I would like to appeal to the relevant authorities to take another look at the vagrancy problem in Woodbrook and Port-of-Spain generally.
Yes, I know that a plan was enforced some months ago to relocate vagrants but because of some oversight (as is the norm) the plan has been put on hold indefinitely.
The modus operandi of vagrants, as we all know, is to look for their meals via garbage bags that residents put out for collection. They burst them open, select what they want and leave the scattered remains all over the place. The garbage collectors can vouch for this as I'm sure they encounter the problem daily making their job more difficult.
While Port-of-Spain also has a stray dog population that might contribute to this problem, I have personally seen vagrants in action on many occasions, so we cannot put the blame solely on the dogs. Between the vagrants and the dogs we have a bigger problem than you can imagine. The vagrants' only apparent problem is that they have to compete with the dogs for food.
Why is it that these problems are apparently not noticeable in first world countries? What is this big secret that they evidently have to solve the problems that we cannot learn from?
So I have two questions for our Minister in charge: 1. Is there a plan to handle vagrancy and stray dogs; and 2. What is taking so long to activate it?
Carrera Island might be useful in this respect as a temporary solution.
W Dopson,
Woodbrook
