Once again a region in T&T is devastated by flooding and many commentators quickly point out the reasons for the floods, which we all know to be a combination of wholesale cutting of the hillsides in many areas, inadequate drainage and generally sporadic cleaning of existing drains, widespread littering of small and large items and the failure of the authorities to regularly dredge the major water courses and river mouths. Fixing these problems requires a titanic mind shift which produces consistent law enforcement, intelligent planning and performance by local government and, the hardest of all, getting citizens to stop littering. To look at a small example: a few years ago, in full view for all to see, a group of squatters, located less than half a mile behind the northeastern ridge of Blue Range, Diego Martin, scraped a couple acres of prime hillside clean and erected a number of dwellings that quickly acquired T&TEC connections. Of course, nothing has been done about these squatters and my guess is nothing will be done. As we all know, once you identify yourself as a "sufferah" the few rules that any of us still comply with are not for you-and we like it so.
Gregory Wight
Diego Martin
