Are downtown improvements temporary?

THE EDITOR: For some time now I have noticed letters in your newspaper complimenting the Mayor of Port-of-Spain for trying to improve the downtown area. Of course it is true that the improvements are dramatic, but it also seems true that we are allowing Port-of-Spain to slip backwards to her old maddening ways. Charlotte Street has become disgusting again in the afternoons, especially Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon.

Every Guyanese vendor seems to have come back to Charlotte Street and I for one do not visit Charlotte Street after midday on any day and I have advised my friends to avoid Charlotte Street especially on Friday and Saturday afternoons. The corner of Queen Street and Henry Street is also beginning to look like a “shanty” again. I do not want to appear unappreciative, but I am genuinely fearful that Port-of-Spain will fall to the syndrome of improving only for a short time that has affected all of Trinidad. I would like the Mayor to let us know if the recent improvements were intended to be temporary.

OLIVIA ROCHARD
Belmont Valley Road
Belmont