'Falmouth is not abandoned'
Published:Thursday | November 3, 2011 | 12:00 AM
- Mayor says PC doing all to improve town
- Adds that input of townsfolk needed
Richard Morais, Gleaner Writer
FALMOUTH, Trelawny:
WHILE ALL may not be glowing in Falmouth, mayor of the town, Collen Gager, has dismissed claims that the area has been abandoned.
The mayor said everybody must be a part of the process for the development of the town and dismissed the charge that the parish council was doing nothing.
"Don't be so hostile to us where you are saying the parish council is responsible, the parish council is supposed to clean the drain, the parish council must get the tourists in the town, the parish council must do that, it just look as if they are only looking for somebody to hammer on."
Gager stressed that he was not advocating an abdicating of the parish council's responsibility as much was being done. He added that recently during the heritage period, approximately $400,000 was spent on drain cleaning which is ongoing. He said a comprehensive drainage plan, including the problematic dragline drain is being done by a special engineer, which is being facilitated by the Urban Development Corporation.
Gager said the repair to Cornwall Street, which has become a main thoroughfare since the changes to Falmouth and which has the distinction of being the worst main street of any capital town, is out to tender. "The work for that was just prepared and gone out to tender," he said, adding that funding has been found for this street, therefore work would begin shortly.
Responding to the drain cleaning and cleanliness of the town, Gager blasted some of the businesses in the town which he said were contributing to the condition of the town.
"One thing I can tell you, it can't continue like that within the town, most of these business places they let loose everything, including waste water into the drain; we saw the rice grain, we saw the oil coming out," the mayor said.
Gager said some drivers misled guests by telling them that Falmouth has no attractions. As such, he noted that more stringent measures would be taken against the drivers as to where they congregate and violators would be clamped.
He said a publicity blitz, including on the ships, would soon take place to highlight Falmouth. One of which would be a very huge billboard placed strategically to be seen from the ship inviting persons to visit Falmouth.
The sleepy town of Falmouth came alive earlier this year with the opening of the cruise-ship pier.