THE mid-afternoon sun watches over the little town with scorching intensity undiminished, even by the faint wind wafting in from the picturesque blue sea. But if you’re a visitor, not even this will stop you from enjoying the interesting sights and sounds of Port Maria, St Mary.

It is a slightly sleepy town, where it is not hard to imagine the sidewalks being rolled in by sundown, but for the moment, its relative hustle and bustle seems enough for the residents who go about their business with an easy warmth characteristic of rural towns.

The Jamaica Observer team found 51-year old Junior Kidd in one of the main plazas, perched on the back of a route taxi, sharing light exchanges with a handful of other men. Kidd had no reservations as he shared his love for Port Maria, while pointing to very little personal challenges with the public facilities and services in the town.

He noted that the hospital and fire service needed some improvements, but he lauded the police for keeping the town almost crime-free. “Garbage is collected often enough… I have no problem with the water (supply),” he further commented.

Kidd, who “loads” taxis from Kingston destined for Annotto Bay, said he appreciates the community meetings which are held by the parish council, as this gives residents a chance to voice their concerns, as well as to keep abreast of developments in the town.

While St Mary boasts about being among the five most peaceful parishes in the island, policing is still somewhat of a challenge in the capital, Sergeant Vincent Temple attested, as he paused from his rounds to speak with the Sunday Observer. “There are peaceful

law-abiding citizens, however there are those indisciplined types. There is the challenge of the public passenger vehicles. They are very indisciplined,” he lamented.

Like most towns in the island, the proliferation of robot taxis has become an issue in Port Maria.

“If you ask most persons they will tell you that where the transport centre is located, they don’t want to walk. It’s an easy walk, but because most persons are not going that direction they will prefer to walk towards Ocho Rios and take an illegal taxi, or a taxi that is not supposed to operate in this area instead of going around to the bus terminus,” stated Temple, who has served the town for 15 years.

Mayor of Port Maria, Councillor Levan Freeman, said that the Transport Authority and the police have been working together to address the problem, but manpower remained a challenge.

Illegal vending is another niggling matter. Freeman is adamant that when renovations at the market are completed all vendors must relocate. “They won’t have a choice. It’s a matter of enforcement,” he said.

Temple, his eyes scanning the plaza for any illegal activity, said that the police could benefit from more support from other State agencies, such as the Child Development Agency (CDA), in addressing the numerous reports of children not attending school, and others in need of care and protection. But, he said, “they (the CDA) have their challenges, so we could attribute it to also resources”.

The ODPEM in early 2012 revised its disaster risk management plan for Port Maria, identifying hurricanes and flooding among the main hazards. A sophisticated early warning, risk mitigation and management system were among the provisions laid out in the plan. Still, no amount

of mitigation and planning could stem the disaster of November 2012 when post-Sandy waters caused the Outram River to burst its banks, ravaging homes and businesses in what was arguably one of the worst floods the town had seen. The result was $200 million worth of damage.

Vendors Matilda Williams and Everton Scarlette believe that this will not be Port Maria’s last flood if the brooding Outram River has its way.

“When rain fall you have to run,” 69-year old Williams exclaimed. They say the drains in the town cannot manage the heavy rains. “Dem could clean the drain all 50 times for the day, it can’t manage the water. When the rain falls up in the hills and come down, it flood out,” Scarlette said.

The mayor said that the National Works Agency has started to dredge the river, and has placed gabion baskets to mitigate flooding. No rain has come yet to test whether this can tame the Outram.

In the meantime, Scarlette pointed to another issue: “The youth need more jobs. Too much little young youth sit down a daytime a knead ‘flour’ in their hands”.

This sentiment is echoed by a group of taxi drivers perched on the bridge overlooking the Outram River.

Freeman is enthusiastic about the just launched Local Economic Development Support Programme (LEDSP) being implemented by the Social Development Commission (SDC). He said that this is expected to boost entrepreneurship in the parish, as it will see persons working in clusters in

the cottage industry and small-scale agricultural production.

