MAYOR Desmond McKenzie’s pronouncement and consequent branding of the National Stadium as a “death trap” could easily be seen as both insensitive and inopportune.

Frankly, the KSAC boss’s untimely utterances could have had far-reaching implications for all who use the 44-year-old facility, particularly the powerful association of secondary schools that is currently hosting their annual athletics showpiece at the venue — the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletic Championships.

Just a day before the start of the $40-million-priced spectacle, which is special this time around as it marks 100 years on track, Mayor McKenzie let loose at this newspaper’s weekly Monday Exchange of reporters and editors.

His verbal rampage that the stadium’s “structural competence is seriously in doubt” could have invoked panic and caused the paying fan to stay away for fears of the worst.

And how that would be costly for the event’s organisers and the world-famous games had people taken his words for what they conveyed and perhaps evoked.

I understand that Mayor McKenzie and a team from KSAC — the twinned parish council of Kingston and St Andrew — conducted an inspection of the facility some two weeks ago and found that required work to have been instructed by Independence Park Limited (IPL) was not done to satisfaction.

I believe that if Mayor McKenzie had found that the National Stadium was not safe at that point, he should have exercised his authority and ordered the complex closed. Safety first, right?

That would then give the organisers albeit a narrow leeway to execute contingencies and find a suitable alternative venue for the massive games if they were indeed forced to abandon plans for the ‘Stadium’.

His argument that he allowed ‘Champs’ to be staged “because of the importance of it”, does not hold water. For if the facility was found to be unsafe, all events planned for it barring none, should have been relocated.

This scenario in itself gives credence to the IPL top man Major Desmon Brown’s response that McKenzie’s observation and ensuing reaction were blown out of proportion.

Let’s not forget that the good mayor had also threatened to close the facility back in 2008, but here we are two years on and the doors of the ‘Stadium’ are still opened.

There exist, I believe, issues relating to the integrity of the ‘Stadium’ structure, which was confirmed by city engineers who identified cracks in the slabs and the beams of the cantilever of the grandstand, but it’s the timing of the mayor’s outburst that bothers me.

Further, the mayor has said he would make the building unavailable to those who wish to stage events of the proportion of ‘Champs’ if the IPL did not resolve the structural problems, assuming they are fixable.

If a shut down should be ordered, one wonders what impact that would have on sporting bodies like the Jamaica Football Federation that relies heavily on ‘The Office’ to stage their international friendly and competition matches.

At a time when the globe is being swept by earthquakes, with Jamaica pretty much being in the line of strike, McKenzie’s suggestion that the grandstand “could give way” in its present state should also be viewed in the context that perhaps a hidden danger has been unmasked.

Understandably, a lot of us would much prefer to have heard about it on Sunday, the day after the revered ‘Champs’ would have had its curtain call.

But for what the tournament for high school track and field supremacy means to the athletes and the fanatics who watch, little will stop them from streaming into the National Stadium on Saturday’s final day.

For they — fear factor or not — would not dare miss the occasion that could herald the emergence of the next Usain Bolt or Shelly-Ann Fraser. Nor would they give up the opportunity to be a part of a memorable flash, and ‘Champs’ have given us many — good and bad.

Such is the passion and thrill that have made ‘Champs’ the world-class marvel that it is, that only padlocked gates could keep the fans out of the “grand old lady” that no doubt cradles some of local athletics’ most magical and unforgettable moments.

Inevitably and regrettably, she will have her date with destiny — the violent demolition god. For there is the thought that she may have long past the age of rejuvenation.