Dear Editor,

Years ago, when Hagley Park Road was being widened for the influx of vehicles going and coming from Portmore, Spanish Town, and other areas, traffic was diverted through Richmond Park for those whose destinations were lower Waltham Park, Half-Way-Tree, New Kingston, Cross Roads, and surrounding areas. This has resulted in the once-quiet community being transformed into a noisy, bustling melting pot of varying modes of transport and it is now becoming the preferred route to bypass morning and evening traffic.

While we, the residents, have come to accept that it serves as an effective alternative for citizens, what we are not prepared to accept is the disturbing level of disregard for public health and safety with which it comes. These people have begun to use this community as a dumping ground. The illegal disposal of garbage has been affecting residents who find themselves left in disbelief at some of the items that these vagabonds offload by the side of the road or by their gates.

Items such as old mattresses, animal carcasses, broken tiles and glass from construction sites, food refuse, old clothes, and, of late, baby diapers are thrown along the roadway for us to clean up. These activities are being done on roads that are highly navigated by said violators, particularly Kings Crescent, Kings Avenue, and Queens Avenue.

We want to make it clear to these individuals that they should desist from performing these acts because they will be prosecuted. To the culprit who makes it his/her point of duty to discard bags of baby diapers laden with faecal matter on the roadway, which ultimately stains the air due to its repugnant odour: We have caught on to your act.

These blatant acts of air and land pollution will not be tolerated here! Let us be clear, there is a law that prohibits these activities and as such you can and will be charged when caught under the National Solid Waste Management Act. People take pride in their homes and we do take time to clean in and around our abode. It is quite disheartening to see others treating the environment with such scant regard.

Disgruntled residents