RESIDENTS of Duhaney Park in St Andrew have expressed concern about what they say is the commercialisation of their community and they are particularly incensed that a recreational park in the area is being taken over by vendors.

The issue of vendors inside the yet-to-be-opened renovated Duhaney Park Recreational Grounds has been a long-standing area of concern for the residents.

Last Saturday the residents aired their grouses during a community meeting at the George Headley Primary School.

They argued that the community is not in need of any more shops and that the park should be off limits to vendors.

“If you notice along the strip here [Duhaney Drive]…is pure shop and supermarket. I believe we have enough of those things there now and I don’t see why we should be bringing down our community by commercialising it in that way,” said Juliet Dacosta, a resident of the community for 16 years.

Dacosta said that she and other residents share the view that there should be no market in the park as it is now being fashioned, stressing that the intention was for the park to be a recreational space for residents.

“When the park was first situated… it was supposed to have been a green space where children and elderly persons could come out and sit and enjoy, but we have seen where vendors are taking it over,” lamented Dacosta.

Another resident, who gave his name as Muschette, said his main concern is “those little shops in the park [which] have been built for a couple of years now and wasting taxpayer money as far as I am concerned”.

It has been previously reported that the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) authorised the construction of eight shops in the community park to be utilised by food vendors.

But a representative of the Duhaney Park Community Development Committee had charged the permission for the construction of the shops was done without consultation with residents.

“I heard rumours that they were renting for $20,000. I think that would be too much. I don’t see what kind of profit you could make with a little place like that to pay $20,000 plus light bill and water rate,” Muschette mulled.

He suggested that the park could be otherwise utilised “to put on certain functions to maintain it and through our councillor and even through the citizens association”.

Yet another resident, Neville Asphalt, said he is also of the belief that no shops should have been inside the park.

“The park is for we the people and the children,” insisted Asphalt. In the meantime, Mayor of Kingston Andrew Swaby told the Jamaica Observer on Monday that the Member of Parliament for the area, Anthony Hylton, and councillor Michelle Thomas have reached out to him since he took office in March seeking his intervention in the ongoing disquiet regarding the park, which lead to the community meeting on Saturday.

“The impression I’m getting from the community is that they would like to see their children come there to play, they’d like to just come and sit and watch their children or to just have some relaxation and they would like to see functions like health fairs being kept in the park,” said Swaby.

He said having listened to the concerns of residents, he will be engaging a spatial planner to have a look at the park.

“The spatial planner will come up with a design around the ideas of the residents and then go back to the community with a proposal to see if it is acceptable,” added Swaby.

He pointed out that the park was renovated some years ago but due to the controversy surrounding it, the KSAMC has not made a decision as to the management of the park and whether to hand it over to the community.

In an effort to create and, in some cases, improve green spaces in and around the Corporate Area, the KSAMC, under the leadership of then Mayor Delroy Williams, sought to develop different properties owned by the council to improve such green spaces.

The Duhaney Park Recreational Grounds was one of the first projects to be launched under the programme.

According to the KSAMC, the Duhaney Park Recreational Grounds has been equipped with a children’s park, inclusive of a jungle gym, swing, two tables with seating to facilitate dominoes and draft, a table tennis table, fully bricked parking area which also serves as a multi-purpose space to facilitate hosting events, a fully bricked walkway, which runs from Columbus Drive to Duhaney Drive, a fully bricked jogging trail, four planter boxes with seating areas and increased lighting through the installation of solar lamps and two additional street lights.