arly in July, I saw a news story that a new flyover would be built over the Sandy Gully to connect traffic from Dunrobin Avenue to East Kings House Road, close to where I now live.
Diana what can I say except to sigh......Thanks for highlighting the reality of Kingston again. It really is chaka-chaka! The roads are a patchwork, the uncollected garbage is disgusting, worse when it becomes a habit to throw it in a gully, and also when you consider the big hullabaloo that went on with acquisition of new garbage trucks. The sad thing though, is that we can and could do better as a country, if the governance is better and more intentional, and geared to the betterment and wellbeing of all of us.
I always think of regular by the greats, when faced with problems in general and especially challenges in Jamaica.
The one that instantly came to mind reading your article was the Steppin' Razor's song..."The Poor Man Feel It". The lyrics: There's a solution, to all this pollution.
And then "Babylon, your kingdom is faaaaaalling."
I don't know. The money is there. It's the lack of transparency, accountability, moral compass...yes...talking to you Mr. Holness. But it's decades of this.
Thank you for all your hard work and relentless dedication to the betterment of Jamaica. I greatly appreciate you as do many. You are doing what needs to be done, and setting such a good example. I have shared your article with the Waterworks community group who have been having a battle on their hands as developers run roughshod through our community, destroying roads and sewage and planning to erect many more high-rises. It is beyond depressing, and we are in a good area....
Hi Fiona, well I have tried, but I'm not sure about the effectiveness part. I wrote that rant after I had tried to devise a course of action re Kingston, and realized that virtually every type of resistance has already been done by many with no effect. I don't know what is to be done, apart from dozens of people with a different vision for Jamaica going into representational politics and that's just not going to happen.
All true and disheartening. The road to Irish Town and beyond toward Holywell is a disgrace- garbage, trucks and cars parking in the corners, derelict vehicles, non-permitted buildings, breakaways and no-roads, deep potholes & decaying roads. Our community group wrote and and dialogues for years - even meeting with KSAMC - who promised to deal with the issues. The next day they came with notices to plaster in the derelict vehicles and have an overall view of the issues. Then Beryl came and KSAMC has never come back or respond to follow-up emails. Life in 🇯🇲. 😡😢
Jamaica is like a sand castle. Looks magnificent when built, and then it's immediately left to be destroyed. How many historic and new buildings are left to rot? Seeing Vale Royals current state breaks my heart. Even Devon House that I was happy to see some improvements being made, already has deteriorated. The pergolas are all rotten and falling apart.
Is there any reason left to maintain this struggle?
We have the second highest brain drain in the world. (We were first for a year or two.) The best and brightest aren't staying, and I who can blame them. Rich nations with giant welfare capabilities offer a better way of life as a baseline. Jamaican stakeholders seem happy to continue exporting their wealth to live a foreign lifestyle.
I have a stubborn nature my father endowed on me. I want to stay, no matter what. However, the older I get and the more elders I speak to, the more they tell me to just leave now. They waited and are now stuck.
We appeal to the lowest standards, (if any) and politicians are terrified to punish bad behaviour. I often hear that the high standards were colonial remnants anyway, so they deserve to be torn down. Does everyone know Britain was colonised as well,... many times over - The Celts, Romans, Anglo Saxon, Vikings and Normans. They got rid of the bad, and kept the good.
Go into any Instagram post, and read the comments. You'll see a particular venom for any standards covering 90% of the feedback. Throwing garbage on the road? Good! Gives people work, and someone else is supposed to pick that up anyway. There's no bins exactly where I am standing right now. "Chuh... Dash it weh!" What birthed this demonic sentience?
I think it's weak leadership, zero vision, and a willingness to keep taking as much resources as possible before fleeing to the closest wealthy nation. Haiti 2.0
Where are the national patriots? Apart from you... I don't see them much at all any more???
They're too tired, or too ashamed to speak up?
We're forever looking to the past and trying to change it or collect a debt that's never going to be paid.
A thriving, safe, and enjoyable Jamaica is still possible.
It requires patriots who won't stand for perpetual build and let decay.... fucking sand castles.
