St James PC bats for community groups

Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:With several community organisations left cash-strapped in St James, the local municipal authority is pushing its efforts to raise thousands of dollars to assist in the entity's thrust for development.

Chairman of the St James Parish Council and Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Charles Sinclair, explained that the municipality has been negotiating funds for community associations for several years and landed a multimillion-dollar deal for the citizens of Coral Gardens in the past.

"Since I have been at the council, I have been lobbying and trying to maximise the value of parish council properties and those under its care to help fund community development," Sinclair revealed.

"When the highway was being built along the Elegant Corridor (Rose Hall), part of the roadwork entailed sections of lands that belong to the citizens of Coral Garden and the land was also in the trust of the parish council. So we negotiated with the developers, and Coral Garden Citizens' Association was able to get $8 million that went towards the extension of the community centre and the construction of perimeter fencing."

Holiday Inn Craft Village also received $5 million at the time of the highway construction as a result of similar negotiations by the council, and those funds, according to the mayor, were used to refurbish the craft village.

The Bogue Village Citizens' Association in Montego Bay recently benefited from negotiations by the council to fund its community development initiatives.

"LIME had gone into the community some years ago and constructed cabinets, but the residents were not benefiting from development," Sinclair noted.

"The lands are under the trust of the parish council, so we negotiated with the provider and we were able to receive funds that could go back towards community development."

The Bogue Village Citizens' Association received $611,250 on February 9 and will also get an additional $170,000 come August 2012.

"From time to time, we go to the citizens' association meetings. Their main concern is the lack of funds to do development in the communities," he said.

"So as we continue to look at other communities under the care of the parish council, and even lands that the municipality owns, we want to ensure that the residents benefit from developments taking place on their community lands."