Fight looming in ‘Frog City’
Published:Sunday | January 27, 2019 | 12:00 AMErica Virtue/Senior Gleaner Writer
“Councillor adamant that persons demanding free houses in new development will be ignored.”
Tension is running high in sections of the east central St Andrew community of Maxfield Park as residents square off over a housing development that has been in gestation for nearly 40 years.
With Prime Minister Andrew Holness finally giving birth to the project, reports have emerged that some residents are demanding that they be awarded houses in the first phase of the development for free, while others are prepared to pay but want to ensure that they get one of the first units to be built.
The problem is being compounded by some residents who have built houses in the area designated for infrastructural development, including roads, water and electricity, but who are refusing to relocate, as they argue they have nowhere to go.
Last week, councillor for the area, the People’s National Party’s Dennis Gordon, admitted that there were was tension in the area but said he was working with the Member of Parliament for the community, Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips, the residents and the agencies involved.
“I have had more meetings with them than they have had in the 40 years before me, but people would sit playing cards, gambling at the table rather than to come and finalise a deal so they can get a proper house,” Gordon toldThe Sunday Gleaner.
He said at a meeting last Monday, he again painstakingly went through the process of qualification, a process he has explained uncountable times.
According to Gordon, representatives of the National Housing Trust (NHT) and Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) were brought in to explain how persons can become compliant, in order to qualify.
Gordon said following the surveying process, after which plans were laid out, several meetings were held with residents, telling those who lived in the pathway of where the roads will be to make way for the infrastructure to be put in.
“Nobody wants to move,” said Gordon. “Not one unit can be put up without light, road, water. But I believe that at Monday’s meeting they fully understood what we are talking about,” added Gordon.
‘Want free houses’
Following reports that persons in the community are adamant that they should be given the houses for free and would not be paying the $1.5 million, allegations surfaced last week the vandals have targeted some houses in the area and have issued threats.
But Gordon said while he has heard the allegations, he has not heard about the threats.
“There has been tension. Some persons have been caught flat-footed, because they had been hearing about the development so long and seeing nothing happening, they made no preparation. Construction should have started January 14, but we have had to push it back,” said Gordon.
“We have also negotiated for some residents there who are old and infirm, and who just can’t afford the cost of the houses, and we have agreed with the NHT a path to their homeownership,” said Gordon.
For the able-bodied who are demanding free houses, Gordon said there is a thing called personal responsibility.
“We are committed to doing all we can to help the residents. But we can’t do everything. But those who feel they have the loudest mouth and expect somebody to come and say keep quiet, we are going to give it to you free, it is not going to happen,” said Gordon.
“Other than those persons we have identified, about seven of them, some are blind, disabled and ill, and two senior citizens, 80 years and over, those persons are our responsibility and we will have to facilitate them getting a house. They will be assigned a house, but their next-of-kin will not get it when they pass away. The houses will go back to the NHT. We have signed off on that already,” declared Gordon, as he underscored that persons who are non-compliant will not get a key.
“It’s as simple as that. And we are working with them, trying to explain to them that if they contribute something, they give us an opportunity to make representation on their behalf. If you contribute nothing, we are not in a position to help,” he stated.
According to Gordon, beneficiaries in the first phase of the housing development will be those who are in full compliance with the NHT, which is responsible for providing houses for its contributors.
He said the political representatives are trying to encourage individuals to become compliant while protecting the vulnerable.
“They are going to scream, but they have to help us to help them, because there is no free meal,” said Gordon.
New look for Frog City
The $810 million Maxfield Park Housing Project is the first of its kind under the Community Renewal Programme administered by the National Housing Trust.
Full-scale infrastructure work is to begin in March of 2019, with construction on the first cluster set for October of 2019.
The new-look Maxfield Park community will feature paved roads with kerbs, storm water drains, centralised sewage-collection systems, and a main corridor to Maxfield Avenue.
The development will also feature a potable water distribution system, streets lights, as well as road markings and furnishings.