Jamaica's War on Green Space and The Environment
UPDATE: 2018-01-18
I was always opposed to Goat Island development, that plan was evil and should never have been considered. What I realized during the Goat Island protest was that a lot of people who were protesting that development was protesting it on the grounds of Partisan Politics. They became Opportunistic Environmentalist to score Partisan Political Points, hypocrites to the core.
Long before Goat Island the corporate area of Kingston and St. Andrew came under constant and destructive environmental attacks, but no one cared as most of these Opportunistic Environmentalist saw this destructive development in the corporate area as progress. These people know the price of everything and the true value of nothing.
The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) declared that the provisional development order for Kingston and St Andrew now allows for 100 habitable rooms per acre in the community of Barbican, a 100 per cent increase from the specification set out in the 1966 order. Executive director of NEPA, Peter Knight, said several areas in Kingston 6 and Kingston 8 would also see changes moving from 20 habitable rooms per acre to 30, and, in some instances, increasing from 30 habitable rooms per acre to 50.
What NEPA have done is to step up the attacks on and the destruction of Kingston and St. Andrew Environment, Green Space and Living Space for profits. This grease palm organization NEPA is being controlled by Greedy Wealthy Developers who after exhausting developments in the corporate area, now lobby’s the Government to move the goalpost so that they can intensify their onslaught on the Environment for profits. Let us not also forget that the Prime Minister’s wife and Member of Parliament is also one of these Greedy Developers looking to make a profit, I would like to know how much business is going her way.
The Jamaica Environment Trust: (JET) tweeted a statement: “With Kingston's existing traffic, water supply, sewage and solid waste management issues - this announcement is quite alarming! Fix urban planning problems before increasing densities @nepajamaica” …
The Waterloo cholera cemetery ground is being developed by a Portland member of the government who owns the lot. I am amazed at the fact that the cholera cemetery ground is privately owned and also at the speed of the development once approval was given. It was a rush to certify that the ground was safe by what I am sure is a well-paid Chief Medical Officer. In Jamaica one can get any of these so called professionals to say what you want them to say, if you pay them enough money to say it because they are all Eat-A-Food-Professionals. The privately owned land, located at Waterloo and West Kings House roads, is where victims of an 1860 cholera outbreak are buried.
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Cholera remains a global threat to public health and an indicator of inequity and lack of social development. Researchers have estimated that every year, there are roughly 1.3 to 4.0 million cases, and 21 000 to 143 000 deaths worldwide due to cholera.
That development was made possible only because the Portland MP’s party and Government is in power. Not to mention the concept of "Conflict of Interest" does not exist in Jamaica. Members of our Political class and Government are not afraid to use their position of power to generate great personal wealth for themselves and their friends and family. In fact both they and the population take great pride in it. The fact that the MP developing the land is advising the public that the land is safe is classic Jamaican way of doing business. The proposed development on the land is for a two-storey commercial building consisting of a restaurant, bistro dining, pharmacy, supermarket, retail and office space, including rest rooms.
Everything about this deal tells me, that nothing about this deal is above ground and how could it be if a person like that Portland MP is involved. I am hoping that one day this person will run out of luck and be made accountable for once in his disgusting miserable little over privileged life.
I am told by a police friend of mine (hearsay) that skeleton remains of some of the cholera victims were found and bagged away in secret so as not alarm the general public, the area is now completely fenced off as work continues.
I thought places like cemeteries were supposed to be sacred ground, to be respected and never touched. In the movie the Poltergeist, the housing development was done on top of the graves because they only removed the gravestones and left the graves in place. Let us hope that this wicked action does not come back to haunt us by doing us harm.
It is not surprising to me that the so called Environmental NGO’s and the Articulate Minority are so very quiet at this development or any development so long as their political party is in power. Jamaica’s Environmental activist are all partisan political operatives, operating as a wing of the political party. The same environmental activist who were firmly against dredging of Kingston Harbour when their party was in opposition but now their political party is in power and the leader of the pretend Environment NGO received National honours, they have been very quiet. Picking their battles carefully as not to oppose their friends in Government. Trying not to cause any ripples of discontent and discomfort for their political masters. I must call it like how I see it.
IN MY OPINION... JET the pretend Environmental NGO is partisan and act as an arm for the ruling JLP party and is only active when that party is in opposition. Only then do they talk a good talk and put up a good fight but when their party is in Power, their palms are greased with gold and their lips sealed… Hypocrites the lot!
Yes concessions are made in other areas, so as to make it look like they are working in harmony with the Government and achieving something but for the most part they have gone missing, MIA like a dog who was given a nice big soup bone.
The area surrounding the Waterloo cholera cemetery ground is well developed and the green space round-about that now sits on the lot, is a welcome break from that development. It would have been nice to convert the land into a lovely green forested garden area supporting the ecological system so that wildlife would have a space to co-exist among the over developed concrete jungle.
This is War!
I have come to the conclusion that most Jamaicans hate Green Space and the Environment. It seems to me that most of us think that to have Green Space is backwards and not very metropolitan. For some reason Green Space is not seen as progressive but something to be destroyed and replace with concrete. Jamaicans view concrete construction as the only context where progress can take place and that is because they view smog filled American rat infested concrete cities as a true symbol of modern progress.
The war on greenspace and the environment is real and taking place right in front of our eyes but if we do not respect the environment and green space then we do not see this as a destructive war on life itself but as progress.
