Lindo were fast on the heels of the planters so that shops and homes, many in the

form of two and three-storey townhouses, were built almost as if over night. Some merchants even built

shops beneath their homes. Most houses were built in the Georgian style said to be the finest known outside

of Britain. Some had stone built lower floors and wooden upper floors, with wrought iron balconies and

verandahs supported on wooden columns, reaching out over the sidewalk (Gravette, 2000, p. 235). One of

the most famous is the Tharp House, a one-storey building built by wealthy planter John Tharp. It is similar

in style to Good Hope Great House, which Tharp also owned. Tharp owned three additional Falmouth

townhouses and had his own ships and a wharf which today lies in ruins. Tharp House presently serves as

the office for the Collector of Taxes.

BOOM TOWN

In the late 18th to early 19th century Falmouth boomed, becoming one of the busiest towns in Jamaica. It is

said to have been the "wealthiest New World port south of Charleston, South Carolina" (Kritzler, 2003, p.

115). Exports of sugar and rum came to Falmouth from over 88 properties worked by close to 30,000

slaves. Falmouth's busy harbour was guarded by Fort Balcarres (which in 1802 was moved from the centre

of town and relocated by the sea. It is now the Falmouth All Age School). Falmouth boasted department

stores, craftsmen such as goldsmiths, gunsmiths and tinsmiths, hotels, carriage-makers, taverns, brothels

and newspapers. At one point, three newspapers were in production The Cornwall Courier, The

Falmouth Post and The Falmouth Gazette. The newspapers, of course, advertised the goods on sale and

68
the comings and goings of a town that had become an active commercial port. In the harbour, food, iron,

furniture, household wares as well as slaves were unloaded at the Central Wharf, while logwood, sugar,

rum and dyes were exported.

The conically-shaped Foundry, located in the town centre, built in the early 19th century, supplied

bedsteads for British soldiers and repaired parts of British ships and sugar mills. On weekends the Town

Square was transformed into a colourful food market organized by slaves. There they traded the ground

provisions planters let them cultivate as a means of easing the financial burden of having to feed, clothe,

house and provide medical care for the slaves. Soon enough, slaves increased the types of goods on sale

and buyers began to include the planters themselves in addition to merchants, sailors and tradesmen.

Market fare included fish, chicken, metal, tin and earthenwares as well as vegetable produce. An actual

market was built in 1896 and still stands today, the Albert George Market.

Socially, Falmouth also blossomed. Travelling dramatic troupes passed through and the famed British

painter Joseph Bartholomew Kidd painted panoramic views of the town from the sea, while visiting his

brother Joseph, a successful Falmouth merchant. Kidd therefore left us records of Falmouth it in its heyday.

Many of the buildings captured on his canvas no longer exist. Another painter, well-known miniaturist

Joseph Dunkerly, visited in the late 1700s and stayed on to paint Jamaica's prominent citizens, many of

whom came (at great time and expense) and sat for him in Falmouth. In Falmouth's Town Hall/Courthouse

built in 1817, high society entertained. With its four Tuscan columns, a portico and a double staircase, the

Town Hall was a perfect match for the elegantly clad ladies who attended balls dramatically decked out in

gowns within which peeniewallies were sometimes sewn to add sparkle and light while they danced. The

Town Hall was eventually destroyed by fire and a replica built in 1926 which today houses the courts,

Parish Council and town hall.

In terms of law and order, the police station, built in 1814 included a cell with a treadmill and a gallows

(last used in 1896). Part of the prison became the police station of today. On the religious side, famed

abolitionist William Knibb preached in the Baptist Church or Manse, known for its stonework and wooden

staircase. Knibb became the spokesman for the Jamaica Baptist Church. His was a dramatic career. He was

69
arrested in 1832 on grounds of subversive preaching and inciting rebellion in what was known as the

Baptist War. The Rebellion resulted from a rumour that the slaves had been freed but were not so informed

by their masters. Great houses and cane fields were burned and 15 whites were killed. Three hundred

Africans were hung in reprisal. Knibb was sent to Montego Bay to await trial. It was Samuel and Richard

Barrett who helped secure his release. As slave owners who had outlawed the use of the whip and allowed

religious instruction and marriage among slaves, they were prepared to testify to his Christian character.

Knibb was released and exiled to England where he spoke out on behalf of abolition in the 1830s. By the

time abolition finally came in 1838, Knibb was back in Jamaica and at midnight on July 31, the dawning of

full freedom, he announced to a packed congregation, "The hour is at hand, the monster is dying." He led

the former slaves outside to bury their shackles and chains.

Knibb's legacy lives on in the Knibb Memorial Church he built in 1844 on the site of the first Baptist

Chapel, which had been destroyed during the 1832 rebellion when those against him set his church on fire.

Knibb and his wife are buried in the churchyard.

WANING FORTUNES

Post-emancipation Falmouth's fortunes as a commercial centre waned. The ex-slaves left the town in droves

and settled in free villages. In Trelawny alone there were over 20, some of which near Falmouth, Martha

Brae, Granville, Refuge, Kettering and Alps, were founded by Knibb. Sugar production fell by over 70 per

cent and by the mid-1800s close to 150 sugar estates had been abandoned. Architecturally, however, a new

dimension was added to the town of Falmouth, the houses of the newly-freed slaves wooden cottages

known for their gingerbread fretwork and jalousie windows appeared.

Today, a visit to Falmouth is like a walk through history; every house, every corner, every road, every stone

filled with stories.

NOTES

* Residents of Falmouth received piped water pumped by The Falmouth Water Company pumped (from the

70
Martha Brae River) before New York City residents experienced the comfort of piped water.

* Falmouth Restoration Company arranges tours of the historic centre. Call: 954-3316

Sources: Buisseret, D. (1996). Historic Jamaica from the air. Kingston: Ian Randle, Gravette, A. (2000). Architectural heritage of the

Caribbean: An A-Z of historic buildings. Kingston: Ian Randle, Kritzler, E. (2003). "The poet and the preacher Falmouth's curious heritage"

in A Tapestry of Jamaica The best of Skywritings, Air Jamaica's inflight magazine. Kingston: Creative Communications Ltd. in association

with Macmillan Publishers. pp. 115-117. "Falmouth," "Walkabout" and "Trelawny" in The Jamaican, 2001. Kingston: Deeks Designs.

http://ww.silver-sands.com/falmouth-history.html

The Road To Freedom

71
Celebration of Emancipation on August 1, 1838 in the Square of Spanish Town, the then capital of Jamaica. There was a

procession of the Baptist Church and Congregation of Spanish Town under the Rev. J.M. Phillips, with about 2,000 school children

and their teachers to Government House. Amid tremendous rejoicing, Governor Sir Lionel Smith read the Proclamation of

Freedom to the large crowd of about 8,000 people, who had gathered in the Square. The governor's carriage is seen in the

foreground. -

"The hour is at hand, the Monster is dying...in recounting the mood in his church that night he

said- "the winds of freedom appeared to have been set loose, the very building shook at the

strange yet sacred joy." - William Knibb, non-conformist Baptist preacher and abolitionist, at the

dawning of Aug. 1, 1838

Freedom can be said to have arrived in two stages; the first being the early morning of Friday,

August 1, 1834. On that day many slaves were said to have walked up hills and climbed trees so

as to clearly witness the literal dawning of their freedom. Around the island thousands attended

"Divine Services" to give thanks and praise. August 1, 1834, marked the emancipation of all

slaves in British colonies but it was a case of freedom with conditions. Although the Abolition Act

stated that slavery shall be and is hereby utterly abolished and unlawful, the only slaves truly

freed were those not yet born and those under six years of age. All other slaves were to enter a

six-year 'apprenticeship' during which they were to be 'apprenticed' to the plantations

APPRENTICESHIP

The tenets of 'apprenticeship' stated that the ex-slaves would work without pay for their former

masters for three-quarters of every week (40 hours) in exchange for lodging, food, clothing,

medical attendance and provision grounds in which they could grow their own food during the

remaining quarter of the week. They could also, if they chose, hire themselves out for more

wages during that remaining quarter. With this money, an ex-slave-turned-apprentice could then

buy his freedom.

