SOS for President’s grounds

THE EDITOR: Over the past 50 years or so, citizens of this country have watched as one after the other, our beautiful houses, tangible evidence of our history, has been neglected and destroyed. In more recent times, we have seen the demolition of the Union Club and the old Queen’s Park Hotel, a prime example of Art Deco architecture. We watched the vandalism wrought on the Lee house on St Clair Avenue. Mille Fleurs is almost at the point of no return. Dr Eric Williams shaped this country into what it now is, yet his house is in the process of being torn down. The list is regrettably endless.

Even when an effort is made to preserve something of the past such as the Sewala in the sea at Orange Valley, we fall short. Those of us old enough to do so, will remember a simple temple, mute expression of a simple man’s faith in a Supreme Being. The building now in its place bears scant resemblance to Sieudath Saddhu’s sewala and retains none of the atmosphere of the original. The Maha Sabha surely could not have sanctioned this travesty. Perhaps one day our Mucurapo Lands in St James will be turned into a simple park with minimal paving and many trees so that we will have an alternative to the overcrowded Botanical Gardens as a place for recreation.

Now we have the President’s Grounds, used by sports groups, schools and residents of St Ann’s and Cascade. Churches in the Belmont and Morvant areas frequently hold their Family Days there. A group of disabled people participate in an exercise class on the grounds. I do hope that the decision to include President’s Grounds into the general layout of the Prime Minister’s residence will be reconsidered in favour of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

J GARCIA
Port-of-Spain