Placecheck

- INTERNATIONAL WATERFRONT CENTRE!

The International Waterfront Centre is now part of the newly transformed and revitalized coast bordering downtown Port of Spain. This 26 story skyscraper, is the genesis of the revitalization to occur in downtown Port of Spain. This revitalization process can be related to the case study of New Orleans, "Revitalising the Central Business District in the Face of Decline: The Case of New Orleans, 1973-1993" by Jane S. Brooks and Alma H. Young. As seen in the background of the photograph, is another high-rise building being constructed in the City. These transformations of the Urban portrays certain type of atmosphere or environment to suit and encourage only a certain class and lifestyle of citizens. The Waterfront is very calm and serene although it is located in the City and is usually opened to the public. It is therefore a privatized public space, as it is open to the public, however only a certain class of people, mainly the elite and upper class of society. People using the area seem to be of either upper class or of the extreme lower class as seen in the photograph below.

EITHER- THE HIGH CLASS, WEALTHY POPULATION,

High class population visiting the Hyatt.

OR- THE HOMELESS, VAGRANTS OF THE CITY!

Nude Vagrant exposing himself to the public at the Waterfront

Although I like the fact that the Waterfront is open to the public, so that anyone, either working or visiting the City could have access to the quiet, clean and relaxing environment and get away from the noisy, unsanitary streets, it upsets me that there are absolutely no restrictions for who could use the area. I am speaking about the presence of the naked vagrant right outside the Hotel, where there are several security and policemen on the compound of the centre. Therefore when pedestrians are passing by or visitors of the Hotel step outside to view the ocean and enjoy the calming music, vagrants are waiting to greet them with "OPEN BUTT CHEEKS!!!"

As a seafront hotel, the ocean should be protected from the disposal of the hotel's waste, so that the environment remains clean and serene. Walking along, the sidewalk, I only noticed just one warning sign on a whole stretch of the coast occupied by the hotel, therefore I would have liked to see more warning signs especially since there are kids playing around the water. There should definitely also be more security to restrict the street vagrants from entering the premises of the International Waterfront Centre!!!

BELMONT  (Free Town)
Belmont or more commonly known as "Free Town" is the first emancipation village of Trinidad and Tobago. Free Town is the first suburb to emerge from the City of Port of Spain and it is located on the North-Eastern electoral district of the CBD. It is bounded by Port of Spain ‘proper’, Gonzales and the Northern Range. Free Town was and still is the home to the ex-slaves after emancipation and now is inhabited by their younger generations. Since the ex-slaves basically just scattered and wanted to find a place to settle and call "home" , they basically built their home without any sort of urban planning design. As you look up at the community from the lower grounds it may appear that the houses are built on top of one another. this was because the slaves were trying to build up on higher grounds as a means of protection right after the emancipation. Over the years they were basically forced to ascend higher into the hills as a result of the City Growth. The City still lacks any sort of urban planning and therefore the suburb fringing from the city also lacks planning. The houses in the community are tightly knitted along the narrow winding roads that seem to have no pattern. As one resident pointed out, "...people built their houses, then the roads came, then the drains and then the pavements"; therefore planning is lacking and I would definitely have liked to see more facilities and organisations like the Free Town Foundation, that could help preserve and restore the culture and closeness of this community.

Houses ascending into the hills appearing as if they are built on top each other.

Narrow Streets with closely knit houses.

As the houses are built so close to each other, it indicated that the community is very close. This idea gives true meaning to the saying, "it takes a community to raise a child". The community is filled with friendliness and togetherness as you walk through the streets. This quality stood out to me as there aren't many communities within Trinidad that are like this today. The community is also filled with heritage and culture of Trinidad. It is the birthplace of the whole Carnival culture of Trinidad and Tobago as the Ken Morris Mas Camp is located in the community as well as various Pan Yards. The community displays the drive and enthusiasm for learning as the community is said the have the highest concentration of schools. There was also the School for the Arts where even on a Saturday when the youth of the community are not at the government's school, there is still a community school in which the youths could go and express themselves culturally. I believe this could also help to reverse the negative stereotypes that has plagued the community for centuries. I am referring to the high crime rate of this community. With faculties like this and even the Queens Park Savannah on the outskirt of the community, the Youth could engage themselves in activities that will build the community and keep the connection between the youths.

Social Facility for the youths. Most buildings or faculties are designed similar to this one.