I used a picture of Kingston taken from Skyline Drive, because from a distance, Kingston looks good. Get up close though, and that's a different story. The comments under any social media post will depress anyone - a chunk are tribalists, another chunk are bots, and there are relatively few responses that deserve 10 seconds of thought, let alone a response. I often like to say that many things can be true at the same time: It is true that we have cultural attitudes to waste that are dysfunctional. It is also true that we have a very poor waste management system. True that we have tried a few solutions over the years, some successful, some not, but none have been maintained. It is true that we prefer the 'bly' culture and push back against rules and enforcement. Some of our problems are at the level of the citizen, and many more are at the leadership level. As someone who has tried to speak up over a long period of time, it is exhausting and I understand why people are cynical and cyaan badda. But there's no one coming to save us. Here's my simple ask - if you're concerned about Kingston, please share my post. If you know any of the government ministers or CEOs mentioned, send it to them. Tell them you agree with every word. Encourage your friends to do the same. Let's see how many views it gets. Thank you for taking the time to write.
Well said Diana. Cassava Piece Gully disgusts me everytime I pass by it. That little area is the microcosm of everything wrong with my country. Filthy, blatant lawlessness and just one gigantic eye sore smack in the middle of the capital city. We are shameless.
I think many of these issues are tough to deal with and need nuanced thinking, as well as a serious attempt to seek out and deal with underlying issues. I did a lot of work on gullies when I was at JET, including the McGregor Gully and the South Gully in Montego Bay. It would be too long to describe all that I found out but just two things - the McGregor Gully (the one by the fording near to the old Observer building) problem starts in uptown areas where gardeners discard large amounts of bush into the gully. On the South Gully, the course twists and turns, is very narrow in some places, and this was done in order to reward various connected people at the grass roots level with the building contracts. Also, the parish councils themselves told people to put waste into the gullies all over Jamaica - it took the pressure off the PCs to collect it, and at the time the waste stream was largely biodegradable. That practice was deeply inculcated in the Jamaican people and has continued, although our waste stream has totally changed. On the regulatory side, there are at least eight different laws governing gullies in some way and the maintenance of them crosses the parish councils, NSWMA, NRCA/NEPA and NWA. In shorthand, it's complex. Thanks for taking the time to write.
Diana what can I say except to sigh......Thanks for highlighting the reality of Kingston again. It really is chaka-chaka! The roads are a patchwork, the uncollected garbage is disgusting, worse when it becomes a habit to throw it in a gully, and also when you consider the big hullabaloo that went on with acquisition of new garbage trucks. The sad thing though, is that we can and could do better as a country, if the governance is better and more intentional, and geared to the betterment and wellbeing of all of us.
I always think of regular by the greats, when faced with problems in general and especially challenges in Jamaica.
The one that instantly came to mind reading your article was the Steppin' Razor's song..."The Poor Man Feel It". The lyrics: There's a solution, to all this pollution.
And then "Babylon, your kingdom is faaaaaalling."
I don't know. The money is there. It's the lack of transparency, accountability, moral compass...yes...talking to you Mr. Holness. But it's decades of this.
It's everywhere too. I live in foreign.
Wish I had an answer.
Thank you for all your hard work and relentless dedication to the betterment of Jamaica. I greatly appreciate you as do many. You are doing what needs to be done, and setting such a good example. I have shared your article with the Waterworks community group who have been having a battle on their hands as developers run roughshod through our community, destroying roads and sewage and planning to erect many more high-rises. It is beyond depressing, and we are in a good area....
Hi Fiona, well I have tried, but I'm not sure about the effectiveness part. I wrote that rant after I had tried to devise a course of action re Kingston, and realized that virtually every type of resistance has already been done by many with no effect. I don't know what is to be done, apart from dozens of people with a different vision for Jamaica going into representational politics and that's just not going to happen.
All true and disheartening. The road to Irish Town and beyond toward Holywell is a disgrace- garbage, trucks and cars parking in the corners, derelict vehicles, non-permitted buildings, breakaways and no-roads, deep potholes & decaying roads. Our community group wrote and and dialogues for years - even meeting with KSAMC - who promised to deal with the issues. The next day they came with notices to plaster in the derelict vehicles and have an overall view of the issues. Then Beryl came and KSAMC has never come back or respond to follow-up emails. Life in 🇯🇲. 😡😢
I think the non response from state agencies is the worst. We deserve better.
