The Editor, Sir:

I write in reference to a recent article in your daily edition citing the Mayor Desmond McKenzie calling for the May Pen Cemetery to be made into a tourist attraction.

First off, I must commend the mayor on his general proactive approach in his attempt to manage the city. However, Mr. Mayor, with all due respect, before adding one more 'attraction' for the tourists, let us please get the existing ones (and these include our public spaces, etc.) to the level and standard befitting the nomenclature.

Outcome of park

The St. William Grant and Nelson Mandela parks come readily to mind. What a pitiful tribute to these two noble men. I shudder to think what Mr. Mandela would think if he were to visit us and asked to see this place named in his honour. No amount of overnight white-washing could make it presentable. Our beloved Ward Theatre has literally faded into obscurity and now serves only as a backdrop for robot taxi parking and vendors peddling their wares.

The garbage skips, situated at the main entrances of the public markets at Papine, Cross Roads and Montego Bay, are always overflowing with refuse and the attendant stagnant water and flies.

Mr. Mayor, these are not the only areas that need remedial work and a maintenance programme. So, before we go disturbing the dead, albeit with the best of intentions, let us partner with existing entities to fix what has gone wrong lest they go from dusty to dust. In other words, for the time being, let the dead RIP, there is too much work to be done for the living. (Restoration In Progress)

I am, etc.,

M. EDWARDS

melly_ja@hotmail.com