Dear Editor,

I stopped off in Montego Bay on January 7 on the ship that was originally destined for Falmouth and immediately drove there to view first-hand why my town and Jamaica were embarrassed by the sudden cancellation.

Arriving in Falmouth I was alerted to the Dump area where I listened to the residents and noted their real concerns.

A major source of pride in our community was a beautification project called “Welcome to Falmouth” — a neatly walled 50 x 20 foot parcel of land that we had worked on weekly — with plants and flowers we carefully planted. Many of us, through this project, had come to understand what it is to care about something other than ourselves: we had learnt to give back, to make a commitment and to appreciate the importance of green space within a community.

I was informed prior to my visit that the parish council had leased the land for someone to set up a fast-food joint. Most people were devastated to see the area bulldozed a few weeks ago.

As I walked from Dump to the site, even though I expected to see it, the reality was devastating. As I stared in disbelief, a young woman saw me and exclaimed, “Mi born come si dis yah and to imagine dem just destroy it overnight…”. This was the typical reaction for the 10 minutes I was there.

I looked at the town square clock and the Albert George Market defaced with some ugly shades of green. This clock, from my recollection, was always painted in cream with brown trimmings (complementing the courthouse), and now to be painted in that ugly green! As I walked the streets of Falmouth speaking to business owners and citizens, there was a general theme, “We the Falmouthians are not being engaged, we are not gaining anything from all this development.” On a radio interview some time in December, discussing Falmouth’s readiness, the lack of street signs, clogged drainage, missing sidewalks among a myriad issues, though guaranteed readiness for January 7, these were still not completed.

I was very disappointed that the ship’s arrival was cancelled, but after my time in Falmouth I left relieved that it was diverted to MoBay.

The current Falmouth situation reveals the need for local government reform, giving towns like it municipality status like Portmore.

I do hope these two cultural symbols of Falmouth are restored to their original state.

Patrick A Beckford

New Jersey, USA

Pbeckf01@yahoo.com