PoS Mayor gets tough on ‘living’ in city squares

Homeless man Hugh Bernard last week Wednesday returned to Tamarind Square, Port of Spain, two days after he lost his lawsuit over his right to ‘live’ there.
Homeless man Hugh Bernard last week Wednesday returned to Tamarind Square, Port of Spain, two days after he lost his lawsuit over his right to ‘live’ there.

Although the town squares in the capital city are open to the public, nobody can sleep or loiter there says Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez.

In a telephone interview, Martinez told Newsday yesterday the squares were under the management of the City Corporation.

He said people will not be allowed to erect any sort of living quarters or tents in any of the squares in the city including the Queen’s Park Savannah.

“There will be no erection of tents in any of the squares in Port-of-Spain. Somebody cannot go and just put up a tent like what they did in the savannah or in Tamarind Square. You cannot do that it is against the rules. We are going to prevent it from happening.

“We are going to put up some signs in the squares to let people know that the squares are under a management of eth City Corporation and they are not allowed to do those things and if you do then we will take the measures to have you removed,” he assured.

Martinez also said the corporation was working to have the squares lit up and open at later hours to facilitate those who wish to stay in the city a little later than usual. In the meantime, he said, some of the squares in the city will be closed at 7 pm for the public’s safety.

“We want to try to open them a little later because we want to encourage the public to use the squares in the night but a lot of people don’t use the squares because of the homeless. Some of the squares are a little dark so we are trying to see if we can brighten up the squares and the areas to encourage people to use it a little later. We know a lot of people hang around the areas. Money is limited but we are trying our best,” Martinez said.

When Newsday visited Tamarind Square yesterday afternoon, the square was unlocked and three street dwellers were seen sitting on boxes.

Last month, a homeless man who took the Port of Spain City Corporation to court over an alleged decision to lock him and other homeless people out of Tamarind Square at nights, lost his lawsuit and was ordered by the judge to pay the legal cost of the city council lawyers. Two days later he returned to the square but continues to move around the city.

Comments

"PoS Mayor gets tough on ‘living’ in city squares"

More in this section