Overall, though apprenticeship proved confusing for the ex-slaves - they were told they were free

but they were not really free. Indeed, for many, the quality of their lives had not undergone any

72
great change. In smaller islands like Antigua and Bermuda, there was no need for a system of

apprenticeship as all of the land was under cultivation, so the slaveholders knew the ex-slaves

would have no choice but to work on the plantations.

Apprenticeship ended two years short of its intended six-year term on August 1, 1838. This

marked the second stage of freedom, the day all slaves were made free. In Jamaica on that "full

free" August morning, peaceful demonstrations and celebrations occured across the island. A

hearse containing shackles and chains that had been used to shackle rebellious slaves, was

driven through the streets of the capital Spanish Town, and ceremoniously burned.

The road to full freedom was a long one, paved with rebellions and sermons by anti-slavery

missionary preachers in the colonies as well as debates and the passage of crucial reforms in

Britain.

Indeed, once full emancipation came into effect and free villages began to be established, the

plantation system began to fall apart wealth was increa singly determined by the amount of

money a man had and not by the amount of slaves a man owned.

WHAT LED TO EMANCIPATION

The tide was changing, struggles to keep down the number of runaway slaves and slave revolts

(famous Jamaican revolts included Tacky's 1760 Rebellion and Sam Sharpe's 1831 Rebellion)

seemed harder, and the ripple effect of the successful 1789 slave revolt in St. Domingue, (what is

now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) was impossible to ignore. Public opinion began to shift in

Britain heavily influenced by the work of abolitionists like Granville Sharp and William

Wilberforce. Sharp tirelessly circulated the proceedings of the 1781 case of the Liverpool slaver,

The Zong, in order to bring the evils of slavery into full view.

Wilberforce, the leader of the anti-slavery movement in Britain, carried the fight into Parliament,

year after year moving resolutions to abolish the slave trade and slowly but surely the support of

the British people was won. Britain abolished the slave trade on January 1, 1808.

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Abolition of the slave trade was only the first step towards full emancipation. By the 1820s British

Parliament began to send planters directives specifically concerned with the amelioration of the

slaves' working conditions. These included forbidding the use of the whip in the field, the flogging

of women and allowing slaves religious instruction. Jamaica, governed by an Elected Assembly,

refused to follow these directives and news of this soon spread to the slaves. Numerous

instances of civil unrest followed as slaves felt they were being denied certain benefits that had

been conferred on them in Britain. Anti-slavery sentiments were increasingly expressed in the

colonies through the work of nonconformist missionaries, particularly Baptists such as William

Knibb and Thomas Burchell who were arrested for inciting slaves to rebellion. In Jamaica, the

strongest example of unrest as a result of the fervor to put an end to slavery was the Christmas

Rebellion of 1831. Also known as Sam Sharpe's Rebellion, it began when slaves in the western

part of the island, led by Sharpe, believing they had been freed in England but kept enslaved by

the planters in Jamaica, conducted a peaceful strike. Sharpe, a Baptist preacher, was literate,

unlike many of his fellow slaves. He had read many anti-slavery bulletins from Britain and

communicated their messages to his followers. Yet Sharpe's peaceful protest soon turned into the

largest slave rebellion in the island's history. Great houses and cane fields in the west were

burned and hundreds of lives lost. This insurrection, however, became pivotal to hastening the

process of emancipation. Sam Sharpe, now a Jamaican National Hero, was hung in 1832 for his

role as organizer. Soon after, the British House of Commons adopted a motion calling for a Select

Committee to be appointed to put an end to slavery throughout the British Empire. One year later,

in May 1833, the British House of Commons stated unequivocally that the British nation must, on

its own initiative, suppress slavery in all British Dominions.

EMANCIPATION TRUTHS

Emancipation did not mean the beginning of good times. According to Sherlock and Bennett in

"The Story of the Jamaican People" (1998): "Emancipation gave them the right to free movement,

the right to choose where and when they wished to work, but without basic education and training

74
many were compelled to remain on the plantation as field hands and tenants-at-will under

conditions determined by the landlord, and for wages set by him."

Yet, in testimony to the impact of freedom, Joseph John Gurney, a friend of American statesman

Henry Clay, who visited Jamaica in 1840, wrote letters to Clay contrasting slaves in the southern

US and the freed slaves in the West Indies. Gurney was arguing for the benefits of freedom in

economies of scale as well as in moral, religious and political terms. Particularly impressed with

what he saw in Jamaica, Gurney described ex-slaves as working well on the estates of their

former masters, their personal comforts having been multiplied, their moral and religious lives

strengthened. He exhorted Clay that with freedom "The whole population is thrown on the

operation of natural and legitimate principles of action, every man finds his own just level, religion

spreads under the banner of freedom, and all its quietness, order and peace. Such is the lot of

the British West Indian colonies: and such, I humbly but ardently hope, will soon be the happy

condition of every one of the United States."

-Rebecca Tortello

Sources - Black, C.(1965). The Story of Jamaica. Sherlock, P. and Bennett, H. (1998); The Story of

Jamaican People. Gurney, J. (1840) Familiar Letters to Henry Clay of Kentucky describing a Winter in

Jamaica; The Jamaica Gleaner (1995). The Geography and History of Jamaica. 24th Edition.; Robinson,

C. (1987). Fight for Freedom. Kingston. Kingston Publishers Ltd.

The Capital City


A Historic Look At Kingston

IT CAN be said that the city of Kingston was

founded first out of disaster and then out of

trickery. In 1692 when a massive earthquake

destroyed Port Royal, long the seat of the island's

trade and a large residential area, the land across Quiet Kingston harbour of centuries ago.

75
the harbour known as the Liguanea Plain after the giant iguana, began to look more attractive.

After witnessing the massive destruction and sinking of Port Royal, the desire to rebuild that town

was lukewarm at best. At the time of the Port Royal earthquake, there were probably only 8 or 9

houses on some 530 acres of the Liguanea Plain all related to Colonel Samuel Barry's hog pen

or hog crawle as it was more commonly known. Sometime in the early 1660s Barry sold the land

to William Beeston so that in June of 1692 when a new town was needed to provide homes for

former Port Royal residents, Nicholas Lawes, acting on Beeston's behalf, sold 200 of the 530

acres to the Jamaica Council (the island's governing body). The total cost was £1,000. When

Beeston returned to Jamaica as Lt. Governor in 1693 (a post he would hold until 1700), he

declared the sale of his lands illegal and repossessed the property, which by that time consisted

of some 800 lots, most 150 ft. long and 50 ft. wide. Beeston resold the lots at a large profit, well

aware that future profit was in store as he owned the 330 acres surrounding the new town Soon

after, the Jamaica Council instructed an English surveyor to draw up a plan for this new town on

the southeast section of the island. The town, as orig inally drawn by John Goffe and eventually

laid out by engineer-general Colonel Christian Lilly, was a chessboard-like parallelogram running

one mile in length from north to south (Port Royal Street to North Street) and half a mile wide

from east to west (East Street to West Street). These four streets formed Kingston's original

boundary and were regularly traversed by other streets and lanes that alternately crossed each

other at right angles. In the centre of the parallelogram that was Kingston the main street ran

south to north and was known as King Street. It was intersected in its centre by Queen Street and

a four-acre square area around that intersection was the site of a military camp known as

Parade.1 Like many other English colonial towns, it came to be known as Kingston (possibly from

King's Town).

Around Parade, in addition to the military camp, was the Parish Church and later a playhouse, the

Theatre Royal. The commercial buildings and the courthouse were found closer to the sea.

Wealthier residents favoured the eastern section while poorer residents made do with the west,

many living on land owned by the merchants John Hannah and William Rae, which was close to

swamps. One of the island's first burial grounds, May Pen Cemetery, lies near this area. Hannah

76
Town would become one of St. Andrew's first residential settlements. Many regarded Kingston as

having been well laid-out with wide streets of varying widths. (See map attached.)

