Contributed
This house on Charles Street in downtown Kingston, is still home to a number of residents, though it is obviously falling apart.

Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

The rickety, old buildings are like festering sores marring the physical beauty of the city. Many of them have been there for years, neglected by their owners and the authorities alike.

Several of them are old business buildings, rising high in the heart of the downtown Kingston area, while others are houses located in the midst of the growing commercial district, but are in a dilapidated condition.

There are some 50 of these structures in downtown Kingston alone, according to the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), most of them stretching along Hanover Street and Harbour Street. The indigent have adopted them they are literally falling apart, that barely matters to those who, desperate for shelter, have made the rickety structures into homes

For others, the buildings have provided rent-free workshops. Men busy making furniture ply their trade in some of these old structures.

Vagabonds

"Downtown Kingston is an eyesore with neglected roads, inefficient sewerage systems and dilapidated buildings, many of which are infested with four-footed vermin and two-footed vagabonds," noted former Commissioner of Police, Lucius Thomas, on assuming office in 2005.

This situation has been 34 years in the making. Every political administration since the 1960s has talked about revitalising downtown Kingston. A slew of companies and organisations have been created to drive the process, such as the Kingston Restoration Company and the Kingston City Centre Improvement Committee (KCIC); but after all these years, the restoration of the heart of the city has been slow.

Upon taking office in 2002, former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson made urban renewal among his priorities. Some ideas took off, but the fruits of others are yet to be born.

The advent of the inner-city housing project two years ago has created some affordable housing for the working class of Kingston and St. Andrew's inner cities, but the general renewal of the business district continues is far from accomplished.

Yet another plan is under way by the current Jamaica Labour Party Government. The redevelopment of the city was one of the promises the administration made on the campaign trail, and come early next year, this will be among the first issues the Government is expected to tackle.

The Government has announced that no more public sector entities will be allowed to move out of the downtown Kingston area.

"There are government buildings down there that are virtually empty, and we are paying high-cost rentals uptown. I would move as many of them back down there as possible," Prime Minister Bruce Golding pledged.

Core function

New general manager of the Urban Development Corporation, Joy Douglas, says the organisation will be getting back to its core function and redevelopment of the downtown area will be on the agenda.

"Early in the new year, we are going to be having further discussions with KCIC to see how we can strengthen the relationship further ... so as to look at more comprehensive integrated planning for downtown Kingston," she tells The Sunday Gleaner.

She says many of the derelict buildings will become part of the revitalisation project and will be refurbished for occupation by some public sector entities. The St. William Grant Park will also be redeveloped, as well as the downtown Kingston transportation centre on Darling Street.

gareth.manning@gleanerjm.com