“We think that it will make an impact. If you teach a man to fish, you don’t have to give him a fish every day,” he remarked.

The mayor noted that employment had fallen, along with banana and cocoa production in the parish, with farmers now afraid of taking the risk of going into production for fear of being wiped out by hurricanes, like in the past. “They are trying to revive that but there

are challenges. We are encouraging them to go into non-traditional crops, such as sweet potato, and Irish, pineapple,” he said.

Many persons in and around the township have found work in the tourism sector, mainly in the nearby resort town of Ocho Rios, St Ann. Still, Freeman is eager to see tourism take off in Port Maria as he feels the town, with its stunning, winding coastline, although now bereft of most of its architectural lustre, still has much to offer to heritage tourism.

He said that there are a number of sites that can be promoted, including the civic centre which houses the parish council, and the courthouse that was rebuilt in 2000, true to its original Georgian style, after being damaged by fire in 1988; as well as Fort Haldane, where cannons face seaward with a view of the old shipping port.

There is also the Anglican church, which has won an award for heritage in architecture; and Carbarita Island, across from the popular Paggie Beach. The exquisite St Mary Parish Church — built of limestone blocks sits on the edge of the bay, its chapel amazingly back-dropped by the sea — is another site Freeman said is a must see for tourists.

“From the courthouse along the coastline for about a mile, is one of the most beautiful beaches,” Freeman remarked, noting that project documents have been submitted to the tourism resort board.

On driving into Port Maria, it isn’t long before one notices the type of housing structures that have either long outlived their time, or appear to be in breach of building and other municipal laws. The mayor admitted that the housing stock leaves much to be desired, and that at least one other housing scheme would be beneficial to the town and its environs.

At the same time, he feels that informal settlements had exacerbated the same flooding issue which the vendors complained about.

“We have a lot of informal settlers in an area called Lower Frontier. Formerly that area was like a pond which would absorb some of the excess water, but people have inhabited in this area and this has resulted in the water having nowhere to go; that’s why we have seen so much flooding in recent times. A consultant has visited and done the relevant checks in terms of drainage, but there is a financial challenge. We want to properly drain the town and relocate persons,” he explained.

Before one reaches into Port Maria, along Stennett Street, one will come upon a little grey house. This is where the town’s firefighters are housed. With District Officer Allison Richards at the helm of this close-knit group, a nine-member,

four-shift team responds to calls. Their work is supported by the fire prevention team, which works from a small building in the town centre.

It seems the firefighters will be moving out of the cramped residential structure where they have been for the past 10 years. The firefighters say this was supposed to be a temporary arrangement, but that finally, construction has begun on a permanent firehouse in the town.

“We could take improvement of the equipment, uniforms, gear, and better jackets, gloves, fire boots,” Richards said, while another firefighter noted that up to 90 per cent of the hydrants are not in order as many of them are without water. Also, they say prank calls often waste scarce resources, as they don’t have the option to not respond to a call. The firefighters use the opportunity to urge residents to familiarise themselves with the direct numbers for the firehouse, as when calls are routed through 119, this causes delays for extensive fires that could be prevented.

The Port Maria Hospital, with its nondescript entrance, rusting grilled façade and rocky, unpaved parking area, begs a lifted brow. But the mayor is upbeat about what he says have been “significant improvements” at the facility.

“The operating theatre has undergone rehabilitation. We have seen an increase in doctors. I have seen improvement, [in] the physical plant, but there is more to be done. It has seen significant improvement (including equipment). Although it’s not the full hundred, we are getting there,” he stated.

In the meantime, most residents with whom the Sunday Observer spoke were satisfied with the utility services. The mayor said that some areas of the town could be better lit, but that central government has assured him that “special attention” would be given in light of the council having surpassed its property tax collection target for the last fiscal period.

Port Maria, population 7,500, was the second town established in Jamaica by Spanish colonisers, and then called Puerto Santa Maria. It was where the 18th century slave freedom fighter Tacky, in 1760, led an attack on British slave masters.