Residents beg for assistance clearing bushy area

Residents of Lower Deacons Road, St Michael are concerned about a bushy, abandoned property that they say is not only an eyesore but a breeding site for mosquitoes and rats and a hideout for potential criminals.

On the heels of an unwelcome visitor turning up at the home of an elderly woman around 2 a.m. one Sunday morning, the residents have pleaded for assistance to have the land cleared.

“The land was like that for so many years, full of bush and everything else. All they have to do is clear it and put something on it; it is actually a good location for a commercial building,” said 87-year-old Pansy Brathwaite.

Two Sundays ago, a man dressed in all black went to her home.

The elderly woman explained that she was in bed when she was awakened by a knock on her house. She said when she asked who was there, she heard the voice of a young man asking her if she was home alone.

Brathwaite said she told the man that was not his business, ran to her bedroom window and screamed to alert her neighbours. Eventually, someone came to her rescue and saw the man running from her property, towards a nearby fence, before escaping through the same abandoned property.

“I called the police and they told me that they would be here soon and they really did come soon. The person who came to help me told me they saw the person running away at the side of the paling and he was dressed in all black,” Brathwaite said.

Meanwhile, Richard Greenidge, who said he was concerned about the recent development, complained that the tall trees and thick bush were causing mosquitoes and rodents to invade his property.

He said he had made several trips to the Branford Taitt Polyclinic in Black Rock, St Michael, to speak to health inspectors about the need to have the abandoned property cleared.

Greenidge said that on a few occasions, the inspectors came and told him they would return, but they never did.

“It is time the Government come and clean this land. It is a hazard to society. It will take a lot of machinery to get rid of that bush. Just coming with a saw is a waste of time because by the time you look around it would be back up again,” he said.

“I went around and cut down the bush directly behind my guard wall because it was coming over again. But in a matter of a few weeks, it back again. Before they used to keep it clean, because somebody used it for parking during Crop Over time.”

Several efforts by Barbados TODAY to reach Member of Parliament for the area and Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley were unsuccessful.
(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)