Think again, Mayor Atherly

THE EDITOR: Please permit me a space in your newspaper to express my views on a topic that annoys me. I am having trouble in comprehending Mayor Atherly’s decision to stop vehicular traffic from High Street and to house the majority of taxi stands on Pointe-a-Pierre Road. I am a commuter and I rely heavily on taxis passing up High Street. If this pilot project comes to pass, I know that my life and the lives of many others will change. We will have suffering two ways, monetarily and physically. We will have to pay taxis extra to take us to where we really want to go and then to walk the distance for those who are unwilling to take us to our destination. What about the poorer man or the elderly? What will happen to them? Are you going to subsidise these taxis for the longer route they will be forced to make?

Are you going to walk with the old lady with her bags of groceries from High Street to Mucurapo Street or Pointe-a-Pierre Road? In my job I rely heavily on these taxis on High Street and I know that there are hundreds maybe even thousands who rely on this same service. It has been said that a meeting was held with the Business Association, but I cannot see how they could agree to such a horrendous idea, especially after every business person I have spoken to is against this. Who have you been talking to? What about the vagrants? In my opinion something needs to be done about them before you remove the vehicles from High Street. Hardly ever you can walk/drive up High Street and not get the stench coming from these vagrants and have to move around in fear that one may attack you. Mayor Atherly, before you put your plan into action I would like you to come out in your three piece suit and spend a couple days trying to get from one point to the next without a vehicle and see and experience what life is like outside here for us, the real people.

KAMINI SAMMY
Cocoyea