Kingston was made a parish in 1713. It had a natural harbour, massive defences in its ring of

forts, fertile soil and access to water supply. By the mid-1700s, Kingston had grown from a

seaside town with 6 miles of waterfront to a city which was awash in houses, stores and wharves.

Clearly the island's commercial capital, it was said to be strange to see less than 200 vessels in

the bay before the town at any given time. In 1774 the Chamber of Commerce, one of the first in

the New World, was formed. By the end of the 18th century, Kingston's population reached

25,000.

BECOMING A CITY
In the early 1800s, Kingston was regarded as the great port of the Caribbean, just as its

predecessor Port Royal had been a century earlier. In 1802, during the reign of George III,

Kingston was granted a Charter as a Corporation, winning formal recognition as a city. John

Jacques, Commander of the People's Militia, was elected mayor. Michael Scott's popular

adventure hero, Tom Cringle, writing about early 19th century Kingston, noted in his log:

"everything appeared to be thriving....the hot, sandy streets were crowded with drays conveying

goods from the wharves to the stores...the appearance of the town itself was novel and pleasing;

the houses, chiefly of two-storeys, looked as if they had been built of cards, most of them being

surrounded by piazzas, gaily painted in green and white...the streets unpaved, and more like dry

river courses than thoroughfares in a Christian town...." (as cited in Johnson, 1993, p. 69).

In 1834, the year that marked the abolition of slavery on the island, publication of The Gleaner,

which has become one of Jamaica's main newspapers and certainly the oldest one still in print,

began in Kingston. By mid-century there were 24 newspapers in print in Jamaica; 19 were

published in Kingston. Mico Teachers College was started on Hanover St. in 1836 and St.

George's College at Winchester Park in 1850. Following the full emancipation of slaves in 1838,

more and more schools and hospitals began to be built all over the island.

77
In 1872, Kingston was named capital of Jamaica, formally transferring this title from Spanish

Town. As the beginning of the 20th century approached, Kingston was a natural choice to host the

1891 Great Exhibition an international showcase for the island's natural beauty and talent.

Magnificent hotels were built in Kingston including the Myrtle Bank on Harbour Street and

Queen's at the corner of Heywood and Princess Streets, to house visitors to the Exhibition and

they marked the beginning of Jamaica's tourist industry today the island's most substantial

earner of foreign exchange.

Kingston continued to grow until January 1907 when another earthquake, followed by a

catastrophic fire, brought it to a sudden halt. Much of downtown Kingston was destroyed. Almost

1500 people were said to have died and over a million pounds of property damage was incurred.

Trying to recover and rebuild, people wanted to move out of the old city and they looked to the

merchants who owned much of the land bordering the city. These merchants were sitting on a

gold mine -- the foundation of much of what is today known as residential Kingston.

The entire Liguanea Plain was built on between 1907 and 1957. Buildings were now made of

concrete as a result of a new building code, which remains among the strictest in the world. This

time no

particular plan was followed. Instead the city's growth was influenced by business people who

created neighbourhoods based on the running of tramcars, which started in 1876, and the

expansion of the water supply system. 1 Still colloquially known as Parade, this section now goes by the formal title

of St. William Grant Park. By:- Rebecca Tortello

Kingston today
Plan De La Ville De Kingston.

TODAY, WHAT was the original town of Kingston is

now a part of the capital city's commercial area. In

Plan of Kingston by Jacques Nicolas Bellin, Paris


78
1764.
1923 the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew were joined to provide better administrative

management of each. Together they constitute the Corporate Area. Kingston then became both a

parish and a city. Although St. Andrew is a much larger and more populated area with similar

conveniences and commercial centres, today many Jamaicans still refer to locations in St.

Andrew as part of Kingston so vast is the influence of this small historic section of the island.

Much of the country's poor still live in Kingston's narrow, and now crowded streets and lanes. A

great number of Kingston's streets are named after former Governors and army personnel.

These narrow streets and lanes speak silently of prosperous days gone before. Much of the rich

musical

heritage for which Jamaica is renown was born here. Out of this area came Ken Boothe, Higgs

and Wilson, The Blues Busters, Prince Buster, Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt. Close by in

Trench Town, St. Andrew, emerged the voices of Robert Nesta Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny

Wailer who built on the Jamaican musical forms of ska and rocksteady to create reggae, a

musical style that would forever change the face of Jamaican and world music. Although perhaps

not as handsome a city as in the past, Kingston today remains no less vital. The population of

Kingston and St. Andrew numbers over 700,000 almost 30% of the island's population of over

2.5 million. Kingston remains a centre of commercial, political, religious, athletic and cultural

activity. The Coronation Market, The Jamaica Conference Centre, numerous shops carrying a

vast range of goods, Gordon House the present House of Parliament, and Headquarters House,

the former House of Parliament, and a number of government ministries and historic places of

worship including the Scots Kirk Church, St. George's Cathedral, Coke Methodist Chapel and the

Jewish Synagogue, as well as Sabina Park, the National Gallery of Art, the Ward Theatre, St.

William Grant and National Heroes Parks, can all be found within its domain.

Sources
Bryce, W. (1946) Ed. Reference Book of Jamaica, B.W.I., Burns, H. S. (1952) "The Press" in The Kingston and St. Andrew

Corporation (KSAP) Official Souvenir Sesqui-centennial Anniversary of the City of Kingston, B.W.I, 1802-1952. pp. 42-43,

58. Kingston: KSAP., Cundall, F. (1926) Handbook of Jamaica for 1926, Cundall, F. (1971). Historic Jamaica. New York:

79
Johnson Reprint Corp. The Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAP) Official Souvenir Sesqui-centennial

Anniversary of the City of Kingston, B.W.I, 1802-1952. (1952). Kingston: KSAP The Gleaner (1995). Geography and

History of Jamaica. 24th Edition. Johnson, A. (1993). Kingston Portrait of A City. Kingston: Tee Jay Ltd

Riots Here: Send Help At Once

APRIL 5, 1902
Courthouse In Montego Bay where the riots began.
At midnight on April 5, 1902 after walking

home from a leisurely dinner with Dr. Bill Farquharson, the District Medical Officer, Police

Inspector Herbert Thomas received this urgent telegram from Sergeant-Major Phillips in Montego

Bay. Inspector Thomas took the missive seriously and decided to make the 25-mile journey from

Lucea to Montego Bay. Inspector Thomas located Sergeant-Major Johnson who agreed to use

his parry cart (a two-wheeled vehicle not much larger than a wheelbarrow) and the two men set

off carrying carbines with bayonets, twenty rounds of ball cartridge and some clothes.

Inspector Thomas and Sergeant-Major Johnson arrived at the Montego Bay police station close

to 4 a.m. Sunday morning, April 6, 1902. Like the calm after a storm, it was eerily quiet. The

station's broken windowpanes and the many bricks, stones, conch shells and bottles scattered in

the station's courtyard spoke of earlier chaos. Inspector Thomas hurried inside to assure himself

of the safety of Montego Bay's Sergeant-Major and constables. All reported that they were fine if

a bit shaken up.

RIOT

Inspector Thomas was informed that the unrest began late in the afternoon of Friday April 5,

when a drunken sailor named Cooper was arrested for disorderly conduct close to 5 p.m. and the

80
two women who were with him were treated badly by the arresting officer.The arresting officer

was attacked by a group of "roughs", friends of Cooper's from the docks. Some 2000 others

turned up at the courthouse and began to hail stones down on the windows. Sergeant-Major's

home was attacked and his wife and children forced to flee for their lives. The police eventually

released Cooper but the rioters were not appeased. Police on beat duty were attacked as was the

police guardroom at the courthouse where Sergeant-Major Phillips was stationed attempting to

hold off the crowd with his revolver. He was eventually forced to retreat into the police station

after firing a shot into the crowd that wounded one of the attackers. At that point the crowd

advanced on the courthouse guardroom and destroyed everything in sight. They then turned their

attention to the police station. All subsequent arrests were also released and the Custos

addressed the people. Rioting ceased for the night and not believing the worst to be over,

Sergeant-Major Phillips began to send telegraphs calling for reinforcements. Inspector Thomas

and Sergeant-Major Johnson were among the first to arrive.

