Barry Thomas | Victims of urban development

I purchased a house in the Kingston 6 area back in 2003. At the time, there was a large piece of land towards the back of my house which spread across the back of other houses on my road. Upon purchasing my property, one of the first things that I did was to erect a 10-foot wall along the length of the back of my property in order to safeguard against any eventuality and keep the back of my yard private.

Over the years, I had enjoyed the comfort and privacy of my backyard until approximately two years ago when I heard sounds of trucks and tractors on the land behind me. It was evident that construction was beginning. Having received no notice from any governing body or contractor regarding the impending works, I took it upon myself to drive around to the front of the site (on another road) to find out who was in charge and make enquiries. I came across two gentlemen who accommodated me and were given to an amicable discussion. I asked about the nature of the development, whether they were houses, town houses, apartments or what. They indicated that they were building three-storey town houses, several units that would span the entire piece of land. They further indicated that the houses would in fact overlook my property. I indicated that I was not too happy as I would not want neighbours looking into my backyard as I like my privacy. Despite this, the conversation ended professionally and I drove back to my house feeling disappointed and a little helpless, but resigned to the fact that there would be some changes.

I was, however, in no way prepared for the changes that I would experience for the next two years, and the inconvenience that I will have to deal with for the rest of my life, or at least as long as I choose to live in what has been my home for the past 17 years.

THINGS ‘DISAPPEARING’

As the development began, I noticed that an iron frame that I had in my back yard for years, which I would occasionally use as a stand, had ‘disappeared’. Then one early morning while it was still dark, I awakened to rustling in my backyard. Upon peering through my bathroom window, I noticed a man in the yard picking the only soursop off my tree. I shouted at him and told him to come out of my yard. He proceeded to tell me that the soursop had fallen out of the tree and he therefore was “taking” it. I ordered him to leave it right there on the ground. He complied and returned to the property being developed, after which I went outside, armed with my machete, just in case, to retrieve my soursop. Weeks later, I arrived home one Saturday after playing football and noticed that the bicycle that my son had outgrown which was on my back porch next to my back door had also ‘disappeared’. This was now supposed to be the last straw as I was feeling quite threatened that someone could reach up to my back door and steal my property. Then what next? I therefore jumped into my car and went to Matilda’s Corner Police Station. They promptly took a statement and then escorted me to the property to confront the developers. One of the gentlemen in charge told us that “Di hole a dem a teef”. “Dem over here a teef dem one anodda cell fone”. “If dem com inna yu yaad, shoot dem”. None of this helped my situation, as although the bicycle was stolen, the bigger issue was that I don’t want anybody in my yard, particularly right up against my back door.

I have subsequently endured dust nuisance as the developers do not cover the buildings as they are being constructed, thus keeping in their dust and other debris. The end result is that I have had to either wash clothes again or choose the best day to hang clothes on the line (they usually don’t work on a Sunday). Additionally, my back porch had become a dust bowl. So that was the end of leisurely afternoons reading The Sunday Gleaner. I also had two cars parked in my backyard and have had to find creative ways of scraping cement off them when the splash from work on their walls ended up on my cars.

Back in August this year while in a Zoom meeting at home, I began to hear noises of trees being sawed coming from the back of my yard. I promptly went outside only to see men standing on the wall that I had erected, cutting down my trees. To be fair, one of the branches of a pear tree was hanging over their yard, but in the main, the trees that were being sawed were my trees in my backyard. By this time, branches and leaves were all over the place in my yard and on my car. I told the men to stop sawing the trees immediately. They did not comply and so I immediately called the police. Within about five minutes the Matilda’s Corner police arrived and ordered the men to stop working as they had no right to chop down my trees. The workmen finally complied with the policeman’s orders. I subsequently ordered the men not to come into my yard as I now would have to take up the matter with the developer. I advised one of my neighbours of my latest ordeal. She told me that the workmen told her that I had pulled a gun on them. I dismissed the accusation and continued with my plans to discuss this latest matter with the developers.

LEFT WITH A TREE LOG

Weeks later, on my second visit to the property, in search of the developer, I caught up with him on one of the side roads and informed him of my latest ordeal. His response was “So wa u waa mi fi do? Di tree dem cut arready”. I informed him that I wanted him to arrange to take the debris out of my yard along with the eight-foot ackee tree trunk. He said that he would not be doing that. And went on to say that “As a matta a fact, di man dem say dat you draw gun pon dem. If mi did deh deh, mi wudda ...”

Upon realising that this ‘conversation’ was going nowhere, I told him that it was okay and I drove off.

I have had to clean up my backyard myself while I still try to figure out what to do with my newly acquired eight-foot ackee tree log.

I am not against development, but the associated wanton disregard for other people and their property has been most upsetting.

There has been a wave of transforming single dwelling houses into town houses or apartments with absolutely no consideration for the owners who live beside or behind these developments. Neither the developers nor the governing bodies feel that they need to advise residents of the impending development. Not a knock on a gate or a note in a letterbox advising residents of the temporary inconvenience, while asking us to ‘pardon the progress’ during some particularly inconvenient but unavoidable part of their project.

I can recall growing up in Eastwood Park Gardens where such a prime residential area was by and large transformed into a residential/commercial area with trailers waking up residents on Dumbarton Avenue as early as 5 a.m. as they navigate the narrow road to go about their business. Richmond Park has also suffered the same fate. I can recall my parents going to citizens’ association meetings to discuss these developments and associated inconveniences. The meetings ultimately got them nowhere, and more and more residents have become victims of ‘development’.

Thankfully, the contractor and workmen will eventually be gone from the back of my property. They will move on to some other unsuspecting victim. I, however, will be left with a new homeowner sitting on his or her balcony invading my privacy, overlooking my backyard and wondering why I seem to be less than sociable during one of my rare visits outside.

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