New Hope residents take on roadwork for Christmas
Residents in New Hope, a community on the outskirts of resort town Ocho Rios in St Ann, came together to repair the main thoroughfare in the community, which they say has been neglected.
The residents, through the community’s police youth club, fixed sections of the road, making access to the community easier for pedestrians and motorists.
“I put it to the club and the club provided the money to buy the stone dust and cement,” Lennox Moncrieff, a resident of the community, told the Jamaica Observer North & East during a recent visit to the community.
The police Youth Club donated $35,000 to buy the material to repair the road.
But despite the repair work, residents pointed out that there is much more to be done as the most of the roadway through the community is in a deplorable condition.
Community members said that they decided to help themselves since their political representatives have not answered repeated calls to fix the road.
According to one resident, the community has even signed petitions requesting that political representatives repair the road.
Some residents said that they are forced to walk to the neighbouring community of Parry Town to get public transportation.
The residents said that they have been told that the road would have been fixed, but they are still waiting for more works to be done.
Moncrieff told Observer North & East that if they had more cement and stone, community members would have been able to do even more work.
He explained that the focus was on areas that had been asphalted before to prevent further erosion.
Focus was also given to the entrance of the community.
At the same time, the community members are also concerned about the safety of residents and want at least two streetlights to be installed.
“We need one at the community entrance and one at the location called Sea Mouth because from time to time, strange people are seen and the Sea Mouth area is a spot where people have been robbed before,” one woman said.
She said that ongoing violence in the community last year forced a number of people to leave the community. They have not returned.
“We need the light at the entrance so people can know that a community is there at night,” she added.