APRIL 6, 1902

At that point, satisfied that he had been brought to speed, Inspector Thomas took an early

morning stroll around Montego Bay to see for himself that calm prevailed before returning to the

station for a short nap. Later that morning more reinforcements arrived so that in addition to the

town's regular police force, Montego Bay boas ted the presence of the Inspector General, three

inspectors, a Sergeant-Major and 60 armed men. Upon arrival at the railway station, however, the

reinforcements got an indication of what they would be up against as they were greeted by a

confident crowd of close to 1500 many of whom were said to have remarked, "Cho! That is not

half enough for us tonight!" Some of the inspectors, including Herbert Thomas of Lucea, began to

suspect that what happened the night before was only a small taste of what was to come. Others,

including the Inspector General, convinced themselves that the worst was over and that order

would be maintained.All remained quiet during the day and church services proceeded smoothly.

Adjutant Simons of the Salvation Army who worked amongst the poor in the community, took it

upon himself to address the crowd that had begin to gather once again. Although he is said to

81
have been attempting to place himself over the crowd "in the hope of diverting attention from the

police" he staged a march to the tune of "Onward Christian Soldiers" (as cited in Bryan, 1991, pg.

273). When loud roars and bugle calls could be heard approaching the town centre, Inspector

Thomas was ordered to investigate. He wound up walking towards a mob of some 2000 angry

people and promptly took refuge in the police station arriving there only a few minutes before the

mob. The marchers managed to again attack police officers on beat, rain attacks on the police

barracks and even assault the Inspector General.

Police whistles added to the din of angry voices. Stones began to fly and many of the police

officers on duty in front of the station were wounded, forced to retreat inside and regroup.

Inspector Thomas remembers: "Finding that some of the men had begun to fix their bayonets I

immediately ordered them to desist, and showed them how to use the butt end of the carbine...By

this time I had unlocked the big gate which was used to allow vehicles to enter the yard and I

suddenly flung it open taking the mob completely by surprise and charging right into the heart of it

with the butts of the carbines. The streets was immediately strewn with the wounded and the

crowd temporarily disbursed...." (as quoted in Black, 1984, p. 38).

By the time the Inspector General arrived at the police station, his white jacket stained with blood

and his arm hanging limply at his side, twenty men had been wounded, some seriously, including

Inspector O'Toole of Falmouth who had been carried in unconscious due to a blow on his temple

from a brick. The Inspector General who knew he had barely escaped with his life, ordered

Inspector Thomas to gather all police constables who were able into an armed party to clear the

streets and town square, firing if necessary.

Thomas did as he was told. "The street," he remembered, "was so strewn with missiles of various

kinds which were also rained up on us as we marched along that men were tripping and falling

every three or four yards, and we did not dare leave any of them on the road, or they would

assuredly have perished at the hands of the mob....Seeing no prospect of otherwise putting an

end to the disturbance, and as our numbers were being steadily depleted by casualties I myself

82
being the only officer not yet disabled I gave the order for independent firing. Some twenty-five

shots were fired altogether and the effect was magical...." The mob (many of whom believed that

blank cartridges were being used) were stunned when the bullets began to fly.Within three

minutes, Thomas noted, "the square was clear while a terrified silence prevailed."

APRIL 7, 1902

The Montego Bay Riots had ended but the security forces were taking no chances. On Monday

April 7, the H.M.S. Tribune docked in Montego Bay from Port Royal thereby increasing Montego

Bay's peace-keeping force to 750 armed men. The Acting Governor Mr. (later Lord) Olivier also

arrived by special train as did a company of the West India Regiment (WIR). A reinforcement of

100 police had also been sent to replace the wounded. Of the four officers and 70 other ranks

engaged, police casualties were upwards of 50% of their numbers. Two of the rioters lost their

lives and some 24 were injured. A meeting of the privy council was held and a Commission

appointed to investigate the entire affair.

"Not since Morant Bay has there been such a rising against constituted authority," claimed the

Daily Telegraph newspaper. The Commission's conclusion was that the riots were as a result of

hostility to the police. Inspector Thomas of Lucea believed they were related to a tightening of

police control after years of laxity because Montego Bay, lightly policed and suffering from high

rates of unemployment, had become "the most rowdy and disorderly town in the island."Yet the

Jamaica Advocate, editorializing on the events of April 5 -7 1902 placed the blame for the riots on

the Government's recently instituted land taxation policy in its attempt to deal with a severe

economic depression: "Chronic irritation and discontent which have for some time existed among

the poorer classes as the consequence of the grinding, crushing, weight of the takes which they

are unable to pay, and of the prosecutions which have been recently instituted against them for

83
not being able to pay" (as cited in Bryan, 1991, p. 274). About a week or so before the riots there

had been many attempts to collect taxes. Many had been brought before the Resident Magistrate

for non-payment. Many also objected to the manner in which they were treated concerning the

payment of taxes often arrested or threatened rather than summoned and unable to pay and

unwilling to go to prison.

THE AFTERMATH

The Inspector General was made a Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and

also received a large cash sum. However, he died 6 months later while on leave in England most

likely as a result of the wounds he sustained in Montego Bay. A few other Inspectors received

large sums of money.

In a move that foreshadowed happenings during another set of April riots almost 100 years later

(the gas riots in Kingston of April 1999), the Government, alarmed by all that had taken place,

decided to put the tax proposals on hold for at least a year. History, it seems, does have a way of

repeating itself.

Rebecca Tortello.

*Special thanks to Merrick Needham for his contribution to this piece. Sources
Black, C.V. (1984).Montego Bay.Montego Bay: Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, pp. 36-40. Bryan, P. (1991).The Jamaican

People 1880-1902 in the Warwick University Caribbean Studies Series.Macmillan Caribbean.Edwards, A. E. (1992)."Book

Review" in The Jamaica Constabulary Force's (JCF)125th Anniversary Magazine.Kingston: The JCF.Reynolds, C. R. (1999,

Saturday, November 27th)."The Tax Riots of 1902," The Gleaner, p. A8.

84
ROADS & RESISTANCE

THE TOLL GATE RIOTS OF 1859

Dr. Rebecca Tortello, Contributor

JAMAICA'S FIRST toll roads did not arrive with Highway 2000. They appeared over a

century and a half earlier, around 1838. The history of tolls themselves stretches back

much further, all the way to Greek mythology, where Charon the ferryman, charged a toll

to carry the dead across the river Acheron. In their writing, Greek scholars Aristotle and

85
Pliny referred to the use of tolls in Asia and Arabia. According to the Arthasastra, a

Sanskrit political treatise, tolls were also said to have existed in 4th century India. Today

many countries use tolls as a means of revenue collection including China, Canada,

France, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and Austria.

A toll road is one whose use is monitored by the payment of a fee, generally collected by

a toll authority i.e. the government. There are also toll bridges and toll tunnels. Tolls

were generally manned by toll keepers who lived in toll cottages adjacent to the toll

payment location and were charged with collecting funds.

Tolls first appeared in the United Kingdom during the 17th Century when the term

turnpike came into use. A turnpike was originally a gate on which sharp pikes were

placed as a defense against invading cavalry, although for Americans it simply means a

toll road. The British meaning evolved to define the pike or stick that was raised when a

toll was paid. Prior to the creation of toll gates, roads in England were mainly poorly

maintained dirt tracks with every adult inhabitant of a parish required to work four days

each year on the roads using their own tools. The increased use of wheeled vehicles,

however, destroyed the upkeep as soon as the work had been completed. In general, the

king, monasteries or the aristocrats who owned the relevant land, were responsible for

road maintenance. As a result, not much was done to ensure road quality. TURNPIKE

TRUST

With the advent of tolls came a new venture the Turnpike Trust. Appointed by

Parliament as a result of a 1706 act, the trustees could erect tolls at their discretion. The

idea was that the trustees would borrow money to effect road repairs although there were

86
no road constructions standards to adhere to and then repay it over time through the tolls

collected. Although it seemed a simple and efficient system to put designated bodies in

charge of road maintenance, the reality was that these debts were rarely repaid while the

trusts were simply renewed as needed.

