More clarity needed on proposed Portmore parish

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am writing with reference to The Gleaner editorial on Saturday, November 7, titled ‘A Strong Case For Portmore Parish’. I really don’t understand how any of the prescribed benefits of upgrading the status of Portmore can’t already be done.

Isn’t a municipality in charge of its own financial and administrative affairs? Portmore as a parish seems to lack the diversity, range, and exclusivity of other existing parishes. Look at Kingston, for instance. It is small, built out, and densely populated like Portmore, and it is twinned with St Andrew as a single administrative region.

Will Portmore act in this way, too? Will it have to be twinned with St Catherine or Kingston and St Andrew to function? What will happen to the rest of St Catherine when such a large base of its population has been declared a single autonomous region?

As residents of Portmore, we also see that the vast majority of amenities are not located there. The municipality was originally constructed as middle-class housing for people who work, study, and do business in Kingston.

Portmore, in many ways, still functions as a suburb that is entirely dependent on Kingston. We saw this with the earlier COVID-19 lockdown and how the residents were seen rushing to Kingston. Has the Government considered expanding the city of Kingston, which I feel might be more appropriate, taking into account the geography, demography, economy, and social composition of the two urban areas?

I would really appreciate public discussion on this proposed move to make Portmore a parish because quite a few things are not exactly clear.

ANTWAIN CLARKE

Via Gleaner Online