Exactly one week ago tonight (See_Stuck in Mud) Port Loyola Area Representative and our 7NEWS crew trudged through the muck and mud that was Jane Usher Boulevard Extension to show what the residents in that area deal with on the daily. Today after a week of sun, the street was drier and our 7NEWS team was back with what we took to be some fair weather friends, holding out the promise of better times ahead. Keith cleaned up his shoes and returned for the story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
What was just plain old mud last week became fertile political ground today when Works Minister Joe Coye joined Port Loyola Area Rep. Anthony ‘Boots’ Martinez on Jane Usher boulevard extension. Flanked by City Councilor Marshall Nunez and a city engineer, Coye offered a promise of an eventual solution to mud, mosquito, and other problems. All this while Coye deflected responsibility to his municipal counterpart who reflected it right back.
Hon. Joe Coye, Minister of Works
“Well I would say that municipal government has that responsibility but we want to work along with the municipal government. We are going to work along with Central Government. It is a plan they are going to have to develop. What I am suggesting here today to the Area Representative and to the municipal government representative here is that this kind of project could qualify for poverty alleviation and the kind of funding that would be needed could be very low cost funding. So what we need to do is to develop a design, an engineering design, for the area for the drainage and then of course for the upgrading of roads. And I am confident that the kind of funding that is needed for this could be had, at very low cost not at commercial rate.”
KS: The Minister of Works has said this is the city council’s problem and your responsibility. What are you guys going to do about it?
Marshall Nunez, City Councilor
“Well predominantly yes because we are the municipal administrator but I think I overheard him saying that yes the responsibilities of the city has been overgrown and the revenue is not coming in the way it should so there has to be the coordination and that is why we are pleased to know that the Minister of Works is out here with us. This project its almost virtually to the council to have been able to come in here and get it done.”
KS: Like I asked the Minister, today’s visit is great and everything but when will they see results? The mud is gone but now there are mosquitoes, when will they breathe?
Marshall Nunez,
“If you notice this is an expanding area. The area is expanding so it will take a while. It’s going to take a while.”
KS: But you still haven’t given me a timeline…one week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 2 months? Any immediate relief?
Marshall Nunez,
“In terms of the street that we are standing on the work, weather permitting, could start next week. Definitely.”
And what about today - a government minister, a city councilor, and a city engineer are in the area. But the residents have been suffering long before all this attention - that today looked a lot like grandstanding.
KS: Did you have to see these people on TV last week living in mud for you to come out here? Was that what motivated you to come out here?
Hon. Joe Coye, Minister of Works
“Well I could put the question back at you. What motivated you? What motivated me is simply this: the central government, meaning now in this case the Ministry of Works, doesn’t have responsibility for the city infrastructure. That is for the municipal government. I think the motivation would come from any of us in government. That because we are central government means we can simply sit back and ignore it. We believe indeed that the demands of this city are far beyond the revenue basin of this municipal government.”
KS: Like I asked the Minister, would you have been out here today if these residents weren’t on the news last week?
Marshall Nunez, City Councilor
“For me no, I was here last week. I was out here last week not at this very same spot but we were up Jane Usher Boulevard last week; myself, the city engineer, and the works people from the city council. We were here at the time when the rains were actually coming down. We understand and we empathize with the situation but it’s a project and an effort that overgrow the authority and the responsibilities of the council. And that is why we are here again.”
One man who is hopeful is the Area Rep Boots Martinez.
Hon. Anthony “Boots” Martinez, Area Rep.
“At least by next week this street will be worth the while for the children to be coming out and going to school. And I think apart from that the Minister has committed for us to sit down and organize a comprehensive plan for the whole area of Port Loyola especially the Jane Usher Boulevard Area where he said they have a project that they can do streets to alleviate poverty.”
All that should come later but it still uncertain. Right now, the only certainty is that more rains will fall and the hope is that these folks will act before the mud follows it.
If weather permits, the City Council hopes to have equipment out on Jane Usher Boulevard Extension next week.