By the mid-18th century, turnpikes had been built on the thirteen main roads from

London, and in the next few years, close to 400 more were established. By 1825 over

1,000 trusts controlled some 25,000 miles of road in England and Wales many of which

linked major towns.

Trusts and tolls were challenged by the advent of the railway in the later 19th century,

with the last British trust disappearing in 1895, giving way to a road maintenance system

overseen by county councils. In America, toll roads began in the late 18th century

connecting different states. They peaked in the 19th century and were taken over by

highway departments in the early 20th. Post-World War II new and improved toll roads

were built in the United States heralding the streamlining of the interstate highway

system.

Frustration peaks, toll riots begin According to historian Frank Cundall, around 1838

a law was passed to ensure the maintenance of Hope Road the road leading from

Montgomery Corner in Liguanea to the junction of the Hope and Hog-Hole Rivers.

Montgomery Corner is now known as Cross Roads. The rates were noted as:

10 pence on every wheel, horse, mule, cattle and horned stock,

5 pence on every ass, sheep, goat or pig

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(as cited in Virtue, G., 1980).

This was the first instance of tolls being paid in Jamaica although during this period more

and more taxes were levied on the peasant class. Peasant carts began to be taxed eighteen

shillings per year and the taxes on food and clothing were increased twelve-fold. The

funds collected were used to provide additional services for the plantation owners.

Naturally, unrest began to simmer and the toll gates were simply another log on that fire.

(Sherlock and Bennett, 1998, 252-253). Just like today, tolls were disliked for the wait at

the toll gates and also for their cost.

Some years later in 1851 a Board of Commissioners of Highways and Bridges was

appointed to take control of the toll gates. Some toll gates were placed at strategic

locations on roads leading to Savanna-la-Mar. This meant, however, that many people

had to pay tolls each time they went to collect water. In February 1859, the people could

take no more. They rioted. For three nights protestors tore down the toll gates. During the

next few months the riots spread throughout Westmoreland. The Falmouth Post

described the participants who destroyed the toll-keeper's house and toll gates at

Savanna-la-Mar as "ruffians, some dressed in female attire." The Westmoreland police

were unable to cope with this challenge they could neither identify the protestors nor

control their actions.

Reinforcements had to be sent in from Hanover, Trelawny, St. James and St. Elizabeth.

Yet none of this served to stop the people's objection to tolls.

88
Even when some protestors were brought to trial, large such large crowds of supporters

gathered that it was deemed prudent to adjourn the proceedings. By 1863, toll gate

legislation had been repealed and the commissioner was ordered to sell the toll houses

(Virtue, G., 1980).

THE 'REBECCA RIOTS' AND WELSH INFLUENCE

The fact that these protestors dressed in women's clothing could potentially be a link

between Jamaican and Welsh history. On May 13, 1839, following a particularly harsh

winter and poor harvest in west Wales, Welsh farmers reacted to the increased number of

toll gates and the increased tolls charged. Supporters dressed in female clothes attacked

the toll gates and the toll houses. This was the first of a series of what became known as

the 'Rebecca Riots'. Dressing as women ensured protection of their identities and the

biblical symbolism gave their actions a spiritual calling: "And they blessed Rebekah and

said unto her, let thy seed possess the gates of those which hate them." (Genesis XXIV,

60).

'Rebecca' and her 'daughters' continued their attacks (by this time some industrial workers

had joined the 'Rebeccaites') through the early 1840s, receiving support in the press and

censure from law enforcement officials. There was no police force in west Wales at the

time. The area relied instead on a cheaper alternative, the use of special constables and

the military if necessary. The toll riots became increasingly violent and troops were called

in to restore order.

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It didn't work. The rioters were simply emboldened and marches to petition magistrates

soon followed. The Government was forced to take these matters seriously. Promises

were made but they didn't quell the energy to strike out against not only tolls gates but

any who had offended by increasing rents, tithes, etc. Soon, however, they were subdued

by the presence of large numbers of troops. The moderating influence of the Non-

Conformist Chapels who supported the cause but did not condone the violence, and the

commissioners sent to look into the accounts of the Turnpike Trusts also helped to stop

the riots in West Wales. Arrests were made but by this time the momentum had spread to

the south east. Eventually, with the use of force, 'Rebecca' and 'her daughters' were also

silenced for a time although sporadic outbreaks continued throughout the 19th century in

west and north Wales. Eventually some of the 'Rebeccaites' were brought to trial some

were convicted and sentenced to time in Australia. The commissioners made

recommendations that road boards be established in each county to control the roads. In a

strange twist of fate, this led to parts of Wales, for a time, having the honour of having the

best road system in Britain (www.angelfire.com/ga/Bob Sanders/REBECCA.html,

www.

schoolshistory.org.uk/rebeccariots.htm).

WORD OF THE 'REBECCA RIOTS' SPREADS Given the significant press the 'Rebecca

Riots' received in the United Kingdom, it is easy to believe that word of these actions

could have reached the English colonies with Jamaica being no exception. The timing of

the Westmoreland Toll Gate Riots also lends credence to the theory of a Welsh

connection. Interestingly, the Welsh rioters were a mixture of educated middle class and

poor working class, who received some media support. The Jamaican Westmoreland

90
rioters were mainly peasants but they too seemed to have received support from media

commentators if not from the mainstream press itself. Consider The Falmouth Post 's

description of the rioters which reveals bitter contempt: "The demolition of the toll gates

in the parish of Westmoreland the pulling down of toll keepers' houses and the threats

held out to persons in authority by a lawless desperate rabble are events which have

resulted from mischievous speeches which have appeared from time to time in the

columns of newspapers owned by persons who are always boasting of their patriotism

and friendship to the people." (as cited in Virtue, G. 1980).

WESTMORELAND UNREST

Unlike the Welsh situation, however, the Jamaican Westmoreland Toll Riots led to the

abolition of all toll gates in 1863. Perhaps the strongest reminder of this period in our

history is the town of Toll Gate, Clarendon. In addition, one historian, writing in The

Gleaner in the 1960s, points to tolls as having helped to spearhead the practice of people

carrying heavy loads on their heads.

According to him, a toll gate was believed to have stood at the archway of the old fort at

Rockfort. Recognising that pedestrians were exempt from paying tolls, with the ingenuity

that has come to characterise Jamaicans, it is believed that people took to carrying loads

in straw baskets on their heads and passing through a separate space in the fort that was

just narrow enough to allow passage. Thus, these pedestrians managed to carry loads and

avoid any payment (as cited in Virtue, G. 1980).

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The 'Rebecca Riots' and the Westmoreland Toll Gate Riots of 1859 are both testimony to

the spirit of resistance found amongst people in two countries whose histories share a

similar theme of protest. The Welsh have long fought against English control and the

Jamaican peasants, following Emancipation, demanded their say in how the country was

to be run. It is no surprise that the Morant Bay Rebellion was to follow the Toll Gate

Riots in just a few short years.

Sources: Senior, O. (2003). The Encyclopedia of the Jamaican Heritage. Kingston - Twin

Guinep Publishers, Sherlock, P.and Bennett, H. (1998). The Story of the Jamaican

people. Kingston: Ian Randle Publishers, Virtue, G(1980, January 13). "Toll Gate

Reminder of old traffic system". The Jamaica Gleaner. p. 2.,

www.angelfire.com/ga/BobSanders/

REBECCA.html, www.schoolshistory. org.uk/ rebeccariots.htm,

www.reference.combrowse/wiki/ Toll_road.

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The Canvas, The Medium, The Stage

Christmas A Come
TODAY CHRISTMAS in Jamaica, as in many countries around the world, has become

commercialised. Carols are heard from the end of November, decorations appear from the first of

December in stores and homes, and Santa can be visited in many different stores. In decades

past Christmas time included a number of different types of celebrations marked by distinctive

sights, sounds and smells. There was the tradition of the "Grand Market", the much-heralded

arrival of Santa Claus in the downtown shopping district and the dramatic performances of the

Jonkonnu bands. All three still exist but to significantly lesser degrees and none are greeted with

the awe and expectation of days gone by.

