RESIDENTS of Liguanea yesterday stepped up their protest against the planned construction of the American Embassy in the community with a silent demonstration outside the proposed site of the building on Bamboo Avenue, an upscale community in the island’s capital – Kingston.

The embassy had faced similar opposition from residents when it bought the former Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manor Park, also an upscale area, and announced plans to relocate its embassy there. That planned was subsequently shelved.

Yesterday the placard-bearing residents, obviously dressed for work, stood in front of 4 Bamboo Avenue between 7:00 am and to 8:00 am, in a protest organised by the Liguanea Area Coalition of Citizens’ Association.

But while the Liguanea residents were demonstrating against the planned construction of the US Embassy in their community, residents of “Stand Pipe”, an inner-city community located nearby, staged a protest to support the planned construction of the US mission. They said that they would be provided with jobs on the site.

And the mayor of Spanish Town, Dr Raymoth Notice, yesterday wrote to US Ambassador Sue Cobb, asking that she explores the possibility of building the embassy in the old capital.

In the meantime, the US Embassy in Kingston said it was going through the proper legal channels to get building approval from the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) to construct its embassy complex on eight acres of land purchased in 1988.

“Approval was given through an Act of Parliament by the Seaga government to put up the new embassy. Under the Jamaican Constitution foreign governments cannot purchase land without the approval of Parliament,” US embassy spokesperson Orna Blum told the Observer.

An application, by the US Embassy, for permission to construct a temporary site/project office on the Bamboo Avenue property from prefabricated material has been approved by the Town and Country Planning Authority (TCPA) and application is to be sought for its approval at the KSAC Building and Town Planning Committee meeting next week Wednesday. The TCPA is, however, yet to give planning permission for the chancery and auxiliary buildings.

But concerned about a possible depreciation in property values, Angela Templer, chairman for the association and a resident of Bamboo Avenue, told a public forum at the Campion College Auditorium on Monday evening that aside from the matter of the invasion of privacy of the residents, there was also the problem of vendors, the likely erection of ‘unsightly shacks’ and increased traffic in the area.

“The US visa section is a high commercial entity and needs to be placed in a high commercial area. Approximately 75 per cent of the Jamaican population applies for an American visa,” she said. “Everyday we will be faced on Bamboo Avenue with 200 to 300 cars daily going in and out.”

She also had concerns about the privacy of residents, noting that the embassy would be under 24-hour surveillance. “How will we able to speak with any kind of freedom? Every time we go into our gardens we will be faced with cameras and soldiers staring at us.”

Templer, in an interview with the Observer before Monday’s meeting, charged that none of the local authorities have listened to concerns of residents “and we continue to have infringements on our rights as citizens. Covenants modifications are just being done willy nilly,” she said.

She was especially critical of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), which she said went ahead and gave permission for the construction of the embassy although the residents had sent the agency a letter of objection.

Jenny Jones, also a Bamboo Avenue resident, told Monday’s meeting that she didn’t believe Jamaica would be given permission to build an embassy in a residential section of Washington, the US capital. “It is absolutely ridiculous to put a huge commercial entity in an area like this,” said Jones.

Meanwhile, Beverly Dunkley, whose house is directly in front of the proposed site, said apart from breaking the law, US officials have also breached the trust of the residents. “You cannot expect people to have faith in the law when people doing business with the country don’t respect them,” she said.

Dr Aubyn Bartlett, the member of Parliament for Eastern St Andrew, where Bamboo Avenue is located, told Monday’s meeting that he would be seeking the intervention of the foreign minister, K D Knight, and Dean Peart, the land and environment minister. The two Cabinet ministers, he said, will be asked to answer questions in Parliament on the planned construction of the US Embassy at Bamboo Avenue.

“Notwithstanding, I will be seeking to determine what is the government’s position on the construction of the embassy in Liguanea,” he said.

“I think that members of this community will be directly affected by the presence of the embassy – and you have a right to live in a neighbourhood where you feel safe and that you don’t feel threatened by any structure that is around, and so I am in support of what you are doing here,” Bartlett told the residents.

Blum said that the Bamboo Avenue embassy complex would include the area political offices, the Office of Public Affairs, the ambassador’s office, the chancery that would include the consular section, parking areas, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and a residence for the marines who protect the embassy.