Some thoughts on San Fernando

I have always wanted to share my thoughts on the City of San Fernando with other people who live here.

I first became interested in the development of our city (a borough back then) when I worked at a newspaper and covered the activities of the Borough Council as part of my portfolio. At that time of course, we called it a beat.

It is difficult to find out what is taking place in the City from the media. I walk the streets of San Fernando and wonder where our representatives are. Since Local Government Elections have been postponed three times, representation has fallen by the wayside. I polled 68 people last Thursday, May 21, 2009 and only one knew the name of our Mayor. People were still saying that the Mayor is Ian Atherley. Not one of them knew the name of the Deputy Mayor.

The Councillors are under no pressure to perform, so representation is reduced to what takes place at City Hall. No one asked these Councillors if they wanted to continue to serve. They were just given an additional period to collect their stipend, or whatever it is called these days. No doubt other municipalites are afflicted with the same problem.

So the gap between the Corporation and the citizens widens. Local government is conducted behind closed doors. Participation from citizens is limited to paying taxes and the celebrations for Carnival and Borough Day.

I have decided to use this space to open up an area of discussion on our city. If we can get one proper response from the people who run our city from the tower up there, we would have made some headway.

Hope to hear from you too.

Many good wishes
Zorina