City Hall steps up campaign to remove derelict vehicles

…67 identified as Mayor presses officers for action

The City Hall is stepping up efforts to rid Georgetown of derelict vehicles, with approximately 67 already identified and Mayor Alfred Mentore pressing municipal officers to ensure those still occupying public spaces are removed.
Some vehicle owners have already responded to the municipality’s efforts and moved their vehicles, but others remain, prompting renewed instructions for the council’s engineering department to follow through with the exercise.
“We took all the pictures and so on; the people started to move. If some were left back, he got to get them moved,” Mentore said during the council’s recent statutory meeting.
Mayor Mentore made the remarks as councillors examined several problems involving vehicles and other obstructions across Georgetown and questioned how effectively previously identified issues were being addressed.
Rather than beginning another round of discussion on the derelict vehicles, Mentore pointed out that responsibility for dealing with them had already been assigned.
“We deal with the trucks already. We already deal with the trucks; the engineer has the responsibility to deal with the trucks,” he said.
He subsequently instructed that vehicles remaining on a tarmac also be checked, with registration information obtained as part of the process of getting them removed. “Get the registration. Get them a notice if they don’t move,” he directed.
The municipality’s exercise extends beyond derelict vehicles. Old trucks, containers, equipment and other encumbrances along roadways and drains have also been targeted as City Hall attempts to improve access, traffic flow and drainage while cleaning up public spaces.
However, the discussion exposed a wider frustration at the council over matters being identified but not dealt with quickly enough.
That frustration surfaced repeatedly during the meeting as Mentore urged municipal officers to act on problems within their authority before they developed into larger issues.
“These are things that you could act on before they become an issue,” he noted while addressing another encumbrance problem.
He also rejected the idea of allowing lengthy periods for obstructions to remain after they have been identified, telling officers in that instance, “This is not something that we ask you to give them a long notice.”
The removal of derelict vehicles is expected to complement other works being undertaken across Georgetown, particularly in areas where abandoned vehicles and other objects occupy road reserves and road edges, or interfere with drains.
For City Hall, however, the immediate task is no longer identifying the problem. With approximately 67 derelict vehicles already documented and some removed, the pressure is now on municipal officers to clear those that remain.