Urban planning expert says Portmore not ready to become a parish

 

Urban planning consultant Professor Carol Archer believes the Municipality of Portmore is not ready to be elevated to parish status and argues that residents will not gain anything financially from the designation.

 

As part of the process to effect the change, a bill to amend the Counties and Parishes Act of 1867, was passed last week using the government's super majority.

 

Professor Archer, who lectures at the University of Technology, said she conducted a case study with her students and they have found that Portmore is not viable as a parish. 

 

"In fact, I do see some limitations with the parish of St. Catherine, because, for example, the taxes and revenues from licence, car licence, from government allocation to roads, that would be limited if you're taking that from St. Catherine. And say, OK, this section of the road network in this area will now go to the parish of Portmore, then St. Catherine would lose. Then because of the size, the geographic location of Portmore, Portmore would not gain as much," she sought to explain. 

 

Professor Archer has accused the government of not engaging academics in its plan to transition Portmore to a parish.

 

While noting that the government hosted a few town halls with Portmore residents, Professor Archer said a consultation is not only to get people to talk but is also about gathering information for decision making.

 

She said the approach taken by the government is different from what was done in the early 2000's where there were extensive consultations to make Portmore a municipality. 

 

"Back in 2000, 2003 thereabout, they asked, they said, 'Look, we know you studied this thing - land use patterns. Come and let us know what and how we should do it.' And there have been other cases, but for the most part, as academics, and particularly in land use management, we have not been engaged as we ought to, to say, here are some patterns, here's what the data is suggesting; this is how we should proceed," she argued. 

 

Professor Archer was a guest Monday morning on TVJ's Smile Jamaica.