Madam Mayor

I am happy that Marlene Coudray is the Mayor of San Fernando. I still do not know the nature of the fallout between Coudray and Patrick Manning and at this point I really do not want to know.
I am happy for a specific reason that has nothing to do with the PNM or the Peoples Partnership. It has everything to do with how the council is run.
Mayor Coudray knows all the ins and out, the entire workings of the council and as Mayor she must erase what is bad and promote what is admirable. To start with, the Mayor must ask the new Chief Executive Officer to maintain a proper record of all contractors so that councillors do not get contracts through the back door.
Former Mayor Ferguson knew that was one of my biggest beef with the corporation. I will still like to know how Jennifer Marryshow's spouse became a contractor with the San Fernando City Corporation when he had no skills... no knowledge and couldn't hire people with those qualities. How did Hasoma continue to get contracts after Marryshow became a director of the company? Those contracts passed through a process involving civil servants and Marlene Coudray was the head of that branch of the public service.
I have heard numerous stories about why Marryshow was favoured. I went several times to Coudray's office without success. I was asked to leave my name and phone number and never received a call.
I want here to tell Coudray of two, only two of the experiences I have had. One actually involves Ferguson. I called him on his cell. He didn't recognise my number but he still answered. He was at his brother's funeral in Grenada and he asked me to call him on Sunday when he returned to Trinidad.
On another occasion I called him about the Waterfront development project. He did not answer. Within ten minutes he returned my call and said he was at a meeting at PTSC in Port of Spain. The man does not even know my name but he returned my call.
The other involves the new Speaker of the National Assembly in Suriname, Jennifer Simons-Geerlings. I walked past Simons once in Paramaribo when I was trying to get an interview with Desi Bouterse. When Simons became chairman of the Assembly, I called her to find out what arrangements were being made for the election of the president. A colleague at the office where she worked as a doctor answered the phone, asked for my name and number so she could call me back. YEAH RIGHT!
In four minutes flat, my phone rang. Jenny Simons had returned my call. The colleague, also a doctor relayed the information to Simons who was at another office and THE CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IN SURINAME returned a call to an ordinary San Fernandian.
Even if Coudray did not want to return my call her secretary should have called me with some reason or referred me to someone else. And please don't tell me that the clerk did not forward that message.
I have known Mayors and Town Clerks in San Fernando from the seventies, before the term of the late Carlyle Kangaloo. Many of them have died. I liked Rakeeb Hosein and Gertrude Kirton and Lynne Sumadh. I never let Clyde Boyce, Vasco Loreilhe and Fitzroy Fahey get away with anything. And I kept the late Ralph Gordon Neville Brown and Bury Clifford on their toes.
I objected to San Fernando being made a City because I knew we would get nothing for it except higher rates and taxes. And I am on record as having warned the people of Chaguanas that "City" is a word that comes with partying for politicians that taxpayers must pay for. All this nonsense about 'City" must be put aside and needs of people must be addressed instead.
San Fernando is a City, but we have a dump for a market in Marabella. San Fernando is a City but the streets are a mess. One cannot walk on Coffee Street without fear of pigeon droppings. San Fernando is a City, but there are barrels covering drains in Mon Repos. There is no proper drainage on Jones Street.
San Fernando is a City but vendors control the town. The City hired a town planner from Port of Spain, Margaret McDowell to address the vending problem. She brought the Princes Town taxis to the Library Corner to create chaos and the vendors are still on High Street.
Madam Mayor, I do not want to hear anything about sanitation standards in food places. That is a routine thing and should be done as a matter of course...no pun intended. I want to know how this dump of a town can earn its title of "City"
And I am looking to you to show me how that is done.