Mayor on street naming exercise
Stabroek News
December 7, 2003
A number of city streets, playgrounds and places of interest will be given names early next year by the Mayor and City Council (M&CC).
The council has already advertised for members of the public to submit their proposals for an exercise Mayor Hamilton Green says is intended to create a better appreciation among Guya-nese for their history and heroes.
In an advertisement published in this newspaper, the M&CC noted that it was not proposed to change the name of any street or ground that has historical significance before or after independence. The M&CC said all of the country's history must be retained but should be explained to the youths.
According to the council, only streets, grounds or places with names that bear no historical significance will be considered for renaming.
The M&CC observed that there was a number of streets, grounds and places that carried no official name, noting that the exercise would be concentrated on those areas. A map with those locations is available in the Mayor's office for the public to look at.
Persons wishing to be a part of the process are asked to submit their proposals to the City Council no later than December 12.
Speaking about the initiative with Stabroek News last week, Green observed that there were too many streets with names such as First Street and Second Street.
According to Green, in Alberttown alone there were about five streets with no names and about an equal number in South Ruimveldt and other parts of the city.
Speaking about unnamed playgrounds, Green said in other parts of the world, these were named after someone who would have contributed to a particular sport. According to him, there are several play fields in the city that have no names and are located in the area where well respected people once lived. He added that a number of the city's roundabouts, canals and bridges would also be named.
Green said he would like to see more monuments to heroes put up, adding that Roy Fredericks, Lance Gibbs, Clive Lloyd and Rohan Kanhai were still to be honoured. The Mayor said that apart from the 1763 Monu-ment there was no other monument in the city which this generation could relate to.
Green argued that the airport should be decorated with photographs of all the former presidents, but according to him this was not done because of political reasons and as a result only Cheddi Jagan, whom the airport was named after, was featured.