PoS Mayor: Broadway to be beautified

One of the main streets in downtown Port of Spain will be transformed into a more scenic, visually appealing strip for citygoers, says PoS mayor Joel Martinez.

Speaking to Newsday yesterday before viewing an educational film with students from various primary schools in the city at Digicel IMAX Theatre, Woodbrook, Martinez said the initiative is being looked at.

He said most cities in other countries have park strips and hopes the park strip downtown can materialise. Once it starts, poui trees, benches and bins will be placed along Broadway.

“Our plan is to plant some trees in the middle of Broadway from Royal Bank all the way to Maraj Jewellers, where the taxi hub is.

“You see it in other countries. The area used to be called Almond Walk many years ago and people always talk about future, but to represent the future well, we must know a bit about the past. And if some things worked in the past and can be re-utilised in the future, why not?

Martinez also said the initiative will help reduce the carbon footprint of the city and can also cool down the city, as it will entail planting more trees.

“Once the project comes on board we would like the public to be involved to help plant trees. We would like to use poui trees along Broadway and also on Cipriani Boulevard.

“All I am asking, citizens, please, when we plant the trees, do not remove them. We have had that difficulty last year or year before, when we planted trees for the 200th anniversary of the Queen’s Park Savannah. A lot of people mutilated the trees and stole them.”

Martinez said if people had stolen the trees planted years ago, no one would be able to enjoy the beauty of them today.

Instead, he urged, “Plant a tree. Do it on behalf of the citizenry, because all the trees we have in the city today, somebody planted them many years ago. This is why today we can enjoy the Savannah. We can say it with pride: we have a Savannah, Mandela Park, Victoria Square, Lord Harris Square and Woodford Square. All those parks have trees...

“When you look at the trees in the city, (the) majority of them are over 100 years (old). If they were stolen when they were one foot tall, what you think would have happened today? We would have no trees. We have to preserve the future and the environment.”