Homeless exercise was positive—Doma

The Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (Doma) says efforts by Port-of-Spain mayor Louis Lee Sing to rid city streets of homeless people have yielded positive results. <!--break--> Doma said the net result of the initiative had been “very positive” as only people found with drugs, drug paraphernalia or concealed weapons had been incarcerated.

In addition, there had been a notable decrease in incidents of urinating and defecating in doorways and gateways of buildings in the city that were “habitually used as toilets.” Doma said another result of the exercise was that many homeless people had left the streets and sought shelter at facilities available to them in and around Port-of-Spain. “We are cautiously optimistic that the mayor’s current initiative portends the most positive notes of optimism seen in many years for the future commercial viability of Downtown Port-of-Spain,” Doma said.