More protest action rocks Coopers Pen after fresh eviction notice

WESTERN BUREAU:

Residents of Coopers Pen in Trelawny staged yet another demonstration yesterday, a day after they were served with a cease-and-desist notice by the Trelawny Municipal Corporation ordering them to pull down their businesses and vacate the property within 30 days.

The aggrieved, placard-bearing residents blocked the roadway near the community with old appliances and debris while calling for justice, accusing the authorities of trampling on their rights and depriving them of their homes and livelihoods. The police later removed the blockade from the roadway.

Shopkeeper Stacy-Ann Noble, one of the affected residents, said the eviction notice was particularly stressful for her as she operates a shop in the area to provide for her three children, one of whom currently requires spinal surgery costing $5 million.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) we were here doing our normal business, and the parish council (municipal corporation) and police came and gave us notice that we have 30 days to pull down our businesses or else we have to find $1.5 million to pay. I have a daughter who met in a car accident from she was three years old, and I had this shop from before, and it a help me and help her,” said Noble.

“When Hurricane Melissa came, my shop went flat, and nobody nuh help me, mi nuh get no grant, and mi try my best and build it up back. But now as mi build up back my shop, dem a go tell me say I have 30 days to pull it down,” complained Noble. “When them a go tell me that I have 30 days to pull down my shop, what is the next move? Who a go help my daughter? A three pickney me have, who a go help we?”

Another resident, Claudia Campbell, argued that the authorities should have held a meeting with her and her neighbours to determine a feasible solution.

“We are all Jamaican people here, and we are very poor. There are kids born here, and there are people with shops who live behind the shops, so we do not have anywhere to go. We need to know what is going on, and they (authorities) should come and keep a meeting with us and deal with it the right way,” she said.

The protest is the latest chapter in the ongoing Coopers Pen controversy, which began on August 11 with a demolition exercise that destroyed 20 houses situated on 705 acres of land, leaving scores of residents displaced. New Falmouth Resorts Limited is the legal owner of the property, which the residents had been illegally occupying for years.

Dennis Meadows, the People’s National Party’s (PNP) constituency chairman for the Trelawny Northern constituency, where Coopers Pen is located, suggested that a feasible solution could be found that would benefit the affected residents and the hospitality stakeholders whose properties are located nearby.

He expressed the view that the controversy stems from tourism interests wanting to use the land without consideration for the residents.

“Most of these residents predate the existence of any hotel here, and the hotels came here and saw them. Why can’t they coexist? Why was the Tourism Enhancement Fund, that is now being used to give people grants for relocation and to facilitate relocation, not used to come into Coopers Pen, beautify the place, and assist these businesspeople so they can make their structures more attractive? They can coexist,” said Meadows.

When The Gleaner contacted Collen Gager, the mayor of Falmouth and chairman of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation, he said he was not in office and was unaware of the protest. He said he would need some time to get the required information.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com