Jamaica is like a sand castle. Looks magnificent when built, and then it's immediately left to be destroyed. How many historic and new buildings are left to rot? Seeing Vale Royals current state breaks my heart. Even Devon House that I was happy to see some improvements being made, already has deteriorated. The pergolas are all rotten and falling apart.
Is there any reason left to maintain this struggle?
We have the second highest brain drain in the world. (We were first for a year or two.) The best and brightest aren't staying, and I who can blame them. Rich nations with giant welfare capabilities offer a better way of life as a baseline. Jamaican stakeholders seem happy to continue exporting their wealth to live a foreign lifestyle.
I have a stubborn nature my father endowed on me. I want to stay, no matter what. However, the older I get and the more elders I speak to, the more they tell me to just leave now. They waited and are now stuck.
We appeal to the lowest standards, (if any) and politicians are terrified to punish bad behaviour. I often hear that the high standards were colonial remnants anyway, so they deserve to be torn down. Does everyone know Britain was colonised as well,... many times over - The Celts, Romans, Anglo Saxon, Vikings and Normans. They got rid of the bad, and kept the good.
Go into any Instagram post, and read the comments. You'll see a particular venom for any standards covering 90% of the feedback. Throwing garbage on the road? Good! Gives people work, and someone else is supposed to pick that up anyway. There's no bins exactly where I am standing right now. "Chuh... Dash it weh!" What birthed this demonic sentience?
I think it's weak leadership, zero vision, and a willingness to keep taking as much resources as possible before fleeing to the closest wealthy nation. Haiti 2.0
Where are the national patriots? Apart from you... I don't see them much at all any more???
They're too tired, or too ashamed to speak up?
We're forever looking to the past and trying to change it or collect a debt that's never going to be paid.
A thriving, safe, and enjoyable Jamaica is still possible.
It requires patriots who won't stand for perpetual build and let decay.... fucking sand castles.
I used a picture of Kingston taken from Skyline Drive, because from a distance, Kingston looks good. Get up close though, and that's a different story. The comments under any social media post will depress anyone - a chunk are tribalists, another chunk are bots, and there are relatively few responses that deserve 10 seconds of thought, let alone a response. I often like to say that many things can be true at the same time: It is true that we have cultural attitudes to waste that are dysfunctional. It is also true that we have a very poor waste management system. True that we have tried a few solutions over the years, some successful, some not, but none have been maintained. It is true that we prefer the 'bly' culture and push back against rules and enforcement. Some of our problems are at the level of the citizen, and many more are at the leadership level. As someone who has tried to speak up over a long period of time, it is exhausting and I understand why people are cynical and cyaan badda. But there's no one coming to save us. Here's my simple ask - if you're concerned about Kingston, please share my post. If you know any of the government ministers or CEOs mentioned, send it to them. Tell them you agree with every word. Encourage your friends to do the same. Let's see how many views it gets. Thank you for taking the time to write.
Well said Diana. Cassava Piece Gully disgusts me everytime I pass by it. That little area is the microcosm of everything wrong with my country. Filthy, blatant lawlessness and just one gigantic eye sore smack in the middle of the capital city. We are shameless.
I think many of these issues are tough to deal with and need nuanced thinking, as well as a serious attempt to seek out and deal with underlying issues. I did a lot of work on gullies when I was at JET, including the McGregor Gully and the South Gully in Montego Bay. It would be too long to describe all that I found out but just two things - the McGregor Gully (the one by the fording near to the old Observer building) problem starts in uptown areas where gardeners discard large amounts of bush into the gully. On the South Gully, the course twists and turns, is very narrow in some places, and this was done in order to reward various connected people at the grass roots level with the building contracts. Also, the parish councils themselves told people to put waste into the gullies all over Jamaica - it took the pressure off the PCs to collect it, and at the time the waste stream was largely biodegradable. That practice was deeply inculcated in the Jamaican people and has continued, although our waste stream has totally changed. On the regulatory side, there are at least eight different laws governing gullies in some way and the maintenance of them crosses the parish councils, NSWMA, NRCA/NEPA and NWA. In shorthand, it's complex. Thanks for taking the time to write.
*Songs by the greats. Not "of regular"