People's Report: KSAC, JPS urged to fix non-functioning street lights
Published:Wednesday | December 23, 2015 | 12:00 AM
JOSEPH M. CORNWALL SR
Managing Director/CEO
House of Tranquillity Funeral Home Ltd
I would like to make an appeal to Mayor of Kingston Angela Brown Burke and Kelly Tomblin, CEO of the Jamaica Public Service Company Ltd, to have the street lights at Upper King Street, between National Heroes Circle and Boothe Avenue, working once again.
The Kingston Central police and the Fletcher's Land police are called upon to patrol the Fletcher's Land community and its environs in pitch darkness.
Were it not for security lights installed on my building along Boothe Avenue, between Orange and King streets, the place would be in total darkness. Before I installed security lighting on my building, the darkness provided the perfect opportunity for criminals to rob unsuspecting victims of their property.
I no longer use my Boothe Avenue entrance and exit after 6 p.m., but, instead, operate my night service from my Orange Street entrance and exit.
The JPS and the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses need to do something about the properties they own along Orange Street in the vicinity of Bowery Road and Drummond Street. They are a disaster waiting to happen. JUTC buses no longer pick up and let off passengers at the designated bus stop at the corner of Orange Street and Bowery Road, but, instead, take up and let off passengers lower down Orange Street, below Bowery Road.
I observed police personnel from the Kingston Central Police Station holed up at a business premises on Sunday night, December 20, along King Street, where there is light, as it is unsafe for them to go anywhere else because it is impossible for them to see. How can they reduce crime and violence in pitch darkness?
Is the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation paying its bill for street-light service in the area? If it is, JPS should ensure that the service it is being paid for is supplied. Payment should be withheld if the service is not delivered.
The parish councillors need to perform their jobs with dispatch, as they become pensionable after two terms and they are in receipt of motor vehicle duty concessions, along with upkeep and travelling allowances.
I am requesting that the JPS send an officer to visit the community after 6 p.m. to see the untenable situation that exists.
All lights must be in working order if we are to contain crime and violence. Criminal elements use darkness as their cover to carry out their acts of violence.