Rebecca Tortello

The Grand Market

GRAND MARKET (or Gran' Market) is a community fair characterised by

food, street dancing, crafts and music. In the past, the weekend before

Christmas and particularly on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, markets

all over the island were awash with vendors selling small toys, firecrackers,

balloons and sweets of all kinds pinda (an African word for peanut) cakes,

grater cakes and peppermint sticks. Oranges and even American apples

were distinctive features of the Grand Markets. Sorrel, chocolate tea and

Grand Market in
93
Downtown Kingston
coffee flowed, as did the Christmas carols and a merry banter between vendors and customers.

On Christmas Day some markets were decorated with streamers, large accordion-style bells, and

balloons. Many were decked out in fancy clothes, including bright hats purchased upon entering

the Grand Market. Everyone came to town for Grand Market and the celebrations lasted

throughout the day and well into the night.

Jonkonnu

THE CRY "Jonkonnu a come!' meant excitement

was near. As soon as the sound of the bands could be

heard, people poured out of their houses lining the

streets to watch the dancing masqueraders in their

larger-than-life costumes. Children of all ages, and

Jonkonnu Masquerade even some adults, would often run away screaming,

frightened by the more elaborate costumes. Occasionally, some of the individual characters like

the Devil, might jab at them with his fork, escalating the fear factor. Up to the 1960s masked

Jonkonnu bands could be seen around the island.

Jonkonnu (also spelled John Canoe, John Konno, Johnny Canoe, Jonkunnu and John Canou) is

an example of creolization in action, or, what Rex Nettleford calls the blending of the rhythmn of

Africa with the melody of Europe.

However it began, Jonkonnu melded the tradition of masquerade from Africa with those of

European masquerade and British mumming plays. Excerpts from Shakespearean monologues

94
were often included. The costumes also reflected European influences incorporating the attire of

kings and queens amongst the characters.

JONKONNU CHARACTERS
The traditional set of Jonkonnu characters included the horned Cow Head, Policeman, Horse

Head, Wild Indian, Devil, Belly-woman, Pitchy-Patchy and sometimes a Bride and House Head

who carried an image of a great house on his head. Yet all were bright, elaborate and colourful.

Mirrors and tinsel generally added shine to costumes. Pitchy-patchy in particular was a striking

sight his costume made up of strips of brightly coloured cloth. Each character had a special role

and sometimes a special dance to perform. For example, Bellywoman's often a man dressed up

as a pregnant lady always created laughter when by exaggerating the belly in time with the

music. Characters often interacted with one another and the music of the drums and fife caused

many an onlooker to dance along with the band.

Although Jamaica is credited with the longest running tradition of Jonkonnu, today these

mysterious bands with their gigantic costumes appear more as entertainment at cultural events

than at random along our streets. Despite attempts to revive these customs so much is being lost.

Today the cost of putting together a Jonkonnu band is also prohibitive and sponsors are not easy

to come by.

Santa Visits Downtown

LIKE TODAY, the stores and streets downtown were heavily

decorated and a Christmas tree could be found in the area

now known as St. William Grant Park. Thousands awaited

Santa arrives In Jamaica on PanAm Airlines

95
Santa's arrival on balconies and along crowded sidewalks. The Santa Claus Parade was a much-

anticipated event. Streets were closed to traffic to clear the way for Santa's sleigh ride down King

Street onto Harbour Street and Times Store, his final destination. Vendors lined the streets with

boxes full of lollipops and biscuits. Marching bands, troops of boy scouts and girl guides, people

holding effigies of Norman Manley and Alexander Bustamante, and floats carrying various beauty

queens preceded Old Saint Nick. The "Jolly Man in Red" was ceremoniously greeted at the door

of Times Store by its owners and the Mayor of Kingston. One by one the hundreds of children

waiting in long lines to tell Santa their Christmas wishes, made their way onto his comfortable lap.

Santa stayed in Times Store for almost three weeks. Of course, today, Times Store is no more.

Source :

www.geocities.com/shandycan /culture_notes.html

http://luna.cas.usf.edu/~alaing/jfolk.html#jonk Judith Bettleheim, "Jonkonnu Masquerade"

http://www.talawa.com/maskarade.htm - Edward Long, History of Jamaica (London, 1774).

Peter Marsden: An Account of the Island of Jamaica (1788), Cynric R. Williams' A Tour through the Island of Jamaica

(London, 1826)"

The Fall Of A Gentle Giant


The Collapse of Tom Cringle's Cotton Tree
AT SOME point in the first few decades of the early

nineteenth century, a young man from Scotland is said

to have sat in the shade of a giant cotton tree that

stood on the main road between Kingston and

Spanish Town, not far from the then popular Ferry Inn.

He wasn't merely taking in the sight of what must

surely have been a dramatic natural landmark, nor


Colourfully illustrated postcards of the Tom

was he relaxing, using the tree as a rest stop along the Cringle's cotton tree.

way in his many travels. This man, Michael Scott, sat. Perhaps inspired by the pervasive calm he

96
felt in the shade of the gentle giant, he wrote about his time in Jamaica, inventing a dashing

young character named Tom Cringle who had left his native England on board a ship called the

Torch, to seek his fame and fortune. Scott based his writing on his own experiences, and he knew

the Jamaica of the 1820s and 30s well, for he too had arrived to seek his fortune. While on the

island, he had worked in a mercantile house and as a plantation agent.

Tom Cringle's Log, the popular 1830s seafaring adventure tale for which Scott was to be

remembered and from which the tree was named, was replete with melodramatic stories of

piracy, smuggling, slavery and war. First published as a serial in Britain's Blackwoods magazine

from 1829 to 1833, it appeared as a novel in 1834. In Tom Cringle's Log, Scott revealed the

impact the tree's size made on his senses, noting

the tree's shadow as being at least 100 ft in diameter

and its trunk to be 20 ft. through, of solid timber.

Some 150 years later, on Monday, January 18,

1971, after witnessing the demise of the horse and

carriage, the birth of the dual lane highway, the

naming of new parishes and the birth of a new

nation, Tom Cringle's cotton tree collapsed at 7:30


A sign erected in the stump of the tree that remained,
p.m., blocking traffic for over a day. Some say the
telling of the tree that once stood.
tree collapsed because the highway was built too close to its roots, others say it was struck by

lightning during a storm and rotted from the inside out.

Its fall marked the demise of a historical landmark. Reported to be one of the largest cotton trees

on the island, if not the largest, Tom Cringle's tree had watched more than 300 years of Jamaican

history go by. Like many other cotton trees, this one was known for its vast size and ability to

dominate its surroundings. Witnesses said the mammoth tree fell apart limb by limb until the

crown crumbled, causing a sensation not unlike a minor earthquake. One of the branches is said

97
to have narrowly missed a truck. The National Trust indicated interest in seeing that pieces of the

branches were made into souvenirs. All that remained was a small green stalk along one of the

many roots for some, at the time, a symbol of hope that the tree would rise again.

A year earlier one of the Cringle tree's branches was removed to accommodate the highway. At

that time representatives from the Institute of Jamaica, the Jamaica Tourist Board and the

National Heritage Trust came together to plead for its preservation; Dr. Bernard Lewis, Director of

the IOJ, made the fateful prediction that the tree did not have long to live.

The Cringle tree was also mentioned in Lady Nugent's Journal of her stay in Jamaica from

1801-1805 while her husband was governor.

The cotton tree, called the 'God Tree' by the Asante, is native to tropical America. Unlike most

tropical trees it sheds its leaves and for several months appears bare before creamy white

flowers begin to bloom, followed by new leaves. The Mayas of Guatemala regard the tree as

sacred and it is, in fact, the national tree of that country. In Jamaica, the Tainos used cotton trees

to make hammocks, as well as canoes, a tradition continued by Jamaican fishermen. It is said

that one should never take an axe to a cotton tree without first sprinkling some white rum, for fear

of the spirits that lie within. Specific types of duppies known as 'Whooping Boy' are said to dwell

at the roots of cotton trees. Rumour has it that at some point

during its history the Cringle cotton tree was used as a hanging tree and that those duppies

haunted the tree thereafter.

