The Editor, Sir:

Prime Minister Bruce Golding's recent announcement of his (government's) intention to essentially make the suburban municipality of Portmore into Jamaica's 15 parish raises questions as to whether or not such a move has been properly thought out or is really necessary.

To better understand the Prime Minister's Portmore parish plan it is useful to critically look at the rationalisation for, and the attendant potential ramification of his desired policy action all as a function of Jamaica's political/administrative culture.

In my estimation, Prime Minister Golding and most of Jamaica's political elite are a product of a spatial system of government that owes its essence to an archaic unitary form of service delivery decision-making culture that emanated within the top-down British system of colonial government.

A further reality is that the prevailing unitary structure of governance tends to see service delivery decision-making functions being effected from urban administrative centres that are, by far, the largest within their respective administrative domain (whether at the national level as in the case of Kingston, or at the parish level, as in the case of Spanish Town, before the design of the Portmore dormitory community to accommodate Kingston's middle class overflow, given the demand for inexpensive housing within commuting distance of the island's capital city).

Spatial political status quo

It is this rapid growth of Kingston's urban-like dormitory satellite, Portmore, that has presented both an intellectual and administrative challenge to the island's contemporary national leaders who are accustomed to the traditional spatial political status quo, one that sees the parish capital as generally being the largest urban entity within the respective parish, presiding over a generally more rural and administratively ignored hinterland (with looming exceptions to be found in the parishes of St. Ann, St. Elizabeth and possibly Westmoreland, the last example via the rapid growth of the tourist resort of Negril).

Given the above stated unitary spatial administrative culture, it is little wonder that Prime Minister Golding, when confronted with the spatial administrative dilemma of how to deal with the service delivery needs of Portmore, chose to see the solution in absolute spatial administrative terms: the creation of an additional Portmore parish as the island's 15th such.

Is such a solution approach really necessary? What will be the long-term effect if and when such second-tier towns as Ocho Rios, Santa Cruz and/or Negril do grow in population and economic status to the point of needing their own autonomous mayor and town councils? Will such communities also be entitled, via their autonomous municipal councils and burgeoning population, to parish status? What if the very large urban centre of Montego Bay which holds a population comparable to that of Portmore should likewise seek a similar degree of administra-tive autonomy as that granted Portmore?

Alternative

A worthwhil is to view spatial administrative space not in absolute unitary terms but rather via a spatially relative federal one. Thus, using the island's larger county boundaries urban centres of a certain size would be defined as legally incorporated administrative space while rural areas would be defined as unincorporated administrative space, one subject to the spatially integrated service delivery thrusts of comprehensive county-based general plans, (the general plan being the legal document charged with streamlining the specialised delivery of a range of rural and urban local government planning functions and attendant services).

In conclusion, the granting of mayoral administrative status in Portmore does not warrant the creation of a new parish in that urban area. After all, Toronto, Vancouver, Miami or New York City have not sought to become provinces, states or counties simply because they have gained administrative autonomy under a mayor within the context of having huge urban populations locally, have they?

I am, etc.,

GARFIELD WHITTAKER

garfield.whittaker@csun.edu

Adjunct Professor

Department of Urban Studies

and Planning

California State University,

Northridge

Los Angeles

Via Go-Jamaica