A cry for West Park Savannah

THE EDITOR: I write on behalf of the thousands of human and animal users of West Park Savannah (WPS), that two-year-old suburban green space which borders the Diego Martin River and Victoria Gardens.

We were crestfallen, to put it mildly, to see/learn that the retention pond at WPS was cleared of all vegetation, displacing the avian and reptilian species that lived there.

We can only surmise that the Urban Development Corporation of TT (Udecott), which oversaw the park’s construction and landscaping, has a plan for the retention pond, which may or may not be related to flood mitigation and the four-lane Diego Martin Overpass that was originally scheduled for completion by December 2021.

In the same way that Nidco convened a public meeting back in July 2019 as part of its social impact assessment of the project, Udecott and others associated with the project should be keeping all stakeholders informed of project developments, especially as many now have a vested interest in the green space we all have come to love.

West Park Savannah has a Facebook Group of over 1.9k members. We discuss park issues such as caiman sightings, tree-planting and donations and unofficial usage rules, and share photographs of birds, flowering shrubs and sunsets. We even have a name for the retention pond’s resident caiman – Westie!

All we ask is that the powers that be inform users of park-related developments and consider a public-community partnership in the park’s management.

CATHERINE F SHEPHERD

Diego Martin

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"A cry for West Park Savannah"

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