Residents of Spring Garden, St. Thomas, repairing bad roads in their community. - ContributedBy Deon Green,
Freelance Writer
WHILE PEOPLE in some communities block roads to get the authorities to fix them, residents of Spring Garden, St. Thomas, are taking a different route -- they've decided to do the patching themselves.
Heavy rains in recent weeks have worsened conditions in the community, forcing the residents into action.
"We always fix them ourselves but since the rains the roads get worse, and I don't believe in blocking roads. The Citizens' Association for that matter doesn't believe in blocking roads," said Roger Smith, president of the association, "so we have started more intensely to repair the roads in our community."
Mr. Smith explained that the community had taken its concern to the authorities but the conditions just kept getting worse. "... We, as citizens, decided that we wouldn't allow them to get worse as we are the ones most likely to be affected," said Mr. Smith.
Based on this premise, the association got members of the community to donate time and money to the road-repair project. "We had a community meeting, arrived at a consensus, and we took it from there," Mr. Smith said.
As their plan unfolded, residents bought $4,000 worth of "cold mix", as well as sand, and paid a further $10,000 to transport the material.
The work is being done by about 40 members of the Citizens' Association and other area residents.
Mr. Smith noted that most of the bad spots had been repaired but that there was much more work to be done. "We intend to approach the National Works Agency for some technical assistance, and the use of heavy equipment...we also intend to have another community meeting to decide how we intend to raise additional funds to complete the road work."
Spring Garden residents said they were not pleased with efforts by the St. Thomas Parish Council and other related agencies which are responsible for roads in the parish.
"We are totally disappointed with the whole road maintenance programme in Jamaica and St. Thomas, especially, since the contractual system (was introduced)," said Mr. Smith.
It's a sad story, he said, because roads which were the medium to drive business and other activities are instead restricting development and growth.
As for the repairs, "it's either you do it or stay with the problem," Mr. Smith said. "We see the blocking of roads as further destroying them, plus it instigates violent behaviour which is not needed in our community."
