KINGSTON east and Port Royal is a constituency with much promise.

It is located in a section of the city that houses the Norman Manley International Airport, Caribbean Cement Company, the Jamaica Private Power Company Ltd, Jamaica Flour Mills, the Bournemouth and Rockfort mineral bath facilities, and the makings of a heritage tourism product in the former pirate den, Port Royal.

It is also home to three primary level schools, in particular — Windward Road Primary and Junior High, Rollington Town Primary, as well as Vaz Preparatory — which consistently do well at academics and the visual and performing arts. Windward Road has won the Junior Schools Challenge Quiz competition four years in a row now, and over the years, students of all three schools have bagged top scholarships for doing well at the Grade Six Achievement Test. All three also have vibrant performing arts programmes and often enter cultural festival competitions.

On the other side of the coin, different pockets of the constituency are plagued by high levels of crime and unemployment, poor infrastructure and inadequate housing.

If the National Housing Trust (NHT), the National Environment Planning Agency (NEPA) and their partners have their way, tens of people in Michelin, Port Royal, will have until tomorrow to move out of their houses and demolish the structures.

Complaining about what they say is severe overcrowding in the small units rented from the Port Royal Brotherhood, the residents want to undertake a project — under the guidance of a trained architect from the community — to erect several single-storey wooden structures in Michelin. A few have already gone up but the agencies have warned that they do not have the requisite permission so they should pull the buildings down. Other buildings which have been there for years have also been served notice.

“Nothing has been built here for the past 28 years and the population keeps growing,” says Darren Lim, a trained architect who served in the United States army and who is certified to practice in the United States. He says he was born and bred in Port Royal but returned after 19 years to help make a difference in his community.

“About a month ago we started to build some one-bedroom units for the overpopulated houses with 15 and 20 people pack up in dem. Since we start, NHT, NEPA, the water and housing ministry, come down and tell wi we can’t build, and giving us notice to vacate.

“We don’t want the land for free. We are willing to rent, lease or buy it but they not saying anything to us,” says Lim.

Painting a picture of the level of overcrowding, Alice Murphy describes her domestic situation.

“I am 58,” says the petite woman who looks anything but. “I have a 40-year-old daughter in my house wid four kids. Yuh have mother, stepfather, everybody inna one likkle chuku chuku place. I cyaan have no privacy. An now di people dem trying to do something for themselves and all of a sudden dem come ah seh dem cyaan dweet. It’s not fair.

“From I ah pickney ah come up I hear seh Port Royal fi develop. I am now 44-years-old an is di same ole story,” adds another woman, who declines to give her name on the basis that she works with government and doesn’t want to jeopardise her position.

“Di people dem don’t have nowhere fi live. Dem (government) talk bout dem building houses den turn roun an’ seh di land condemned. Now, seven days time di people dem fi move everything. It’s not nice.

“Port Royal deh behind the cow. Nobody nuh business wid we but as soon as we do supp’m fi wiself yuh see everybody come all of a sudden ah seh wi cyaan dweet. Only God knows weh dem come from. Seven days fi dig up all dat dem put down? Dem out ah order,” she fumes.

Those ordered to vacate may be accused of squatting but it is the residents of Harbour Heights who say they feel like they are squatting, though they aren’t anymore.

In 2007, members of the undeveloped hillside community entered into a lease and sale agreement with Government. With that came promises to install the necessary amenities and infrastructure. Today, however, more than 10 years later, the community is still undeveloped with potholes for roads, no street lights and low or no water supply.

“The main concern we have is the road. From I move here 15 years now I don’t see nobody come fix di road. Wi have whole heap ah young people, a lot of young girls and there is no street light. Is peeny wally (fireflies) wi see at night,” Desrine Green tells the Sunday Observer.

On top of that, residents say there is no training centre, community centre, youth club or other youth-oriented programme for young people and it becomes apparent as you drive through the community. At the entrance, several young men set up a sound system, further up the road a large group of mostly women sit by the roadside, and up the hill and around the corner, another group of young people sitting by a stall.

“The people further up the road have no water at all, they have to carry water and we only get in the early morning. Some ah di people dem live like dem ah still squatter but is not capture land. We enter lease and sale agreement from 1997 under PJ Patterson an dem seh dem di ah go gi wi road, water and light but the only ting wi see dem do ah give out likkle Christmas work,” says Green.

In the Rockfort area, some roads need repairs but the major problem is a lack of employment.

“One and two man wi get work when dem [companies] overhauling dem engines but other than that we don’t get nutten, says a 19-year-old youth, who declines to give his name.

“They give out-of-the-area people priority,” he alleges.

“I have a certificate in level III electrical installation maintenance. How come mi have da certificate deh an mi cyaan get no work? Mi always try and sometime mi get like the overhauling ting but mi want work permanent,” says the lad.

T he neighbouring community of Norman Gardens also has high unemployment residents say, but incidents of crime have reduced in recent weeks.

“The area is comfortable right now but di people need employment,” says a man who answers to the name Raymond. “From you don’t have employment, it lead to stress, and stress lead to poverty and then poverty lead to crime.”

Within the past month or so, Raymond says gun-crimes, which had become almost part of the fabric of east Kingston, were down to zero. Similarly, residents of Rollington Town, where shops and garages employ a few people from the area, say there is little crime in their community.

“Rollington Town is one of the best towns in east Kingston,” boasts Orvel Simpson. “It has less war vibes than some of the other places like Burgher Gully and Warieka Hills.”

And in Springfield on Sea, tertiary students Roje Wright and Adrian Jackson bemoan the fact that the neighbourhood watch programmes are inactive, causing poor communication among neighbours and a rise in the incidents of crimes.