Throughout Jamaican history, other cotton trees have given their names to places, including Spur

Tree Hill and Half-Way-Tree (the latter named by the English for the tree's location half way

between Kingston Harbour and Spanish Town; the tree, which no longer stands, was used as a

marker between the three plantations once owned by the wealthy Spaniards, Liguaney, de Yalis

and Lizama. It was also used as a resting place by slaves and English soldiers on long marches.

Rebecca Tortello

98
Sources: M. Scott. (1927). Tom Cringle's Log. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co. P. Wright. (1966).

Lady Nugent's Journal. Kingston: Institute of Jamaica. O. Senior. (1983).

A-Z of Jamaican Heritage. Kingston: Heinnemann Education Books Caribbean Ltd., The Gleaner Co.

Side Walk Art Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica W.I.

On A Wall In Three Miles, In Kingston

99
100
101
Art From A Lane From Central Kingston

102
A Wall In Arnett Gardens

103
104
Note

Will the community of Havana, in Arnett Gardens, respects the skills of the painter of the

above paintings, the work of this young painter who has a mental illness is most valued

and appreciated by tourists visiting Trench Town. These tourist general stop their buses

and or private cars, to take pictures of the paintings on the wall.

105
The question facing the community and its Member of Parliament , is how to encourage

this young artists and what can be done so that the work of this artist and others like him

are able to be of some benefit to them and to the wider community.

Basil Fletcher

Thug Art,
A wall in the neighbourhood of Wolmers High School for Boys, National Heroes Circle,
Kingston, Jamaica W.I., commenting on the meaninglessness of life even while shouting
out “PEACE and Love.”

106
These pieces are also used to demark the
community as one supporting the “Gully Crew” and not the “Gaza Crew”.

. Cultural dilemma of the message in songs


published: Sunday | February 22, 2004

THE EDITOR, Sir:

IN MANY ways, our local history and culture can be viewed as a continuous journey towards an

ever increasing tolerance of free expression, no matter how distasteful, idiotic, offensive or

decadent such expression may be. While some songwriters, singers, rappers, and DJs of every

class and creed have used their talents (or lack thereof) to create a consciousness of which we

can be proud, some have been too generous with their uncouth manners and ignorance of issues

that oftentimes are more imagined than real.

In our country where literacy is still not widespread and where the 'dancehall' phenomenon reigns

supreme, we are at times unwittingly forced to hear and acknowledge too high a level of shocking

raucousness and risqué behaviour. There seems not to be any care taken with the choice of

words in some of these 'culture songs' and neither is there any regard or concern about the

impact such words will have on the young and immature.

As I listened to the message in a song blasting on an amplified radio, I could not help but analyse

the presumed truism of the words of the song being played. The schoolers on the sidewalk were

107
all dancing and singing in cheerful agreement and unison as they repeated word for word the

lyrics that shotta clothes don't wash wid gal underwear. I wondered too, if these were indeed

'schoolers' or were they 'shottas' and 'rude boys' in school uniforms.

To put those words in a song (being played on national radio) suggest to me that there is a

morbid fear or resentment about such a simple domestic chore. There must be an unwritten

mandate or understanding and acceptance that 'shotta' and 'rude boy' would lose their manhood

and subsequent 'badness' if such a chore or even a simple shower with the wrong rag ever took

place.

We are never too old to learn and quite often we have sought too complex a solution for problems

that are more easily solved than we dared to imagine. Neither the might of the security forces nor

the sobriety of the judges nor the compassion of the juries, nor the horror of the penal institutions

have been able to intimidate or suppress the ways and means of the 'shottas' and 'rude-boys'.

If all of us can be guided by the message in the song, then the best weapons of mass destruction

could be a simple little thong and a cheap wash-rag. If this is the wisdom we need to emasculate

and subdue them, we should give it a try lest we all continue to wither and perish as naught else

may change them.

I am, etc.,

SONIA CHRISTIE

Stewart Town, Trelawny

Editorial - Listening with a third ear


published: Monday | December 27, 2004

108
THE GROWTH of cellphone use among the Jamaican population has been nothing short of

phenomenal, confirming our well known reputation of volubility. Even street people living on the

sidewalk have been seen reclining on an elbow, a cellphone stuck to an ear.

It has been reported that if present trends continue, Jamaica may exceed America in the use of

cellphones on a per capita basis. According to the International Telecommunication Union, 57 per

cent of the U.S. population have wireless phones compared with 54 per cent in Jamaica, good

news for the three main providers of the service who compete in the Jamaica market. The

number of cellphones has increased from 13,000 in 1991 to well over a million at present. Digicel,

the bold Irish pioneer, is reported to have a customer base of a million subscribers; Cable and

Wireless, which was slow off the mark, 600,000 subscribers; and MiPhone, which recently

reorganised, 85,000 customers. The market may now be approaching saturation point and growth

in future years is not likely to be as dramatic as in the past. But the impact of the cellphone has

been indelibly stamped on the Jamaican psyche and culture for better and for worse.

The availability of cellphones has been a godsend to persons in the rural areas who for years

were unable to access regular landline service. But while cellphones have undoubtedly

contributed to business productivity they have also provided the criminal element with a new tool

for carrying out nefarious deeds. Crooks with cellphones alert their cronies about bank customers

leaving with cash, thus facilitating hold-ups and carjackings.

That good and bad consequences flow from any new technological advance is well known as, for

example, the invention of the automobile which revolutionised industry and travel but which

became a dangerous tool in the hands of criminals and conquering armies. In the long course of

history, the advantages of technology have always outweighed the disadvantages and this is how

progress is measured.

Let's get ready to run


published: Wednesday | September 17, 2003

109
Selena Deleon – THE WORKOUT

IF YOU are contemplating starting an aerobic training programme, consider jogging. It is one of

the best ways to elevate your heart rate and improve cardiovascular fitness. Almost everyone is a

candidate for becoming one of Jamaica's joggers or runners. Training can be adapted to suit

various fitness levels and allows each individual to create personal fitness goals.

When you decide to begin, the first thing to do is to adapt a training programme. This includes a

mileage build-up schedule, injury prevention strategies, partners if any and location.

MILEAGE BUILD-UP SCHEDULE

Anyone can initiate a running training programme by walking briskly. An 18 to 20-minute mile is

acceptable for a beginner, who can gradually decrease that walking time to about 15 minutes per

mile before attempting to increase the distance to three miles per session.

Interval training is the next step towards becoming a full-fledged runner, where you walk for five

minutes and gradually increase the speed to run-walking or jogging for two minutes, alternating

the two speeds, until you can increase the jogging time and decrease the walking time. Always

remember to pace yourself.

Do not attempt to accelerate your progress by trying to do too much too soon. Break your body in

gently. One of the great things about jogging is that the body adapts to it quickly. In just a few

weeks, by gradually adding distance and speed, a three-mile brisk walk can turn into a three-mile

jog.

INJURY-PREVENTION STRATEGIES

It is important to know that running injuries are preventable.

110
1. Vary your exercise programme. Weight training and strength-building exercises keep your leg

muscles strong, so as to withstand the pressure that running puts on the joints.

2. Stretch. Today it is generally accepted that stretching after you run is all you need to maintain

flexibility and prevent injury.

3. Don't overdo it. Three to four days a week of jogging is enough to benefit your fitness.

4. Wear good running shoes.

5. Try to jog on soft surfaces, like grass or a treadmill. Concrete is the worst, because it has no

give. Asphalt is better than a concrete sidewalk, if you are on the road.

6. Consider all security precautions, including partners and location.

7. When starting an intense running programme, it is important to follow proper and balanced

nutrition with lots of water. Sports drinks are not recommended unless you are running for longer

than 90 minutes.

