Mayor’s ‘Pedestrian Mall’ is back

DESPITE the feelings of senior Southern Division police that a trial run of San Fernando Mayor Ian Atherly’s pet project — a pedestrian mall along busy High Street in San Fernando — would not be feasible this year given the advent of the Christmas season, an all clear was given for the mall by Commissioner of Police (CoP) Trevor Paul. This paves the way for the Pedestrian Mall’s trial run on Monday — 12 days before Christmas Day — in what Mayor Atherly believes will be a means of boosting slow commercial activity in the southern city.

Earlier this week, Southern Division chief, Snr Supt Dawson Victor opined that the Pedestrian Mall should not be implemented on a trial basis this year because of the start of the busy Christmas season and the short notice for the various agencies to block off one of the major vehicular thoroughfares in the southern city. He even predicted that such a move could cause mass chaos. Speaking with Newsday yesterday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (South) Dennis Graham maintained the view that the Pedestrian Mall was not a feasible move, especially on short notice to all the stakeholders involved — including businessmen, shoppers and motorists.

He said, however, that South police were now acting on direct instructions given yesterday morning by Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul. “The CoP telephoned instructing that the San Fernando Mayor should be allowed to go ahead with his plan of having a Pedestrian Mall for the Christmas season, and urged us (the police) to see how best we can support the Mayor and his initiative,” ACP Graham said. He added he did not know how the general public would react to this move, but believed it would greatly affect them. “The general public will be affected in the sense that in a way it will be a bit chaotic, but instructions came from CoP Trevor Paul and we must follow through. It is now left for all to see what happens next,” Graham said. Mayor Atherly yesterday lamented that he was tired and fed-up with the constant negativity coming from individuals, including the Police Service and the business community at large.