Dear Editor,

It seems that the Government is not yet satisfied with the extent to which it has demonstrated its lack of concern for the citizenry of this country but continue to make every effort to ensure that those who have not yet realised this to be the case are so enlightened. Hence its insistence that a gift of a wide, open, spacious area, potentially beautifully grassed for refreshing, inspirational, and revitalising visits is wasted and thrown away.

Architect after architect, landscape architect after landscape architect, environmentalist after environmentalist, and town planner after town planner have consistently advocated keeping the area as a green space, but they have been ignored. An area for which its alternative misuse, as stated by the Government, has received no credible justification whatsoever.

The Government says that National Hero Norman Manley mentioned that the current Heroes’ Circle could house the Parliament building. That would have been over 50 years ago, and given a review of the current situation in the area and in Jamaica, such an assertion could hardly now stand up to scrutiny.

If, by stretching one’s imagination, we call that a rationale (and it certainly is not), there is absolutely no other rationale for the proposal, none whatsoever. The Urban Development Corporation has said yes. That is it.

On the other hand, all the informed professionals in their related fields have, time and time again, given all the reasons why the park’s status should be kept.

It is clear that the interests of the Jamaican people are way down on the list of government priorities, if they exist there at all. It is not the well-being of the citizenry that is being promoted here.

Who is going to be helped or boosted by a Parliament building being located there, and where is the rationale for so doing? There is none, and I challenge Prime Minister Andrew Holness or anyone else to a discussion in which a rationale for even considering the park as a location for the Parliament building can be produced.

The fact that a design has been done, regardless of whether the design can be adjusted for another location, is absolutely no justification whatsoever. The building is not a fait accompli. The fact of the perception of there being greater violence in lower Kingston is no rationale and, in fact, it is a powerful reason for fully developing the park.

The plans seek to rob the city of a needed green space to be replaced by conncrete, when what is needed is more calm, more peace and spaciousness, as well as more “social oxygen”.

The loss of this opportunity to create a flourishing park and ignoring the advice of ordinary working class people regarding its necessity and value will be to the future detriment of the country.

Just look at Emancipation Park, the only other existing urban green space of this kind in the heart of Kingston. It is crowded every day, demonstrating the dire need for this type of green area in the city. Emancipation Park, overcrowded and with inadequate parking, is nevertheless already a significant contributor to the social, cultural, physical, and economic well-being of the city and its inhabitants – a haven for ordinary Jamaicans, for financially strapped families, for young children, and increasingly for tourists and other visitors to Kingston. Tripadvisor, the online guide for travellers, describes it as “a jewel in the heart of Kingston. Emancipation Park is a refuge for many who seek solitude and a relaxing environment away from the hustle and bustle of daily life in the city. It is a lush, seven-acre oasis, capturing the famous beauty of the island”.

This is the description which could be applied to Heroes’ Park, apart from the size.

What a travesty it will be to take this area waiting for complete park development and misuse it for the purposes being considered. Locating the Parliament building there will completely obliterate its park potential.

There are so many other possible locations for the Parliament, and political leaders need to think less of their own comfort and wants and more of the real needs of the long-suffering people they are supposed to serve. Leave Heroes’ Circle alone so that it can be developed into a full-fledged green area, “a jewel in the heart of lower Kingston”.

David Abrikian

dpabrikian@yahoo.com