'Downtown needs management plan'
Published:Sunday | February 20, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Avia Collinder, Business Writer
Morin Seymour continues to hold visions of the Kingston waterfront as a place where cruise lines dock, and a town that operates on a 24-hour roster.
All it takes, he says, is a coherent plan and better management of the downtown district to build on the reconstruction already under way.
Morin points to infrastructure and negative public-perception issues which, he contends, can easily be remedied by targeted action instead of the ad hoc "change-the-laws-and-hope-for-the-best" strategy, which currently obtains.
Following the promotion by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) of tax relief - enshrined in legislation - and other benefits for the locale, several business have decided to relocate downtown.
However, the Kingston Restoration Company (KRC) head states that much more needs to be done, including debunking the idea that downtown is an unsafe place to shop and conduct business, via a public-relations campaign.
"It is not true," he said, challenging common thinking that equates all of downtown with crime.
"It is as safe as any other central business district in the world. We do have problems outside of the central business district (CBD), but the CBD is safe to do business and work."
Seymour said cruise shipping would not return to the area until the "myth" of security problems was invalidated.
The KRC director joins businessman Steve Khemlani, CEO of the Khemlani Group of Companies, in calling for the reintroduction of Kingston as a cruise ship port of call.
24-hour operations
This, plus the retrofitting of what used to be the Oceana Hotel, would attract watersports, inbond and craft stores, shopping centres, restaurants, and nightlife spots to the city, Khemlani predicts.
According to Seymour, the integration of round-the-clock operations in the city is a necessity.
"We need to get the city working 24 hours a day so we can create jobs for people who need to go to school by day and work at nights. Kingston needs to be managed properly," Seymour said.
For Kingston, Seymour has visions of the French Quarter in New Orleans, United States. Jamaican shoppers who head downtown are likely to save 50 cents on the dollar for food, he added.
Seymour blasted the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation for dropping the ball, saying it has failed to keep raw sewage from flowing periodically on to the streets and to keep the King Street to Harbour Street front corridor - especially the area housing the courts - clear of loiterers and vendors.
Seymour said his own organisation, KRC, is pursuing training programmes for inner-city residents, as well as seeking private-sector funding for the refurbishing of some downtown churches, which, he said, would serve as tourist attractions within the reconstructed city.