Mayor of Montego Bay and chairman of the St James Municipal Corporation, Councillor Richard Vernon, has hit the ground running as he seeks to make an indelible mark on the western city and parish.

Young, vibrant, visionary, and committed to the task at hand, he has embarked on a major initiative, dubbed MoBay Step Up, which was launched recently.

According to Mayor Vernon, the acronym Step Up means striving towards environmental protection and urban preservation. It aims to address the pressing issues of solid waste accumulation, damaged infrastructure, unlicensed businesses, and other challenges facing Montego Bay and will be funded by the partners’ respective budgets, the mayor’s special fund, and the municipality.

It is no secret that over many decades Montego Bay has suffered from serious urban blight because of lack of planning, which speaks to the many ills that plague the city. To put it bluntly, successive Members of Parliament as well as councillors — both People’s National Party and Jamaica Labour Party — should hang their heads in shame based on the overall “uglification” of the so-called tourist capital which rakes in billions of dollars each year into the nation’s coffers by way of the tourism dollar but has little to show in terms of real growth and development.

Indeed, for all intents and purposes, there are two Montego Bays, one for the general citizenry and the other for the tourist. When one looks at the dilapidated, ramshackle condition of downtown Montego Bay, Hart Street, Canterbury, Barnett Street, North Gully, Railway Lane, inclusive of the Charles Gordon Market and its environs, it is a damn shame and disgrace that no Government so far has seen it necessary to deal with the aesthetics of the city in terms of its built environment.

Enter Mayor Vernon, who incidentally is the local government representative for the Montego Bay South Division (also known as the Railways Gardens division) which takes in most of downtown Montego Bay. This young politician who has successfully run on a Jamaica Labour Party ticket needs the support of all well-thinking citizens as he seeks to take on this gargantuan task. And I hasten to add that he has my full support.

In this vein, it is no secret that the business community in the western city has for the most part failed to be a part of the solution, and in some cases is a part of the problem. Take, for example, the issue of solid waste disposal. For too long the municipal corporation has failed to crack the whip in order to get business operators to be more compliant and cooperative in terms of disposing of their accumulated garbage.

There is the story about many of the Chinese merchants who pay vagrants (and sometimes ‘mad men’) to get rid of their garbage, but these miscreants take the money from our oriental friends and dispose of it inappropriately.

The vexing issue of street vending has also contributed to the wretched state of MoBay and it is encouraging to note that the mayor has been in proactive dialogue with these itinerant merchants with a view to regularise their trade and have them play a constructive role in the city’s development even as they ply their trade.

Repeatedly, we have been told about development plans for the western city, but nothing meaningful and sustainable has been done. We are heartened, for example, to see that the mayor has taken the bull by the horns to deal with th long, protracted issue of the Bogue Industrial Estate lands which were “captured” and needs to be regularised. Funds from the sale of those lands can go a far way to give Mayor Vernon some muscle to deal with the city’s many challenges.

One is happy to note that the mayor has indicated that MoBay Step Up will not be a one-day wonder as has been the case with many ambitious projects launched in the past. He has assured that after six months an appraisal exercise to determine what they are doing wrong in seeking to meet their targets will be done in order to resolve any ongoing problems.

Mayor Vernon has embarked on a brave, new world that can, in the very final analysis, make Montego Bay a metropolis of which we can be justly proud. It behoves the powers that be, inclusive of central and local government, not to mention the private sector, to become an integral part of this great leap forward.

Lloyd B Smith has been involved in Jamaican media for the past 49 years. He has served as a Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.