EDITORIAL


The unfortunate killing of "Tobacco" over the weekend at the popular Wall Street liming block has once again brought to the forefront the need to bring an end to the all-night activities on weekend at that popular spot for young people.

There is nothing wrong with avenues being found for young people to channel their youthful enthusiasm and exuberance in order to walk the straight and narrow path in life.

Most young people who frequent "Wall Street" to partake in the "Lime" refer to the place as a "very cool" spot for a weekend hang-out.

GRENADA TODAY would always support anything that helps to bring some form of uplifting to the positive side of our young people.
However, there are too many negatives where "Wall Street" is concerned to allow the weekend activities to continue there for much longer.

First and foremost is the matter of security for all those banks operating in the area. With the coming on stream of the CSME and free movement of people in the islands, the bandits from two well-known Caribbean neighbours can take advantage of the Wall Street to launch attacks on our banks.

Already, there is virtually no visible police presence among the Wall Street crowd except for the off-duty cops in plain clothes who might be seen every now and then partaking in the activities themselves. Our understanding is that the official police patrols can be seen passing by in their vehicles without taking any notice of what is taking place on the square.

The only time the cops will move into the area is if there is a report of some kind of disturbance. Another down side of Wall Street, is the legitimate complaints coming from some of the business places that occupy the Otway Complex Building in the area.

The place is without toilet facilities for night life activities and the limers use just about any place in or near to Wall Street to put down their human waste. At times, one can see business owners with hose in hands trying to wash down the place after a night of madness on Wall Street. How long can this continue without the authorities stepping in and taking control of the situation?

GRENADA TODAY would quickly add that an alternative location should be found for the people who sell their barbecue chickens, drinks, fish and chick, and play loud music from their vehicles on Wall Street.

Our suggestion is that the government authorities should look at utilising Camerhogne Park as a possible alternative for this kind of weekend activity. The park has most of the facilities that can accommodate this kind of activity.

A small fee can be charged for use of the park to engage in this kind of activity by the sellers. In addition, the authorities can make the toilet facilities available at a fee for persons who partake in the activities.

The noise level can be controlled in order to avoid disturbances to those hotels in and around the Grand Anse beach area. As a matter of fact the Wall Street concept could be further enhanced and built upon to provide another form of entertainment to visitors in the Spice Isle. Visitors often look for activities outside of the hotel environment.
Anyone who visits the Fish Friday at Gouyave, St. John's would quickly realise that visitors to our shores make up a large percentage of the persons who patronise the festival.

Our belief is that the "small man" in the country needs to be given all the help and encouragement possible to take care of his needs and to break the cycle of dependence on hand-outs from the State for survival.

If we take the step of closing down the night life on "Wall Street" without looking at alternatives then that could turn out to be a dangerous thing. The hungry man is an angry man syndrome could then turn around and haunt us.

Let us look at possible solutions to finding an alternative venue for the sellers who make an honest living from the Wall Street experiment.