Derelict buildings could be demolished

OWNERS of derelict buildings within the precincts of the San Fernando City Corporation beware! Your building could be up next for demolition. This was the warning from San Fernando Mayor Ian Atherly, who signalled the corporation’s intention to either refurbish and claim ownership of these buildings, or demolish them. While making this disclosure at the monthly statutory meeting of the City Corporation’s Council at City Hall yesterday, he also congratulated the City’s Public Health Department for the ongoing inspection campaign of restaurants and supermarkets. For the month so far, at least eight food shops and even a supermarket were forced to close their doors after health inspectors discovered a number of infractions to the Health Code.

It was against that issue, Mayor Atherly announced a similar campaign of “refurbishment or demolition against numerous dilapidated, ruinous and unwholesome buildings,” within the City. “Some of these buildings are used by undesirables for illicit practices, while a number are being used as homes by vagrants and have become virtual fire hazards,” Mayor Atherly told the council. He added that several buildings had been unoccupied and abandoned “for years” by their owners or agents. Atherly said both the public health department, as well as the City Engineer’s department would be mandated to perform inspections of these structures to determine whether the relevant building regulations, public health and Municipal Corporation codes were being adhered to.

The Mayor also took the opportunity, on the Council’s first anniversary, to appoint lone Opposition UNC councillor Carol Cuffy-Dowlat to the chair of the Assessment and Claims Committee of the City Corporation. Meanwhile, the corporation also presented plaques to the parents of the three south students who topped the world in various academic subjects at Cambridge Advanced Levels. One of them was President Medal winner Dennis Ramdass who placed first in the world in Physics. Ramdass, who is pursuing advanced studies at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, was not present yesterday and his award was accepted by his mother.