Assessing "good neighbourhoods"

Jane Jacob’s principles of good neighbourhoods:

Mixed use – different functions;
Mixed blocks with different buildings of different ages and conditions;
Streets with short blocks and numerous corners;
A dense concentration of people.

According to Jane's principles, Belmont displayed a better example of a good neighbourhood to me than the International Waterfront Centre. The Belmont community had many different functions as is serves more than one primary function by providing housing, religious institutions, shops, school and other services. The community also attracts a far wider range of people as they come from the outside to order their carnival costumes, while spreading out their activities over longer periods of time. Consequently, the streets and sidewalks of Belmont are more active and safer both day and night, while being less congested at peak periods. The CBD however was primarily economic activity with no or very little other activities.

The Belmont community however did not particularly have mixed blocks with different buildings of different ages and conditions as most of the buildings were built long ago and therefore had similar architecture and design as seen in the photograph below.

Typical design of Belmont buildings.

Part of the physical diversity of a healthy district, she argues, is the retention of old buildings mixed in with the new. There were a couple newer buildings however the older ones dominated the community. Old buildings offered cheap space for new businesses and low-cost housing. They also provided the visual and emotional landmarks that anchor a neighborhood in space and time.

 The streets of Belmont were indeed very short as they formed blocks and numerous corners. The streets and sidewalks, as much as parks, did in fact prove to be the true public spaces of the community, whereas the Waterfront was really a privatized public space. Street traffic was a necessary part of community life as most people in Belmont walk to the nearer places as the buildings are close to each other. As a resident mentioned, "everything tight around the corner". Jacobs’s suggestion that streets should be redesigned to favour pedestrians over cars is a precursor to current techniques of “traffic calming." and was already being practiced in the community.

Belmont do in fact house a dense concentration of people however with variety. On the other hand, there were significantly less people at the Waterfront as there were mostly people of a higher class and therefore there wasn't  any coupling with variety which  isn't a good neighbourhood according to Jane's Principles.

What Makes A Successful Waterfront?

In my opinion, I agree with Jane Jacob's principles for a neighbourhood, however the waterfront is different. Its is not a place to live or conduct everyday activities. However, I believe that there should be a greater variety of people who could use the waterfront as well. According to my post on the waterfront place-check, there were either very high class people or vagrants intruding. There it should be a place where everyone could enjoy and partake. The waterfront is indeed a very lovely place that was recently revitalized, however I believe it should be less privatized.

Post :#1: Traffic Congestion

Waiting to get out!

Although there is the whole new "interchange flyover", every "Trini" acknowledges the fact that there is a severe Vehicular Traffic Problem on the nation's roads, especially when heading to Port of Spain, or as locals call it "Tong". Some of the primary causes will be discussed as well as a few simple measures that could be put in place to curb this problem. Hall and Barrett (2012, 291) stated that the social spaces of city life are also affected by the increasing dominance of the car.

Waiting....

Still Waitng...

Traffic Congestion heading out of the City of Port of Spain

After waiting hours to enter the city of Port of Spain, there is also a huge jam to get out of the city as the traffic crawls or comes to a complete standstill in certain areas. Traffic congestion in the city exists since there is increasing government offices and other essential service providers, termed commercialization, concentrated and compact within  a relatively small land area within and on all the major roads leading to the city causing "back up" on most of the nation's roads. The manner in which pedestrians cross the road very haphazardly also contribute to traffic pile up .

There is also the fact that the traffic mainly occurs at peak hours which is between the hours of 6:30 - 8:30 a.m. and 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. what makes the traffic worse is if there is an accident of some sort. There aren't much alternative roads that drivers may take to avoid the traffic. Traffic congestion while entering Port of Spain stems from the lack of available parking spaces for the urban commuters which in turn leads to double- parking, commonly seen along the narrow streets since they weren't originally designed for the exacerbating urbanization of the city.

Additionally, the gasoline subsidy, is another reason why there are so many cars on the road to begin with. As a result of the fact that gasoline consumption is subsidized there is even more gasoline consumption since it becomes so cheap that everyone want to have their very own private vehicle to use whenever and for whatever reason they want. The subsidy therefore indirectly acts as an incentive to use more gasoline. However since people do less of an activity when the penalty or cost increases. If persons in T&T paid the true higher cost of gasoline, there would be a natural decline in gasoline consumption and hence the total number of cars on the road would decrease.

