…on Parking Meters
It’s not a coincidence that the current City Council came into being on April 1st 2016 – April Fool’s Day. But it was the people of Georgetown who were made into fools. And the PNC Gang of Four — including the Mayor and Town Clerk, who ran the show — had a good laugh. They had to have been working on the parking Meter scam for a while — since they cancelled one signed in the 90s — and they now felt sure their ship had come in. Six weeks later, on May 13, they signed the (in)famous contract with Smart City Solutions (SCS), and the rest is (the fetid) history that won’t go away.
The City Council, by a vote of 13 to 12, just voted to RENEGOTIATE the contract, and not scrap it!! The contract — which obviously is a spawn of Freddie Kruger — lives on!! It didn’t die when the AG’s office declared it was “unconscionable” — one that’s so one-sided it’s unfair to one party, and therefore unenforceable under law. It didn’t die when the Finance Ministry separately concurred. It didn’t die when it was pointed out that the Council never authorised the Mayor to sign such a contract, as is required by the by-laws – and so void ab initio.
And if you think Trotman’s stonewalling on the Exxon oil contract was bad, the Mayor made him look like he’s playing tiddlywinks when you think what she did to the rest of her Council – on whose behalf she purportedly signed!! They could only LOOK at the contract in a sealed room in the presence of one of the Gang of Four, and weren’t permitted to make notes, much less copies! The Government asked for the contract to be suspended — as did the courts, after being petitioned by a citizen. The latter ordered the present “re-evaluation” by the City Council, after it was re-examined by a Committee. Meanwhile, protests were being conducted weekly against City Hall by a horde of enraged town denizens organised as a “Movement Against Parking Meters (MAPM)”. The contract lived on.
MAPM had insisted the contract be scrapped – and not renegotiated, as has now been voted on by the Council. But there are those that would want to know how a contract that was void from its inception could now be “renegotiated”. As one Councillor asked, how could 13 of her fellow councillors approve such a patently illegal act?
But we know the answer to that, don’t we dear readers? Money might not be the root of ALL evils. But it certainly is at the root of THIS Parking Meter contract!!
…for Warriors
Well, they do say all good things must come to an end…and the Warriors’ late sprint for the top rung of the ladder came to an end Thursday night. As you, dear readers, would know (since your Eyewitness wears his heart on his sleeve), he was certain they’d whup the Trinis. But it was not to be. We can all speculate as to the reasons why: the sparse crowds as opposed to the jam-packed stadium they’re used to? That WAS more than a bit unsettling for your pumped-up Eyewitness!
But he did begin to have some doubts when the boys got bogged down in the first ten overs. Where was the free flowing hitting at the top with wickets in hand? Tanvir, after all, like Narine, is a pinch hitter, and with that role it’s always gonna be hit or miss. And when you miss, that’s it! The captain or coach should’ve ordered more intensity from the others. As it was, Primus was the hero in the penultimate over – but squandered his halo with his drop of Munro.
…with oil contretemps
The five (furtive) Ministers didn’t tell anyone they were jetting off to Texas, much less they were jetted off by Exxon! Now inquiring minds want to know whether they also got a “freck”!!
