Chancellor becoming fete venue

THE EDITOR: I am a long-standing resident of Lady Chancellor Apartments, a 50-year-old apartment block situated approximately 400 yards from the lookout on Lady Chancellor Road.

Over the years I have watched, with dismay and utter impotence, the complete erosion of a quiet residential area into a noisy, public fete neighbourhood.

The EMA will already have numerous documents cataloguing the ongoing scourge of an immediate neighbour, Alicia’s Palace, that hosts weekly all-day/night fetes with extremely loud dancehall music and the attendant vices, including drunk driving and littering. (Some families have to leave their homes in order to sleep). Constant calls and visits to the appropriate police stations are to no avail.

Another misery is music trucks. Last Saturday afternoon a music truck, a convoy of vehicles and several hundred people made their way up Chancellor Road, settling in to party at the lookout. Before covid19 this had become a dreaded, regular Saturday pre-Carnival occurrence, with music at a volume that activates our car alarms.

My depressing expectation is that this mid-year introduction of the truck will set a precedent as a regular, money-making scheme that no longer is confined to the Carnival season. Interestingly, in this instance there was a public outcry as to the adverse effects of noise on the zoo’s animals. Unfortunately, we residents have no such public or institutional support.

Beyond the noise pollution, traffic cannot pass on the entire two-mile stretch of road – not to mention the attendant debris tossed onto the verges.

About 7.30 pm on Saturday, I went up to the lookout to confront the source of disturbingly loud music. There were at least 15 cars, including one with flashing disco-like lights and one with blaring music. This is setting an alarming precedent.

Unless these issues are formally addressed by the EMA, the police and whoever else should be protecting the rights of law-abiding private citizens, the lookout and entire length of Lady Chancellor Road will become a permanent fete venue with all the attendant threats to security, the environment, our homes and our civil liberties. No other so-called “civilised” society would have to endure this.

BARBARA JARDINE

via e-mail