Recreation Spot For Laing Avenue Children Dismantled

  Some residents of Laing Avenue were very much angry when a group of more than 25 men from the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) began to dismantle a section of a structure that housed a family of six including three children. Simone Sadiford who resides at the broken structure said in tears that she runs a little shop at Laing Avenue, East La Penitence for the past fifteen years after returning from the United States of America where she lived for some twenty one years. The mother of two said she created an atmosphere where the children of East La Penitence especially those who are very poor and cannot get three meals a day to have food and recreation using her place that is now broken down. She said it is unbelievable to see the city workers breaking down part of her structure. Sadiford pointed out that there are other shops along the Avenue, similar to hers but could not understand why she was a target. She claims that only a few weeks ago she left for the USA and on her return found out that the council would break up her place. She said she did not receive any notice from City Hall informing her of their move. She speculated that probably some residents there are not too happy seeing her assisting the youths in Laing Avenue. When City Hall was contacted, an officer within the city engineer’s office who preferred to be anonymous said the woman’s shop had an extended shed that was blocking other residents in the nearby area and a notice was served between September 2009 and May 2010 However the Sadiford Family says that was not the real reason behind the dismantling of the structure and did not receive any notice since she was out of Guyana along with her husband during most of that period.