If the subsidies are instantly removed, the commuters, drivers in particular would be forced to be more judicious in whether they opt to use their vehicles. They would suddenly become more aware of what will instantly become a more "scarce or valuable" resource and take steps to minimize its use. They could consider riding bicycles or using motor cycles that are more fuel efficient. These are smaller and would contribute to less cars. The neighbours of a street on which they lived could consider car pooling with different residents for the week. Public transportation is also another option, however this is another cause of traffic congestion. Walking and strategically planning commutes to maximize productivity while on the road are very simple ways to reduce the congestion.

The government officials and other central planners have no drive to truly solve the traffic problem since they are not subjected fully to the negative effects of traffic, therefore why even try to sincerely solve the traffic problem when it doesn't really even affect them. They have access to the Priority Bus Route as well as security escort through traffic, therefore no need to be stuck in traffic like regular commuters. They also have flexible work or office hours or the ability to work from home. They have priority parking privileges in addition to the State providing vehicles. They are also exempted from import tax on vehicles and free gasoline, so they could own as many vehicles as they wish. They also do not face the frustration of having to mash breaks and X since they may even have a driver  or chauffeur. They may also be privileged to have government living accommodation in the city so no need to commute what-so-ever. 

The limited operating hours between 7am to 3pm at major ports results in most truckers, importer and exporters opting to arrange pick up and deliveries at peak traffic times. If transactions could be done freely after hours this would reduce the volume of traffic on the roadways during peak traffic times. 

Most of you Trinbagonians would be shun by the very thought of the fuel subsidy being removed, however if one considers how much valuable time would no longer be wasted in terrible traffic day after day. Consider how much less strain would be placed on families, cars and the environment! Consider how much more efficient you'd be in planning your commutes and errands. 

References

Hall, Tim, and Heather Barrett. 2012. Urban Geography 4th edition. London and New York: Routledge.

Top 10 Most Traffic Congested Cities in the World

Hope you guys find this video as interesting!!!

Why "Behind the City Lights"?

Behind This!

The City of Port of Spain at night! Beautiful, isn't it?

"The city, as one finds it in history, is the point of maximum concentration for the power and culture of a community. It is the place where the diffused rays of many separate beams of life fall into focus, with gains in both social effectiveness and significance."- pg 3. " Today a great many things stand in the way of grasping the role of the city and of transforming this basic means of communal existence. During the last few centuries the strenuous mechanical organisation of industry, and the setting up of tyrannous political states, have blinded most men to the importance of facts that do not easily fit into the general pattern of mechanical conquest, capitalistic forms of exploitation, and power politics. Habitually, people treat the realities of personality and association and city as abstractions, while they treat confused pragmatic abstractions such as ,money, credit, political sovereignty, as if they were concrete realities that had an existence independent of human conventions."- pg 7 - Lewis Mumford, 1938.

From this Academic Article, one can see that although there is a plethora of benefits of urbanization, such as development of infrastructure, increased market potential and employment, there are also profound repercussions. Trending issues to be addressed over the upcoming weeks include traffic congestion, homelessness, unused/ underutilized spaces, street vending in addition to the development of urban slums and other issues along with the most cataclysmic issue of all, crime!

These issues are usually hidden behind the lights, music and 'Trini' cuisine of the 'City'. I intend to expose by flashing the light of a camera on some of the devastating realities of urbanization which will be revealed to you through weekly posts of photographs taken in the City itself. Each entry will include a personal reflection on the photo as it pertains to the urban social and environmental issues affecting not only the capital city, but other cities as urban centers in Trinidad and well. The relationship to urban theory as expressed in text books or academic articles and links or ties to current events, specifically news or pop-culture will be highlighted.

Now here's a Trini Poem by Miguel Browne

A Trini Poem- Miguel Browne
Trinidadians are a special people of dat there is no doubt,
Doh care what odders say of how dey run dey mouth.
But of all de special talents dat we Trinis possess,
Is de way we talk dat ranks us among de best.

At de street corners, in de shop or at work on any given day,
Is to hear us speak and carry on in our own special way.
De colourful words, de antics and de accent all combine,
To create a whole language dat has stood de test of time.
De way we express ourselves and de way we converse,
Is truly an art of which every Trini can boast.
Look at de many words dat we Trinis create,
Just to make it easier for us to communicate.
Words like bobbol, skylark, commess and bobolee,
Are words dat yuh cah find in any English Dictionary.
Coskel, boobooloops, lahay and dingolay,
Mou Mou, bazodie, jagabat and tootoolbay.

