Dear editor,

For the better part of the last 20 years, there has been talk of restoring downtown Kingston. While the unsurpassed lip service on the issue has waged, the city has been left to die a slow, agonising death. There is no other capital city in the Americas, outside of Port-au-Prince, that is as congested and chaotic as downtown Kingston.

The once thriving centre of commerce has been left to decay into a dustbin of illegal vending, extortion and general criminality. Once proud monuments of our heritage — the Ward Theatre, Kingston Parish Church and the world-famous Kingston Harbour — have become refuges for the homeless, the mentally ill, illegal vendors and criminals who openly peddle illicit drugs.

While the lip service paid to the restoration of the heart of our capital has spawned numerous entities, such as the Kingston Restoration Company, the Kingston Re-development Company and even the Urban Development Corporation, no serious effort has been made to kick-start the process of renewal. That is until the police in their drive to reclaim the city centre from criminals and extortionists decided to apply the laws of the land. Prior to that, the reactionary and almost redundant Kingston and St Andrew Corporation applied the law in a rather ad hoc fashion, and seemingly at the whim of the mayor with the annual ritual of chasing vendors off the street, only to allow them back for the holidays.

Little wonder then, that the vendors are confused and disenchanted. However, that’s no excuse to sell in the middle of the city streets and on the sidewalks, for many of the same vendors complaining about being removed from the sidewalks and pavements shop in places where there is much less chaos and much greater organisation. When these informal commercial importers/higglers/peddlers/ vendors visit Panama, Curacao, Miami, Los Angeles or China, they happily comply with the rules governing commerce in these areas. I am certain that in none of these places vending is allowed on the sidewalks to the detriment of regular policing or pedestrian traffic; in these areas vending is confined to defined zones.

The heart of our city must be free from the chaos that was once downtown Kingston. The police force must be unreservedly congratulated for its action, no matter how belated; I truly hope this is not just another nine-day wonder.

In the same breath, the move by Digicel to headquarter their operations downtown must be congratulated and exemplified by other private and public entities.

On the part of the political directorate, the political will must be found to restore and renew the heart of our capital. In the short-term, there will be some political fall-out but in the long-term, generations of Jamaicans will be grateful, for there are many Jamaicans who have never seen the heart of the capital. They know not the glory of the Ward Theatre or Kingston Parish Church, and can only read about the beauty and former glory of the harbour.

If this administration can succeed in this venture, this will be an achievement of monumental proportions and a legacy unmatched in 40 years of public administration.

Phillip A Chambers

phillipdcchambers@yahoo.com