Michelle Loubon

Three pop­u­lar nightspots on Ari­api­ta Av­enue, Wood­brook, were closed down for noise pol­lu­tion and the pro­pri­etors may be tak­en to court. The crack­down was car­ried out by the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Au­thor­i­ty (EMA) and city po­lice around mid­night on Fri­day. When con­tact­ed yes­ter­day, Port-of-Spain May­or Louis Lee Sing said: "It was the best il­lus­tra­tion of the law tak­ing its course and the law be­ing pa­tient.

"I am op­ti­mistic it would serve as an ex­am­ple to oth­er op­er­a­tors of bars and wa­ter­ing holes who be­lieve they can do just what they like with­out recog­nis­ing the law. It is a long road. I?am hap­py. "The own­ers and op­er­a­tors on Ari­api­ta Av­enue have re­sist­ed any ef­forts to work with the res­i­dents and the com­mu­ni­ty." He re­ferred to a walk­a­bout he car­ried out about six weeks ago, in which the EMA, the Health De­part­ment and the City Cor­po­ra­tion cau­tioned bar own­ers about noise pol­lu­tion.

He said the ap­pro­pri­ate no­ta­tion was placed in the bar­tenders' books. "Ap­pro­pri­ate ac­tion was tak­en and they could go be­fore the courts," he warned. When con­tact­ed, Ross Milne of Ross­co's Restau­rant and Lounge, which Lee Sing vis­it­ed on his walk­a­bout, said he had heard three nightspots had been closed down.

He said a Wood­brook Busi­ness­men's As­so­ci­a­tion had now been formed. "We are hop­ing to have a meet­ing with the res­i­dents to find out about their con­cerns," he said, "for ex­am­ple street light­ing and ex­tra se­cu­ri­ty.