Now cars taking over Savannah

THE EDITOR: As a tax-paying citizen for more than 40 years, I am totally fed up with what we get for our money.

Nowhere in Trinidad (I am not sure about Tobago) can we go somewhere to relax with our family without some idiots breaking the peace. Forget the random gun violence that can break out if you're doing something as simple as buying a bottle of water, we are losing our other privileges daily to a population that does not care about the rights of others.

We cannot cross the road at zebra crossings without having to practically beg a motorist to stop for us, although those crossings are there for pedestrians to get to the other side of the road safely.

Parking in front of people's gateways and then cussing them when asked to move is now the norm.

Our walls, pavements and even our vehicles are not safe from people publicly urinating on them, something I believe is against the law.

We go to the foreshore in Mucurapo to park and relax but we are urged by driving instructors to move so that they can have their students practise parking – in a public space they do not pay to use.

We try to park in the same place to watch a sunset but, lo and behold, there are people pitching tents to play music and dance and drink and behave in the most lewd manner; totally inappropriate to bring children.

We go to Maracas for a day at the beach, but first we must run the gauntlet of beach chair renters who accost you as you set foot on the sand. You politely tell them, "No, we have our own chairs," only to discover they have already set up their chairs in the best spots from early, so you are left to bake in the sun by some dustbin.

The last straw for me is the use of the Queen's Park Savannah. We have to dodge bad drivers and road hogs on our streets daily, now they are being allowed to invade the Savannah with their cars to park up and have fetes, pitching tents and throwing parties for their families where people want to either play a sport or take their children to fly a kite or just run. They are even parking in The Hollows – somewhere we should have only foot traffic.

I took my two grandchildren there last Sunday and had to be dodging cars zooming along inside the Savannah itself, from the side with QRC, right around to the Botanical Gardens side – nowhere was safe from these tents and dozens of parked cars.

Isn't this not allowed under the charter for the Savannah, except on special occasions and at Carnival?

Why do we have to put up with this when we have elected authorities who are supposedly there to police our rights and ensure that everyone has an equal share of the bounty of our country?

To listen to politicians on both sides, we are a delightful people who have nothing but love, but in reality we have morphed into a selfish bunch of narcissists who only care about their own times and ignore anyone else who may wish to share a public space.

Come on, people. I am saddened that my grandchildren will never know the beautiful Trinidad I grew up in – where people coexisted with a minimum of bother and trouble. If we are not careful, we will slip even further into the morass, catering to people whose only idea of self-worth is a like on social media.

HAFEEZ AMIN

Woodbrook, PoS