San Fernando's Harris Promenade cordoned off

Amid a spike in covid19 cases, San Fernando mayor Junia Regrello and the city's municipal police officers cordoned off Harris Promenade "until further notice" on Wednesday and removed all street dwellers there.

The San Fernando City Corporation (SFCC) workers used tapes to cordon off the promenade from Harris Street to Paradise Street. They also planned to put up barriers to prevent people from entering and sleeping there as the homeless usually do.

"We are looking at the rise in casualties and the increase in the numbers of the virus. We have to do what we have to do," Regrello told reporters.

Despite the covid19 regulations, the state of emergency (SoE), and the curfew, the mayor said people continue to gather on the promenade.

Regrello also mentioned the church group of over 20 people who gathered on the promenade on Sunday.

People who feed the homeless also encourage gatherings, he said.

"We are appealing to the public to desist from this. If you have food to give, contact the mayor's office, and we will arrange the distribution. We know it is well-intended.

"But at the end of the day, it is a sanitation problem."

The food distribution leaves the promenade littered with boxes, some with untouched food, which corporation workers have to clean up the next day.

Snr Supt Cecil Santana and Insp Michael Fraser, and other municipal police and corporation members accompanied the mayor.

Regrello said the corporation had a discussion with street dwellers, and they seemed happy with the decision to block off the area.

"Some of them do not live on the promenade. They come and hang out from morning to evening. They receive meals all day (from the public), then return from where they came," Regrello said.

He is encouraging people to use the sidewalk opposite the promenade, along the side of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help RC Church.

Santana said there would be a continuous police presence to monitor the situation and ensure nobody is there.

While touring the promenade, the team saw several street dwellers, who, contrary to what the mayor said, complained they had nowhere else to go.

Saying he was homeless, Julio Leonsingh, 35, said he usually spends the day on the promenade looking for employment. The mayor referred him to Shamrock Court and another shelter at King's Wharf for help.

Leonsingh said he uses the one at King's Wharf.

"Certain circumstances have me out here," he said. "We want better for ourselves, but we always get turn down. We being real – how many times I asked you to help me get through with a work?"

After this plea for employment, the mayor agreed to meet with the "young strongman" later in the day at his office.

Leonsingh later told Newsday he is originally from Fyzabad. Years ago, he worked as a security guard, but he said "witchcraft" caused him to be on the streets.

Street dweller Kelvin Ramdoolar, 58, uses a walker. He said some years ago, someone attacked him for $40 and broke his hips. Ramdoolar, originally from Claxton Bay, told Newsday he spent ten months in the San Fernando General Hospital.

Referring to Santana as "Uncle Cecil," he repeatedly begged for $10. After speaking with the mayor, he agreed to go to Shamrock Court.

Another man, Amardeo Baijoo, claimed he is not homeless but stays at the home of his "madam" in Borde Narve. Both he and the woman frequent the promenade.

Baijoo explained to the mayor that her common-law husband lives in the house. He said the common-law husband works and stays overnight in Couva on a farm and goes with the house keys.

He expressed his love for alcohol, including bay rum.

"I cannot drink that home, so I come out on the streets.

"We have no groceries home. We have nothing to cook. If I had (money for) passage, I would take a taxi and go home, but he (his madam's husband) has the keys."