Galactus - The Destroyer of Worlds and his Herald
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Every piece of empty land in and around Kingston and St. Andrew is being converted into some tacky over the top Florida style townhouse complex compound with big tacky slow moving electric gates bigger than God's own pearly Gates. This to me is a catastrophic environmental disaster because where there was once a nice house in a big lovely green yard or a nice piece of open land, full of trees, birds, various wildlife and a flourishing eco-system, now sits a tacky looking oversize hideous townhouse complex that is almost invading the blasted sidewalk, squeezing every square inch out of the yard and causing an eyesore to all.
Dillsbury Avenue Is A Total Wreck
Published:Tuesday | April 14, 2015 | 4:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
It's a shame and disgrace that local authorities have continued to ignore the appallingly deplorable condition of Dillsbury Avenue. Dillsbury Avenue connects Jacks Hill Road and Millsborough Avenue, and is heavily traversed by a wide range of citizens, sometimes using it as a shortcut to avoid the Barbican Road traffic.
Dillsbury Avenue is home to almost a dozen townhouse complexes. With the construction of the last two over the past year, the destruction of the road has come to a head. Running water from National Water Company construction, and building materials such as aggregate, dirt and rubble that are left on the roadway for months, continue to impede traffic and further destroy the road.
Heavy construction equipment and trucks carrying construction materials further fatigues and breaks away the surface. While the parties responsible for construction have promised to fix the roads once they have completed their works, the road remains unfixed.
The potholes they created continue to widen, and have become so big and deep that it is not uncommon to burst a tyre or damage the front end of your car.
It is not all of us who drive SUVs, and it is becoming unbearable to use either end of the road.
We are calling for the National Works Agency, the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation and other relevant authorities to come to our rescue.
HAZEL NANGLE
Kingston 6
Political Mouthpiece for effect ONLY! Now you are the Government , what do you intend to do about it? NOT a DAMN thing. In fact since they became the Government they have stepped up the war on Greenspace and the Environment by handing out more permits even to Building on cholera cemetery ground.
People's Report: Save Kingston 6 From Hodgepodge Construction
Published:Saturday | May 2, 2015 | 5:00 AM
This is an open letter to Kingston Mayor Angela Brown-Burke.
Over the past 10 years or more, numerous residential developments have caused gross and egregious inconvenience to residents of my constituency. The residents are bombarded with heavy-duty equipment, unwholesome noise levels, and damaged and eroded residential roads.
Let me state very clearly that I strongly favour development, especially attractive developments that preserve and/or improve the character of the neighbourhood. However, the concerns and complaints of the residents cannot be ignored.
I bring to your attention three areas in which apartment developments in Kingston 6 have damaged the residential roads and caused unspeakable dislocation and nuisance to residents:
1. Washington Drive, Drumblair;
2. Dillsbury Avenue, off Millsborough Avenue;
3. Halifax Avenue, off East Kings House Road; and there are others.
I strongly urge that the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC), which you chair, properly supervise the developments to ensure that:
(a) Heavy-duty construction is only performed during normal working hours;
(b) The roads are maintained during construction;
(c) Dust and noise nuisance is avoided;
(d) The adjoining roads to the developments are returned to a satisfactory condition and a National Works Agency certification obtained before certificates of title are issued.
These conditions, inter alia, should be normal obligations of developers. Yet, if the roads such as Dillsbury Avenue, Washington Drive, Halifax Avenue and many others are examined, developers damage them, make their profits, and move on. Surely, the KSAC is failing in its duty to impose and supervise these basic conditions on developers.
DELROY CHUCK
MP, North East St Andrew
SO very soon something like this - A big yard with lovely green space
Will be converted into something like this. Fugly - tacky and over the top
Even the Prime Minister Andrew holness is a part of the War on Green Space and The Environment. In fact he is the Commander-in-chief leading his army of Environmental destroyers to wreak havoc on the natural world. A nuff green land space homeboy clear fi build dat deh palace deh!
Andrew Holness's Butu Baroque and Ghettofabulous Compound
The Great Wall of Beverly!
Our Political class and Property developers are in fact Environmental destroyers who exist to wreak havoc on the natural word out of selfishness and pure greed. Profits without morality, void of all conscience.
FLOODING 2017
I am not going to say we never get any flooding because we do, BUT I do believe that all this over the top building of ugly gated communities, the blasting away hills and mountain sides and cutting down of the trees and paving over land is a major factor contributed to the type of flooding we see today, especially in places that use to never flood. I see a definite change in flooding patterns. We are building without adequate planning, nothing is taken into consideration. Our development is driven by greed and greed alone and we are courting disaster.
I remember the development of the Golden Triangle was done without proper sewage development and as such people who paid million for their townhouses, was forced to live in shit until it was fixed after the fact.
Gleaner : “Get It Right - Engineer Says Flawed Drainage Contributing To Severe Flooding” … Well in the corporate area where we use to have a nice big yard, land and vegetation to absorb the water, we now have gated communities that are almost entirely paved over. The water no longer gets absorbed but runs off but to where? Take for example Millsborough Avenue, that entire Avenue use to have more open land space with a house sitting in the middle. When it rains most of the water was absorbed but now one house is replaced with a gated community, one family is replaced with 15 to 20 families and everywhere is concrete. It is hotter now when the sun shines and floods when it rains. There is no such thing as town or city planning in grease palm Jamaica.
We have groups of people with titles of planners, pretend planners but the groups are just social groups, somewhere to be seen. They hang out at uncorked and drink wine. We are a nation of profilers...
We are destroying open land green spaces at an alarming rate in Jamaica.
THIS LOVELY HOUSE IN A NICE YARD, in many cases
BECOMES THIS DISGUSTING UGLY THING
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