By Rishard Khan
rishard.khan@guardian.co.tt
The Port-of-Spain City Council passed a motion at their monthly statutory meeting at the Council’s Chambers Wednesday to, effective immediately, reduce wrecking within the nation’s capital by 50 percent.
While the motion was the brainchild of Port-of-Spain Mayor, Joel Martinez, it was put before the council by Deputy Mayor, Hillan Murray on the advice of leader of council business, Akil Durham, in order to avoid any conflict of interests that may arise as the Mayor had the casting vote (an extra vote given to a chairperson to break any ties which may result from a vote). This was not an issue as councillors voted unanimously in favour of the motion. However, there were councillors present who did not raise their hands when asked if they were in favour, against, or abstaining from the vote.
In his preamble to the motion, Mayor Martinez said that the current system in place strayed from the genesis of the wrecking service in the city.
“Wrecking came into effect when there was a call from residents that persons parked in front of their homes, not allowing people to utilize their driveways and if an emergency existed, you could imagine what could happen,” he said.
The service, said, had now become more of a “hustle” and they intend to change that.
After consultations with stakeholders, he proposed that the first method, which they will implement, is reducing the number of wreckers operating within the city. This he said would now force the wreckers to prioritize whom they wreck.