Let Laventille heal itself

THE EDITOR: My advice to any government on a solution to the problem of poverty and violence in Laventille and surroundings is as follows: Create a greater Laventille borough corporation complete with mayor and financing and staff.

To my mind the problem with past initiatives isn’t that people haven’t tried, it’s that the initiatives have been ad hoc, they have been temporary, they have lacked a level of political authority and, ultimately, they have lacked responsibility for failure or success.

At a minimum such a corporation should extend from Morvant Junction to the Port of Spain Central Market but, if possible, it should also include nearby areas such as Malick, Sea Lots and East Dry River. I do recognise the difficulties and it may have to be named something other than greater Laventille but the point is to bring all these areas under one dedicated unit.

As the Prime Minister said, special problems require special solutions. What is required is a political-administrative entity focused on greater Laventille that doesn’t have to deal with other communities such as is the situation with the Laventille-San Juan Regional Corporation and the Port of Spain City Corporation, or by a committee whose members have other duties.

What is also required is continuity. A borough corporation will continue to exist and function and serve and represent the community regardless of if the national government changes and replaces one programme with another with different personnel and different offices.

What is also required is authority, both formal and informal. A mayor of Laventille would hopefully be one from within the community and not seen as an outsider coming to serve an outsider’s agenda and will thus have the authority of “one of us.” Also, a mayor would have a certain amount of formal authority not held by a committee that can only make recommendations.

Also importantly, a mayor would have responsibility. If Monday’s actions are repeated, it is the mayor whose phone will be ringing. Therefore, such a major would also be responsive. Who can remember who was in charge of which programme or initiative under which government? A mayor would not be lost in the bureaucracy so easily.

And perhaps most importantly, I think, it would change the idea of giving Laventille help and instead give it autonomy. Laventille would be allowed to fix itself. A borough council would provide a formal mechanism for the various neighbourhoods to air their grievances and an immediate means of providing some redress, all of which would be an improvement to the current situation where violent protest is seen as the only way to garner attention.

EMILE ENIGHTOOLA

via e-mail

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"Let Laventille heal itself"

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