San Fernando, after 30 years as a city, is finally living up to the promise of its change of status from borough to city.
For many of those years, it felt like we were a lost city, bereft of attention from successive governments.
However, when we were neglected by our highest officials, who focused their attention up North, it was our entrepreneurial business community and our talented burgesses in the arts, culture, health, sports and education who propelled us forward and forced us to grow into one of the region’s most dynamic cities, while still retaining our sense of community.
San Fernando developed around San Fernando Hill and its seafront. From a quiet fishing village, it grew in response to our once vibrant sugar industry.
The Usine Ste Madeleine sugar factory, a few miles away, was one of the largest in the Caribbean and its valuable products were shipped from San Fernando wharf.
Between the world wars, the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery became a mighty force for good, supplying fuel to help the allied forces to win the war.
Its employees and managers needed homes and supplies and many businesses sprung up to meet the demands.
While sugar came to an end and the future of our refinery is still to be written, San Fernando—T&T’s industrial capital—is poised for transformation. Our development in recent years has been along our boundaries, with the construction of South Park and the C3 Complex.
These have generated many jobs and given southerners many opportunities for entertainment, shopping and relaxation, with the bonus of parking and security.
We were also fortunate that former prime minister Patrick Manning ensured we got the South Campus of the National Academy of the Performing Arts. It is a world-class facility for teaching and performance.
SAPA, as it is more commonly called, added to our more intimate Naparima Bowl and Arts Centre performance spaces.
Our current Mayor Alderman Junia Regrello is on a mission to make San Fernando the capital of culture.
Mayor Regrello, manager of the Skiffle Bunch Steel Orchestra, now sponsored by Caribbean Airlines, knows the importance of culture to national development and takes every opportunity to organise events which will hone the skills of performers, musicians and those with professional skill sets in the arts and entertainment industry.
Our downtown area, old San Fernando is showing signs of promise.
Another former prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, ensured we got more hospital beds and another world class facility with the San Fernando Teaching Hospital, re-purposed from a government complex.
The dynamic high rise hospital connected by a walkway to our heavily-used 1950s general hospital was the harbinger of development for downtown.
With the city corporation, municipal police, councillors, mayor, business associations and socially conscious volunteers working together to tackle vagrancy, traffic congestion, illegal vending and lack of parking, San Fernando’s fortunes are on the rise.
We were the beneficiaries of a recently completed study by US experts and the National Trust who provided detailed reports on the Heritage Buildings in the King’s Wharf area, now being referred to as Plaza San Carlos.
There is great expectation that these quaint historic building will be preserved and re-purposed in the promised Waterfront Re-Development Plan.
If we can also preserve and enhance the remaining older buildings along the Harris Promenade, especially the Police Station, get rid of the ugly wrecked cars, control homelessness and plant back some shade trees, we would all be proud to say we are San Fernandians.