Emancipation Park reopens
EMANCIPATION Park in New Kingston reopened yesterday, a week after acts of hooliganism and vandalism on Boxing Day forced its closure.
Yesterday afternoon a small number of park users were seen enjoying the facility, while a detachment of police officers stood by.
“There are four of us in the park and I think more officers will be here in the evening when more people use the park,” said Corporal Rudolph Morrison of the Half-Way-Tree Police Station.
Park employee, Eulalee Douglas, yesterday appealed to members of the public who use the park to take care of the facility.
“We need the public to co-operate. They let go their children and they are inclined to mash up the place. We speak to the children and some parents get hostile. Some of them don’t understand (the use of) the sensor in the bathroom and if we tell them they get aggressive and tell us that is a free park and is fi dem money pay fi it,” said Douglas. “We all need to respect the park because it belong to all of us.”
The Emancipation Park was opened on July 31, last year by Prime Minister P J Patterson.
Built on a five-acre property, the park offers a 500-metre jogging trail, water fountains, a variety of fauna and flora, a bandstand and well-maintained restrooms among other amenities.
The members of the Emancipation Park Advisory Committee, who had ordered the facility closed last week, subsequently proposed that tighter security measures should be implemented when there was a large crowd at the facility.
Park Manager, Lisa Grant told the Observer that a meeting was held to review security procedures inside the compound, but said no definite plan had yet been agreed.
“We are reviewing security measures and how we are going to deal with the carrying capacity of the park. “That means the amount of persons allowed in park. This is, however, dependent on the time of day, whether it is a weekday, or special events like Christmas when more people will visit the park. There is no definite plan just yet,” Grant said.
Last August, the National Housing Trust invested in a $1.3 million security surveillance system, which it boasted would enhance its capacity to maintain and secure the park. More security guards were also deployed in the park during the increased security.
However, security personnel at the park on Boxing Day, December 26, could not control the almost 15,000 people converged at facility. Several lit firecrackers, stole chairs and damaged lighting fixtures. According to Grant, it was this kind of brutish behaviour that forced the Emancipation Park Committee to close the facility until the holiday season.
Under park rules, ball playing, bicycle riding, roller-blading, picking of flowers, soliciting and vending are not allowed.