Last year, on Carnival Tuesday, sometime after 10 am, a fleet of three white wreckers crossed the median on Wrightson Road and proceeded north onto Cornelio Street.They removed all the vehicles they could during the course of several trips as, according to the officer in charge, the published regulations stated that parking was prohibited on the street, south of Ariapita Avenue.
I have lived at this address on Cornelio Street since 1996, and my parents before that since 1972, and it is a fact that this was the first occasion when this exercise was carried out. It may be a fact that the regulations state as above but in my mind several questions arose.First, why was the wrecking operation initiated on Carnival Tuesday and not on the previous day?Why are "No Parking" signs not placed at the entrance to the street from the Wrightson Road side?
The area of Ariapita Avenue has traditionally been a popular viewing area both for residents, their visiting families, and the general public.It is also a very convenient place for masqueraders, many female, to park their vehicles for the day in relative safety, so they can return after their day's exertions and be homeward bound in a reasonable time frame.
Imagine the plight of the owners, on their return, to find their vehicles missing and then at what was a fairly late hour, to have to first find an ATM machine if funds were not at hand, and then to find their way to Sea Lots, to be reunited with their vehicles.There was also another issue to this tale, as, when the street was finally cleared, the wreckers never returned and within an hour, the whole street was filled with vehicles for the remainder of Carnival Tuesday, as the area is traditionally a prime venue to enjoy the festivities.
Now I am not sure if other streets in the area were treated in the same way, and if they were, it only serves to give one the impression that it was a quick money-making exercise, and not an effort to enforce a regulation which seems both oppressive and illogical.I will defend this by stating that we already have parking regulations in effect in Woodbrook, where alternate parking is the norm on most north-south streets and I see no reason why this cannot be retained during the Carnival period.
Michael Germain,
Cornelio Street, Woodbrook.