Letter to Gail Merhair

Dear Gail,

I know you will not be offended if I call you Gail. I do so the same way I call Prime Minister Patrick Manning "Patos" After all he is my representative. I live in San Fernando East.

Now that you have both decided who my councillor should be for the next year, I feel even more comfortable calling you by your first name. I decided on this blog long before you put your name into our history books. I visited the Mayor of San Fernando and told him what I was doing and drew his attention to several irregularities.

I have no interest in contesting an election, so why am I doing this? A former councillor was telling a member of the San Fernando City Corporation in my presence that Councillors cannot really change anything. I was horrified, to say the least. And here I will tell you a little story.

In 1977 Gertrude Kirton was the Mayor of San Fernando. She was a humble woman who worked hard and worked her way up to head the Borough Council. You will notice that I used the word "worked" twice in that sentence.

I was part of a group called San Fernando Citizens Action Committee chaired by James Lee Wah. If you have never heard of James Lee Wah, google his name and you will see a record of a really committed man who never made it to the Senate. I also worked at the Express San Fernando Bureau.

This group fought hard for a link road to Gulf City and an end to quarrying on the San Fernando Hill, among other things. We got the link road but the Hill issue was stonier. One day I went to San Fernando Hill with a small group that included photographer Mungal Chattergoon. It was a Wednesday, middle of the school week. We saw several boys of primary school age bathing in a huge pond of dirty water. When I say huge, I don't mean like the Ste. Madeleine pond, but something about 100 feet long.

That story appeared the next day, the same day as the statutory meeting. Mayor Kirton referred to the newspaper article and ordered City Engineer Vasco Loreille and Superintendent Fitzroy Fahey to organise the documents to stop quarrying on the San Fernando Hill immediately. Many other people have claimed that they stopped quarrying on the Hill, because Mayor Kirton was not around to challenge them. I have never been to the Hill since then.

So today I want you to read the blog headlined "Who is the Contractor Now?" to get an idea of the runaway corruption that you have supported. But that is not all you have supported.

In seven years, I have never seen my Councillor, Wendy Gibbs. I called City Hall for her on one occasion and was told that she was in the USA. On another occasion I used up $11 B-mobile airtime waiting for her to come to the phone. She never came.

When I could not get her to clean the bus stop where a vagrant slept and schoolchildren waited in the morning, I paid to do it myself. I walked to Traffic Management Branch in blazing sunshine (only half mile away) to ask Mr. Ganpat to paint the zebra crossing and put markings by the traffic light. I call Mr. John Barnard at Sanitation very often to make sure the garbage contractors do their work properly and treat people in my community with respect.

I am telling you only so much in this letter, but this site will continue to update you on all the problems you decided my community should face, because you did not want to thwart the government in punishing us. You decided that the barrel covering the hole outside of the house of Mr. Gregory Caesar over the last two years should stay there for another year at least. And if you vote the same way next year, who knows....

And Gail, I want to share a little something with you. When I undertake to do something, especially if I am paid, I try to do it properly. I read and plan and put my whole self into it. I don't just open my mouth.

One last thing, when I first googled your name last week, there were five attempts. This weekend they had crossed the 200 mark. So people are getting to know you, I must say.

So you take care and make a diffference in the Senate.

Sincerely

Zorina Shah