Was anybody really surprised at businessman Alfred Galy's move on Sunday morning? Even if we were prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt when we first learned, back in August, that he had bought the historic Greyfriars Church building, surely that goodwill evaporated when he tore off the roof of the church hall in early November.Back then he said the roof was "toxic," the T&T Guardian reported. Galy was prepared to listen to suggestions for the rehabilitation of the historic building, he said in the same story, dated November 13.
Galy also complained that despite public outcry over the building's fate, nobody had approached him for a meeting up to then. He can make no such claim today.Citizens for Conservation is one of the groups alarmed at the sale of the church and lobbying for its preservation. The Guardian quoted its executive secretary Michele Celestine as saying on Sunday morning that "the notice of intention to list this property as a historic site has been served on Mr Galy over three weeks now," and that he had been in meetings with the group and other stakeholders for two weeks.Yet on Sunday without a word of warning he sent heavy machinery to tear down the church. Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration Rodger Samuel also said the Town and Country Division had been in talks with Galy about preserving the church and that "no demolition approvals were granted by the Port-of-Spain City Corporation" for the action.
But again I ask, are we really surprised? Last week the Prime Minister reportedly chastised members of her Cabinet for their arrogance–her word, not mine. The public, she said, found the members of the Cabinet distant and "shut down." Evo Morales, the Bolivian president who cut his own salary by more than half when he assumed office, is a fluke. As our own MPs have proven, people entering into positions of power are far more likely to raise their pay than cut it. Why not use your flashing lights and police escort to run the traffic gauntlet? Why not put on the darkest tint on your car and drive as though the traffic laws didn't apply to you?
And so we have Alfred Galy, who talks a good game in the press and seems open to discussion, while at the same time hiring a backhoe to do the real talking for him.
"Notice of intention" to list a building is not the same thing as listing a building.
Greyfriars never had a chance. The ennui surrounding the preservation of our national heritage sites goes far further. For example, UWI's Archaeology Centre calls Banwari Trace, a site in South Trinidad, "the oldest pre-Columbian site in the West Indies." This hasn't stopped it from being treated with scorn and allowed to fall into disrepair. Banwari Trace is also a couple hundred metres from the proposed and contentious Solomon Hochoy Highway extension and the archaeological site could be compromised by the project, according to a recent newspaper report.
But do we care? I heard a TV commentator the other day talking about how development has a price and we should be aware of that. Sure, development has a price. But the price of development depends heavily on the kind of development we want to have.
I've said before in this space that tall buildings (or whatever it is that Alfred Galy wants to build in Frederick Street where Greyfriars still stands, for the moment at least) represent only one kind of development. There can be development that respects the past and the environment. We can have development that doesn't tear families apart as the highway project will; and that doesn't destroy an already neglected historical treasure. We can also have development that respects a 200-year-old building, one of the relatively few historical structures we have remaining in T&T. During my recent trip to Glasgow, Scotland, I saw old churches repurposed into theatres and coffee shops, and the old cheese market in the historic Merchant City turned into a space for art and artists.
These things don't happen by accident. They require concord between the government, business and civil society to agree on what is important, what should be preserved, and how. That in itself requires compromise and investment, and above all, humility. Alfred Galy isn't an anomaly. And in the absence of the implementation of a concrete plan to preserve historical sites, this will not be the last time a backhoe rips down a piece of our heritage.