Letter from Hollis Street

I had intended to write an open letter to the Chair of the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation, Richard Walcott. Initially, it was to ask what the municipal body can do about the posse of feral cats that has overtaken the area. When the street was overrun by dozens of free-range chickens and stray dogs, putting chicken wire on my gate had helped to keep them away from my plants.

However, cats, being agile climbers and leapers, can go anywhere to do their thing. What is worse, they rip open the bags of garbage I put on my wall, scattering everything. Eventually, I had deduced that if I were to put out my garbage on mornings instead, I would stand a better chance, as I pegged them as nocturnal creatures.



But that depended on the reliability of the garbage collectors. For years, the service had been regular, early mornings (before daybreak) from Monday to Friday, but that seems to have changed. It can be at any time now, and even the days seem to be arbitrary.

I am writing this on Thursday, and it is past one o’clock, and the garbage I got up early to put out is still sitting there intact, mercifully (though I am sure I will have to retrieve it and hope for better luck tomorrow). My neighbour’s collection has already been stripped and strewn. I sympathise because I know she put it out this morning as well, and when the truck passes, they never pick up anything that litters the street.

As I thought about that, it occurred to me that this is not simply a matter affecting me, or Hollis Street alone. And so I checked the website of the Corporation to refresh my mind on what its responsibilities are. Here’s what it said.

“Essentially, municipal corporations are responsible for building and maintaining local roads, bridges and drains, collecting garbage, maintaining parks and community facilities, issuing building approvals and overseeing public health and sanitation. The San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation is proud to have achieved these objectives and continues to work zealously to accommodate these facilities in the most effective timing.” I have previously asked what exactly is the responsibility of a garbage collector.

What does the job entail? Do they only pick up things contained in bags? Should they not also gather the waste on the street itself using scoops? They often make messes themselves, and they could not be bothered to clean it up. I think people generally try to bag up their stuff—no one wants garbage surrounding their homes. The cats create an additional public health hazard.

True, passers-by toss their litter onto the street. I have often had to clean up food containers, plastic and beer bottles outside my yard. It never ceases to amaze and disgust me how cavalier people can be with their environment.

This street where I grew up (well, actually I grew up on the eastern end; it spans three distinct blocks interrupted by the Bermudez Biscuit Company), has dismally changed in its character. Increasingly, it feels like less of a community because there is no sense that anyone cares; with a few exceptions. When my neighbour opposite, Miss Emile, was able, she and I would often be out there early in the morning, weeding the grass and sweeping the space out front.

Then they paved everything, I remember when Carlos John went on a spree, and our street received so many layers of pitch (in one case they paved around an abandoned car), that the heightened roadway meant that when it rains, the water pours into the yard. A few of my neighbours have planted flowers outside their yards. They bring such joy; but generally the place looks shabby.

And, as it often follows, once a space looks that way, it encourages people to use it as a dumping ground. It’s not really a busy street, but it has become a bit of a challenge to park on it. A number of derelict vehicles occupy permanent spots.

In fact, a large flatbed truck has now taken up residence on the western end, so close to the corner that it is a hazard for anyone turning. It’s just sitting there, ominously waiting for some hapless driver. In front of it is a massive pile of debris, comprising branches from a tree that had been chopped down, and a large stack of lengths of wood.

All of this occupies the corner and it is dangerous. And of course to make it all a cohesive package, months ago, WASA had dug a wide canyon across the entire thing and had crudely covered it. I remember well when they were doing it because at around seven o’ clock in the morning, the air was polluted by the garrulous obscenities they were hurling (perhaps cheerfully), at each other as they worked.

I had foolishly imagined that the road would be properly paved. The entire length of my block looks scabrous, just like the parallel Maloney Street. This is a bit of a rant, but I decided to use this space to vent about it because I have come to realise that this is not a personal situation.

It is so common that it feels like a betrayal, that as citizens we do not matter. Are the municipal corporations going to do anything zealous about it? Email: [email protected].