THE EDITOR: I am wondering if the mayor of Port of Spain is still on the job or if he stayed back in Toco for fun and games while parking madness obtains in the capital city. Maybe he has thrown his hands in the air in despair.

As you drive along Independence Square you have to be careful to not crash into a line of parked vehicles where there is a clear arrow indicating it's a drive lane. So to park in this lane is an obstruction, but that does not seem to be a problem with the city, the traffic police or the TTPS "ticket terrorists."

If this were Crown Point, your car would be gone and a no-parking sign put down in the spot.

On any given day, vehicles are squished bumper to bumper all around Independence Square, creating a nuisance. In addition, if you have cause to use Ajax Street, do not be surprised to see vehicles parked all the way to the intersection with Wrightson Road, obstructing the free flow. Of course, these vehicles belong to officers of the state, so they can break the law while citizens get ticket after ticket after ticket.

All around the Financial Complex, the "flag plaza," cars are parked in a freeco zone until rain starts. Then the government vehicles park on the flag plaza and private cars go into the same car parks they thumbed their noses at before. It's like they are sharing the road with the vagrants who have set up cardboard studio apartments on the roadway.

The new "homeless resort" is under RBC on Independence Square, where the good Samaritans serve baked chicken, pie and Chubby. Don't even ask about the effluent that results from these acts of kindness, because the toilets are locked and the river is too far, so the banks on Independence Square get it. But wait until someone slides or tracks it into the bank.

I distinctly recall the mayor saying that some measure of parking regulation was coming along with the wrecker, but obviously that has been abandoned as at the moment it's a free-for-all.

And there are so many parking lots currently underutilised.

In addition, the condition of the roads is disgraceful. Proof of this is at the corner of Queen and Abercromby Streets, where the national library is disgraced with several big potholes, as well as a loose manhole cover bouncing on a jagged edge just after UTC.

They fixed a sinkhole just after Republic Bank on the corner of Abercromby Street, but didn't hear the banging just higher up. Just wait until someone is harmed or has property damaged and the mayor will find out.

Please God, do something about the indiscriminate parking in Port of Spain.

LINDA S CAPILDEO

St James

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