Chin Lee’s hairy fairy food-fest scheme

THE EDITOR: On Monday April 11, residents of Cipriani Boulevard were told of a meeting being held on Wednesday 13 at 51 Degrees by Minister Howard Chin Lee to hear about plans to declare the street the venue for a National Culinary Festival, advertised as “Taste TT: A Festival of Flavours.” The meeting lasted some 90 minutes with the minister and the police in tow. Mr Chin Lee told, not consulted with those present that the entire boulevard would be closed to all vehicular traffic from May 19 to May 23. After objections by residents and businesses he said “consideration” will be given to them for a parking permit...but customers and all others will be diverted and will have to park elsewhere.

No one at the meeting agreed with the plan as outlined by Mr Chin Lee. The minister was told that the QP Savannah, which was just a stone’s throw away, would be the logical venue since there was the vast expanse of the savannah for tents and parking. The minister was not partial to that location offering no reason. As one person said, it was a fait accompli and objections seemed useless. Well, for businesses there, it means closing up shop for five days so he can play himself...as he explained,  similar things are done in New Orleans where I understand he studied. Indeed, why doesn’t the minister get his Cabinet colleagues (remember the concept of Joint Cabinet Responsibility) to implement more of what he saw in the US to make the lives of the average Trini more bearable.

Some of the things he can encourage his colleagues to address would surely include: crime, infrastructural works, especially roads and water, inflation and rampant haemorrhage of public funds everywhere but on improving facilities for the taxpayer. Instead the minister became visibly angry after almost all those present showed no inkling of approval for his “grand plan.” At present Cipriani Boulevard is one of the busiest streets in Port-of-Spain, almost the entire day, which means the diversion will cause more traffic jams for hapless motorists seeking to get around.

This would mean that businesses that depend on clients to drive up to their business would lose almost a week of revenue and perhaps even lose long term business from those clients. Well, it seems to me that unless the street is closed for some emergency, national disaster or maybe even national security it is highly irregular and maybe even illegal to do what the minister is planning. Government (collectively) it seems is bent on trampling on the rights of all and sundry in pursuing their hairy fairy schemes.

N P JAMES
Cipriani Boulevard