Chaguanas mayor Orlando Nagessar is dissatisfied with the way garbage is collected in the busy central borough. He said the borough corporation coughs up $7 million annually to pay garbage contractors, yet residents grumble daily about unsatisfactory service. The mayor was addressing a town meeting at Marchin Road, Charlieville on Tuesday night.
He said garbage trucks pass at erratic hours, causing much distress to residents who complain of their garbage bags being torn apart and scattered by stray dogs. Nagessar became visibly upset when a resident complained that when he called the mayor's office about a stray dog, someone claiming to be the mayor's secretary told him to go and release the dog in a lonely area.
He said the borough was working on getting a tranquilliser gun to stun stray dogs for capture. Mayor Nagessar said dogs ran away when the dogcatcher's van was on patrol. After numerous complaints by residents about a Chaguanas car dealer, Nagessar said he agreed that vehicles were indiscriminately parked on the road, blocking traffic and creating a nuisance.
The mayor said the car dealer was "an embarrassment to the police." He told the residents they should be glad that a number of government ministries were coming to central Trinidad. However, residents at the town meeting said they had enough woes with traffic and foresaw the relocation causing additional problems unless more roads are built.
Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner was slated to attend the meeting but Nagessar said Warner had been called to an emergency meeting with the Prime Minister. This explanation infuriated some residents, who wanted to air their grouses personally to Warner about drainage and related road problems.