No Government , especially a PNM Government , should treat Arima so

ASHTON FORD

Guest column

ON SEPTEMBER 30, 1949, then Arima mayor Charles Gomes Netto laid the foundation stone for construction of the Town Hall on Sorzano Street. Arimians witnessed the construction and completion of the Town Hall the following year.

Since then, the building was used as the mayor’s office from 1951 to the present day – 71 years.

Several mayors adjusted the building due to many factors, chief of which was the expansion of the town in 1980, which resulted in the council having to rent private properties to accommodate an increasing staff.

In fact, on August 9, 1992, then mayor Keith Denali commissioned the refurbished Town Hall which maintained the Mayor’s Office while the staff functioned on the upper floor of the First Citizens Bank on Hollis Avenue.

When I assumed mayoral office in 1980, the borough was expanded from its original one square mile to four miles and the council began to aggressively pursue construction of a new Town Hall to accommodate the mayor’s office, council chambers and administrative staff.

Under mayor Eustace Nancis, new designs were drawn up and the then minister of Local Government Rennie Dumas, turned the sod for construction of a new Town Hall. To date, no one can explain what transpired after that sod turning ceremony.

Administrative staff occupied the offices at First Citizens Bank until 2018, when then mayor Lisa Morris Julian presided over the relocation of the administrative staff to a space behind a supermarket.

Her successor Cagney Casimire oversaw the Municipal Police taking up residence at a vacant rumshop on Prince Street.

The Arima Town Hall is currently undergoing yet another phase of renovation with completion date unknown.

The sad reality is the inability of the council to build an appropriate, modern Town Hall. It is not the only major problem Arima has endured.

A comprehensive document compiled in 2018 and titled, Towards 2020 and Beyond - Arima - the City of the East, was presented to the Arima Council and later sent to the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government.

It stated, “Over the years, Arima and surrounding areas have seen massive expansion. Yet, the significantly increased population has not had the benefit of many services one would normally expect within a large population centre.”

Among Arimians, there is an angst over the absence of crucial services in the borough namely a district revenue office (in the past an office exited for almost a century at Broadway), an Immigration office, a performing Arts Centre, a social welfare office, a Ministry of Education sub office and an HDC sub office, especially given the massive housing programme being undertaken.

On October 2, 1974, then mayor Egbert Alleyne officially opened the extension of the existing market along with then Minister Sham Mohammed, with a promise to construct a new facility before the end of the decade of the 70s.

Today, 47 years later, the market with 400 vendors is an eyesore with now a two-year promise to cover the open area – an area launched in 1988, by then mayor Edward Metivier.

After 133 years as a Borough, Arima should never be treated so shabbily by any government, moreso a PNM Government.

Arima deserves to be treated much better than what it is getting at present.

Any country would ensure that such a historic town as Arima – the only Royal Charted Borough in Trinidad and the Western Hemisphere – and home to the First Peoples with a Carib Queen, would move mountains to ensure modern infrastructure and buildings are in place to deliver services to its people.

Instead, the town has been reduced to a glorified village. The whole sorry state of the sporting fraternity will be dealt with in another article.

Ashton Ford is a former Arima mayor and Arima MP.