Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Restore pride in our public spaces

Published:Thursday | March 30, 2023 | 12:24 AM

TH E EDITOR, Madam:

Kudos to Mayor C. Junior Gager of Falmouth for trying to rid the town’s streets of the disorderly hordes of informal traders clogging roadways with their wares in near-squalid condition, while properly outfitted market stalls stand empty.

Were it not for tourists, Falmouth would be like any other small-town Jamaican market: disorderly, bordering on disgusting. Squalor seems to lurk deep in our DNA.

We love to wallow in garbage. It is (seemingly) everywhere; our public spaces, the empty lot next door, by the neighbour’s fence, the gullies, the playgrounds, along the shoulders of our highways, while all the time we proclaim our culture and sophistication to the world!

One can only hope that other mayors and municipal councils emulate Mayor Gager’s efforts, thus restoring some civic pride in our public spaces.

RON I. WONG