With an oil impending boom, it is hard for urban planners not to speculate as to what Georgetown can become if its citizens and municipal government have the will to transform their beloved capital city. Here I share some thoughts that might be useful in the beginning stages of this city’s transformation.
Comprehensive Plans
My first suggestion is that City Hall develop a comprehensive plan that contains a 20-year vision for the city. The plan should be lofty, bold, motivating, and inclusive. It should contain proposals for modernizing all the major subsystems of the city including local economy, housing, transportation, shopping, recreation, drainage, etc. I suggest that the city hire a reputable planning company with considerable experience to conduct surveys to find out the kind of city in which people really want to live, work and play over the next 20 year. The comprehensive plan must be a combination of people’s aspirations plus cutting-edge urban design ideas.
While my primary focus here is on Georgetown, similar plans should be realized for other major urban places in Guyana including Linden, New Amsterdam, Rose Hall, Corriverton, Bartica, Parika.
Also, now might be a good time for urban and regional planners to start thinking about the possible relocation of Guyana’s capital given the realities of climate change.
Clean up Georgetown
While we await formal surveys and comprehensive planning documents addressing visions and goals for the major sub-subsystems of Georgetown, there are plenty low-cost initiatives that can be done to help Georgetown step into its new role on the world scene. For starter, initiating a ‘keep-the-city-clean’ campaign is something that should be done immediately. After all, Georgetown is becoming an important international destination for many business people and a clean city is good for local economics, regardless of the level of development of the city.
Cleaning up Georgetown and keeping it clean on a daily basis is not a Herculean task. At the beginning of the Granger’s regime, Georgetowners were motivated to clean up their city. Within a short time, many canals, drains, alleys, intersections, and public places in the city were cleared of trash and people felt better as the city took on a new appearance.
Here, I am talking about consistently maintaining clean living spaces. Indeed, an industry with hundreds of jobs can be created around this activity. I advocate that garbage containers be placed everywhere in the city’s downtown and other public spaces. The city’s public health department should use TV, radio, newspapers and other means to encourage people to maintain clean living and working spaces. I also suggest that scores of workers be hired to just pick up and dispose of roadside litter.
As Georgetown is located in the tropics, the constant heat and moisture give rise to much plant growth. This should be an opportunity for thriving landscaping businesses. Parapets should be constantly weeded, and drains cleaned. In particular, the lawns in public places should be regularly trimmed and large canals need to be kept clean. And the Le Repentir Cemetery should be transformed into a burial park where visiting the final resting places of loved ones is no longer a challenging task.
Improve Traffic Circulation
On the matter of traffic circulation, city planners need to begin working on improving vehicular and pedestrian traffic flows within the city’s downtown, especially around the Stabroek Market area. Some amount of planning has been done to that area over the past few years, but because of its centrality to downtown Georgetown, more improvements are needed.
And while we are at this, can city officials just purchase some paint to clearly demarcate road lanes within the city? What’s so hard about that? The pic below shows Regent Street, a busy commercial thoroughfare, with no median line clearly demarcated. Clearly demarcated lanes go a long way in making driving easier and safer.
Parking stall also need to be clearly demarcated. In the picture above, parallel parking is allowed on both sides of the road, but the parking stalls are not demarcated. This should be fixed so to reduce the possibility of conflicts over where motorists should park.
Parking is also still free in Georgetown. A well publicized attempt to install parking meters a few years ago was protested because it was deemed exploitative. However, as more people visit and live in the city, the demand for parking stalls will increase. Therefore, the city needs to revisit the parking issues of the city and come up with modern, workable parking solutions.
Address the Visual Image of Georgetown
There is also a clear need to address the poor visual image of Georgetown as one approaches from the East Bank. Currently, the view of the city entering from this direction is depressing, mostly because many of the buildings are dilapidated, including La Penitence Market. We need more impressive vistas as one enters the city from the East Bank. After all, those are the views that foreigners experience on their arrival to the city. I expect that demand for riverfront properties to service the oil industry will cause many of the old buildings to be torn down, but a great deal of cityscape planning is needed in this area.
Party Politics
It is also imperative that Georgetown no longer suffer financial and physical neglect as a result of PPP/APNU conflict, as it did in the past. Georgetown has traditionally voted APNU and, consequently, has not received strong financial support when the PPP is in power. Guyanese politics must mature and acknowledge that regardless of the political party that runs the country, Georgetown must receive adequate financial support from the central government for its physical growth and development. This is not a matter of political patronage; it is a matter of good economics. Increasingly, Guyana is moving towards a service-based economy, so the livelihood of thousands of people, both within Georgetown and outside of Georgetown, depend on the city being maintained as an attractive and efficient urban center providing services to local and international clients.
Conclusion
My main point in this post is that City Hall should start visibly working to improve Georgetown so that the city can better adapt to its new role in the global economy. The city’s government needs to set the tone for its residents. Together, they can start working to improve Georgetown.