Jamaica is a great place to run. For a list of various marathons being hosted locally contact the

Jamdammer's Running Club or on the internet, visit : www.jamdammers.com or

http://www.reggaemarathon.com/.

The endorphins produced by running provide an overall sense of well-being that can eventually

get you hooked. Get set to enjoy your "runner's high" and its many benefits

Selena DeLeon is a certified professional trainer.

111
LETTER OF THE DAY - Why the Singapore model wouldn't work here

published: Saturday | December 2, 2006

The Editor, Sir:

In just 40 years, Singapore has been transformed from a poor, war-battered state teeming with

slums, an uneducated and exploding population, into a wealthy prosperous state boasting

skyscrapers and an educated workforce. To describe the transformation as an economic miracle

is by no means an exaggeration - the achievement is fantastic by any measure.

But when the discussion turns to why we in Jamaica can't do it as well, that's just where we start

being unrealistic. In this discussion, I will not even touch the basis of the totalitarian power that

the dictator possesses and the dangers inherent in vesting so much authority in one man, but

discuss whether Lee Kuan Yew's policies can be employed in Jamaica.

Population control - a major part of any economic turnaround. To curtail Singapore's runaway

population, Lee Kuan Yew launched a campaign to encourage the Singaporeans to have two-

children families. He also followed it up with incentives to discourage having more than two

children, such as reduced tax relief for families with more than two kids, shorter maternity leave

and higher hospital charges. I can just hear the Jamaican masses now: "dem a try kill off black

man"! "We want justice"!

Amassing capital for investments

Second big issue - amassing capital for investments. Lee Kuan Yew came up with the Central

Provident Fund, used by the government for economic development. This fund is financed by

workers' mandatory 25 per cent savings of their salary. The savings will be made available to the

employee when he turns 55. Can you smell the burning tyres yet?

112
In order to maintain a disciplined society, draconian punishments are levied against even the

smallest legal infraction. No anti-social behaviour is tolerated, no jaywalking, no spitting on the

sidewalk, no noise, no graffiti, etc.

I don't know how well that would go down with our well-established streetside vending, begging,

idling, dances, etc.

Then there is the issue of freedom of speech, where public criticism of the government results in

immediate and severe legal repercussions. You know say a nuff radio talk show host woulda feel

dat!

And the list goes on. But I think this is enough to make my point. Bottom line - the tools of

governance available for economic development have to be tailored for the social realities of each

nation. A Singapore miracle is not possible in Jamaica because we are not Singapore.

Unfortunately, we are just going to have to find our own way to economic prosperity.

I am, etc.,

PAUL DUNCAN

pduncan428@googlemail.com

St. Andrew

Alpha girls assist Salvation Army


published: Saturday | December 9, 2006

>The Salvation Army centre located at 53 Lyndhurst Road that was recently robbed of $200,000

by thieves, has received an unexpected Christmas gift from students of the Convent of Mercy,

Alpha Academy High School for Girls.

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The girls, all members of the school's Key Club, donated 10 large bags filled with clothes and

shoes, and $5,000 in cash. Students at the institution gave all the resources voluntarily.

Priscilla Spence, president of the club said, "It is our practice to give a helping hand if we can,

wherever the need exists."

On Tuesday, December 5, The Gleaner published an article titled, 'Salvation Army robbed'. The

Lyndhurst Road facility was broken on over the previous weekend and $200,000 taken from the

Christmas Kettle Appeal, money that was to be taken to the bank.

Alert to the needs

"Our actions are in response to that article," said Mark Russell, club adviser. He added, "I was

doing some late reading when I saw the article. Immediately I thought it would be a good

opportunity to reinforce to the students the objective of the club, which is to be alert to the needs

around them and to assist if they are able to."

The club was established at Alpha High on April 22, 1980.

Major Denzil Walcott, head administrator at the Lyndhurst Road centre, expressed appreciation,

stating that the donation, especially the clothing, will go a far way in re-energising the Salvation

Army's charitable thrust for the Christmas season.

Major Walcott revealed that starting early next year, the Salvation Army will embark on a

programme to remove homeless persons from the streets of downtown Parade in Kingston. "It is

our mission that there will not be one person seen lying on the sidewalk in that area," he said.

He added that the Salvation Army would collaborate with a number of residential homes for the

project.

Solutions to minor depression Tuesday | August 8, 2000

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MOST OF us have low days when we just don't feel like doing the things we know we should be

doing. We call this being depressed. Now I am not referring to the deep depression which lasts

for a long time and seriously prevents you from functioning and which can cause mental and

physical illness. I am referring to what people call "having the blues" you just wake up some

mornings and don't feel like coping with the boring day-to-day routine.

Some people have the strangest solutions.

A friend of mine goes shopping but, she explained, "it's not really a good solution if one of the

things that is causing the low feeling is lack of enough money to meet your needs (as you see

them)." She says as soon as the shopping is over, no matter how modest the purchase may be,

the guilt takes over and the feeling of depression returns, probably more intensely. So friends,

that's out!

Another friend (and I suspect she has a lot of company in this) goes on an eating binge. I don't

mean an extra helping of dessert, I mean a BINGE. like a whole roast chicken or half of a 12 inch

cheese cake. Or six patties (and I don't mean cocktail patties), or a dozen East Indian mangoes

or two dozen black mangoes you know what I mean.

Now what she usually suffers from is a MASSIVE case of indigestion, never mind the fear of

putting on three or four pounds. She then has to purge herself with some good old castor oil or

the modern day version thereof. It's not pretty!

Another popular depression healer is "sculling" work. The trouble with this is, with Jamaica being

so small, you can't go anywhere as one of your colleagues from work (usually the one with the

biggest mouth) is sure to spy you at Hellshire licking back some fried fish or at Dunn's River Falls

making out like a tourist.

My solutions

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Now, you may not like my solutions which follow but they do work. Do some gardening. Weed out

those "shame lady" from the bush on your sidewalk. Cut away the love bush and bag them

carefully and put them where they won't "catch". Then generally clean up the rest of the sidewalk

and your yard and if that doesn't cure you, ask the neighbours if you can do their yard work too.

How's that?

Or take everything out of your kitchen cupboards and wash the exotic kitchen implements or the

sixteen bowls you bought in a sale - things you haven't used in ages, if ever at all. Spray the

cupboard with insect spray and when it's aired out, wipe with disinfectant and then replace the

contents TIDILY. If there are usable items that you know you will never use, pack them carefully

and take them to the Salvation Army or to your church if a jumble sale is being planned.

Or you could put on your sneakers and go for a walk for as many miles as you can take without

collapsing. Now remember the return trip is likely to feel twice as long as the first part of the walk,

so leave room for getting home in an upright position and I don't mean an upright AND LOCKED

position, as the airlines recommend your seat must be for landing.

If you decide to take the day off but have to lie low in case your work colleagues see you hanging

out at the mall on your "sick" day, why not call up a few friends who you haven't spoken to for a

while and catch up on their life. Of course, if they are at work and say they can't talk because

they're busy, that should cheer you up somewhat as you are not too busy to work on curing your

depression.

Or you could stitch up those hems, sew on those buttons or clean all your shoes (yes, people still

do that).

Like my ideas? I don't feel so hot on most of them myself, but they do work. And if they are so

unappealing to you, why not get yourself in gear and get out of bed and go to work. It may be

more fun than these cures.

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A word from my daughter.
“It was okay enough to read, not entirely boring but instead mildly interesting. I corrected
or changed some sentences where you give examples of things that may happen on the
sidewalks and roads that certain entities have done. It’s cool enough… I am not a road
person, I just want it to be built that more vehicles may have easy access to roads with
wide sidewalks about 1/3 of the road in width could allow for less bundling. Professional
stalls can also be built in which case the sidewalks would need to be extended and a lane
made for those who intend to stop on the roads to make purchases…like a lay by the
buses have. Stalls on one side of the depot and the sidewalks on the other and pedestrian
crossings available.” Jodi-Ann , Kingston, Jamaica W.I.

End

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