More protests to be held in front of City Hall

Parking meter burden

– as extraordinary statutory meeting called to deliberate on decision

Central Government has, through Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, stepped in and ordered the suspension of the Georgetown Metered Parking By-Laws, but this step is being regarded as only preliminary. It will certainly not be enough to stop the weekly protests being staged by the Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM).
This organisation has been organizing the protests, and plans to take to the streets today.

MAPM and its supporters plan to assemble peacefully in front of City Hall from 14:00 hrs. In a press release issued on Sunday, MAPM made it clear that it will not be accepting anything less than a complete revocation of the parking meter contract and its accompanying by-laws.
Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan, currently acting as Mayor, has announced the convening of an extraordinary statutory meeting of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) to discuss suspension of operations of the parking meters. This meeting is expected to be held today.

Battle lines drawn
When the news was broadcast that the by-laws in regard to metered parking had been suspended, MAPM was not the only one to make its position against the move clear.
Town Clerk Royston King was defiant towards the Minister soon after the suspension order was announced. According to reports in other sections of the media, the Town Clerk had written a letter to the Minister, expressing the inability to suspend the project.
Reports indicate that the Minister was also told that the three-month suspension as was recommended by Cabinet would result in a breach of the agreement signed with Smart City Solutions (SCS). This, the letter had stated, would create a situation whereby the company would have to be reimbursed all of its investment.
The Government had ordered two reviews of the SCS contract – one done by the Ministry of Finance and one done by the Attorney General’s Chambers. Both reviews had been very damning of the contract, prompting amendments to be made by the company- Smart City Solutions Inc. (SCSI).
The Public Communications Consultants Limited’s (PCCL’s) Kit Nascimento had acted as a public relations consultant for SCSI, but he terminated its contract with the parking meter company effective from March 17. A terse statement from PCCL on Friday had directed all media queries to SCSI’s office.
While it is unclear why the Public Relations Agency ended the contract, it is telling that the decision came just four days after Cabinet had strongly suggested that the controversial contract be suspended.
In addition, the decision became effective on the same day that Bulkan suspended the by-laws for three months.

By-laws
Guarding against liability or prosecution, Section 23 of the City’s By-law exempts City Constables, parking wardens and the City Council itself from any liability, civil or criminal, for any damages “in respect of any action, proceeding or demand whatsoever, whether for the recovery of any alleged damage to such vehicle or otherwise in respect of removal thereof.”
The City by-laws also go on to mandate that: “When a City constable or parking warden has reason to believe that a person has contravened any prohibition or restriction imposed by the Act, the City constable or parking warden may give the person a notice under this by-law in respect of the offence.”
But it also caters for those who may be tempted to withhold information. Under Part VII, Offences and Penalties, it is an offence that attracts a fine of $50,000 to refuse to provide one’s name and address, or to give a false one, if asked to do so by a parking warden or city constable for the notice to be provided.
The Act also stipulates that owners of vehicles deemed to be illegally parked are liable for any fees incurred from immobilization, removal, towing, improvement, and storage.
In cases where someone is convicted of removing or attempting to remove the clamp without authorization, a fine of $100,000 applies, as does imprisonment of not more than three months.
Section 57 stipulates that if a vehicle is unclaimed, or if the owner of the vehicle cannot settle any outstanding fees, the vehicle can be auctioned off by City Hall.
City Hall is mandated to publish a notice of this auction fourteen days beforehand.
These are just some of the provisions included in the by-laws assented to by Minister Bulkan on January 23.
The provisions have been described by corruption watchdog Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc. (TIGI) as making no logical sense.

Protests
The parking meter fees were rolled out on January 24. However, as a backlash to the “exorbitant” fees, motorists have mostly stopped parking in the central business district, where several areas are metered.
In addition, there have been mass protests for seven consecutive weeks. The protesters have numbered in the hundreds, forcing the shutdown of Regent Street.
Today’s protest will mark the eighth consecutive week of the citizens resolve against the controversial parking meter project.