So when yuh thin and frail, we say yuh maga or merasme.
And when yuh fat or overweight, we say yuh obzokee.
And when something small, we say chinkey instead.
And we say tabanca when a woman tie up a man head.
And a person who lazy, we call dem a locho.
And an inquisitive person is simply a maco.
Is our colourful history, yes our glorious past,

Dat give us a language dat very few could surpass,
So many Trinis doh speak patois again.
But we use words like doux doux and langniappe all de same.
So mauvais langue is when yuh bad talk people yuh doh even know.
And a lighted torch we still call a flambeau.
Maljo is when yuh put bad eye on everything yuh see.
And when yuh shake and shiver, we call dat malkadee.
And patois give us so much place names like Blanchisseusse and La Fillette.

And left over food from de night before we call macafoucette.
And East Indian words yuh could guess so easy.
Like doolahin, beta, bap and dhoti.
And we love dalporee, bodi and khumar,
Baigan, barra, sahina and kuchela.
Jadoo is magic dat women is use to get dey husband house and car.
And if yuh talking nonsense it so easy to say gobar.
And for animals and fruits look at de names we does use.

De pronunciation and spelling is enough to get yuh confused.
Chenette, pommecythere, pomerac and sour sop.
Pewah, dongs, balata and mammy seepot.
And Trini does hunt for tatoo, agouti and lappe.
And instead of ants, we does say batchac.
Trinis fraid macajuel, batimamselle and crapaud.
And de big black vultures we call corbeaux.
Trini mouth does water for crab and callaloo.

Doh talk 'bout cavindajh, pelau, pastelle and cascadoux.
For seasoning shadow beni beat back all de rest.
While veti-vere does make de clothes smell nice and fresh.
And when we talking is like to a special rhythm dat others doh know.
We have to move de whole body from we head to we toe.
Watch how de hands does move as if we killing flies.
And when we vex is cuya mouth or roll up de eyes.
And sometimes is de mouth alone dat does all de work.
Is to hear us laugh out loud when we hear a good joke.
And when we laughing de mouth does open wider dan a carite.
And when it come out with "Oui Foute" or "Mama Yo" it does sound real sweet.

So doh laugh at we and think we antics funny.
Is what we need and use to talk more effectively.
But watching us talking and moving from right to left,
Yuh swear is sign language to talk to de deaf.
And we have a communication network dat is one of the greatest around.
It beat back any newspaper, TV or computer dat dey have in town.
So Maxie does tell Jane a secret story or a tory.
And in two seconds Jane does run and tell she boyfriend Gary.
And den Gary does tell he partners liming on de corner,
So de whole ah town would know 'bout two hours later.
But when de story reach back to its original source,
Is never de same, it always off course.

Yes, gossip does change a story from a dongs to a grapefruit just so.
Where de new story come from nobody doh know.
So always be careful who yuh liming with and what yuh speak,
'Cause before yuh look good all yuh business on de street.
And when we start to argue is trouble in de gang,
'cause we does argue everything except de issue at hand.
We Trinis does start off on one particular topic,
And in no time at all we does stray from it.
We does go round in circles, yes viky vi.
And end up giving picong and mamaguy.
But when things get heated, den de real trouble does start.

Words harder dan rock stone does pass in de brew.
And if yuh only take sides, yuh go get a good 'busing too.
And some does use de poor ancestors to make dey attack.
Dey would trace de whole family tree from yuh mudder go back.
And when dat doh work, some does turn to the anatomy,
Talking 'bout parts of yuh body dat dey never even see.
And telling stories is a special talent we got.

Trinis could make up a story right dere on de spot.
Listen to a husband when he reach home late,
He would never say dat wid de outside woman he had a date.
He go tell his wife 'bout parang or late night class.
How he working overtime and de car run out of gas.
And when de cocaine disappear from de police station without a trace.
It easy to blame de greedy rats and done de case.
And dats why we does have Commission of Enquiry every odder day.
So each one could tell de same story in a different way.
But when it come to stories, politicians are de very best.
Promising brighter days and a better life and nothing less.
Yes, Trinis smart and it is little wonder den.
Dat up de islands dey does say "Trickydadian."

So talk for we Trinis is a way of life.
Is how we assume ourselves and deal wid strife.
Listen to de sweet talk of a true Trini male,
Dat could win de heart of any Trini female.
And every spectator does turn a coach at a cricket or football match.
Shouting out advice for bad play or dropping a catch.
Man we know how to talk before we could creep.
We could out talk all odders in one clean sweep.
A Trini who cah talk will laugh instead.
And if he cah do dat, he better off dead.