Dear Editor,
I wish to vent my disgust from a recent visit to my home city, Montego Bay. Few people know that MoBay was granted city status in the 50s, and since then it has grown beyond expectations, reaching, as it seems, ungovernable status.
Former defined residential areas have now been commercialised, with streets crumbling from heavy trafficking. Cities elect councillors, headed usually by a mayor, to conduct the city’s affairs. But from what I have seen, I wonder if there is any administration in city MoBay. What is the purpose of electing people to public office when they are non-functional? Or, has the city of MoBay become uncontrollable?
The business district reminds me of Kingston’s famous Coronation Market — always in constant commotion. In MoBay there is peddling all over downtown on the narrow sidewalks, restricting entrances to legitimate businesses. It is easier finding a pin on the streets than to find a path to tread on the sidewalks. And if one ventures to walk in the streets you run the risk of being run over by the hustling taxis with their horns blaring at pedestrians.
I ventured out one Friday night about 9:00 pm and there was no crowd abatement. It was business as usual with cooking on the kerb at the old Jolly Rogers site on St James Street, boom boxes in the mix, and Sam Sharpe would have been disgusted to know that the square is named after him.
I implore the officials elected to be in charge of my beloved city to take some action and restore the city to a state the encourages visitors to return. Because we don’t live there anymore doesn’t mean we don’t care. I am and will always remain a true Montegonian.
Joe Fearon
Sunrise, Florida
josephfearon@att.net
I wish to vent my disgust from a recent visit to my home city, Montego Bay. Few people know that MoBay was granted city status in the 50s, and since then it has grown beyond expectations, reaching, as it seems, ungovernable status.
Former defined residential areas have now been commercialised, with streets crumbling from heavy trafficking. Cities elect councillors, headed usually by a mayor, to conduct the city’s affairs. But from what I have seen, I wonder if there is any administration in city MoBay. What is the purpose of electing people to public office when they are non-functional? Or, has the city of MoBay become uncontrollable?
The business district reminds me of Kingston’s famous Coronation Market — always in constant commotion. In MoBay there is peddling all over downtown on the narrow sidewalks, restricting entrances to legitimate businesses. It is easier finding a pin on the streets than to find a path to tread on the sidewalks. And if one ventures to walk in the streets you run the risk of being run over by the hustling taxis with their horns blaring at pedestrians.
I ventured out one Friday night about 9:00 pm and there was no crowd abatement. It was business as usual with cooking on the kerb at the old Jolly Rogers site on St James Street, boom boxes in the mix, and Sam Sharpe would have been disgusted to know that the square is named after him.
I implore the officials elected to be in charge of my beloved city to take some action and restore the city to a state the encourages visitors to return. Because we don’t live there anymore doesn’t mean we don’t care. I am and will always remain a true Montegonian.
Joe Fearon
Sunrise, Florida
josephfearon@att.net