Gros Islet MP Kenson Casimir said he has held four separate meetings with Rodney Bay residents and owners of bars and restaurants in the area and the police regarding noise pollution since being elected to represent the area.
The residents have said they are prepared to take legal action to get redress.
However, Casimir told reporters anyone could move to the courts if they feel aggrieved.
“There’s not much I can do about telling any resident whether or not they should have legal action for any situation in my constituency,” the MP stated.
But he did indicate that the approach was to appeal to moral suasion in an environment with residents and entertainment spots.
“The approach we have taken is to engage everybody,” Casimir explained.
“As parliamentary rep I can say that we are going to find a way to deal with the situation,” the Gros Islet MP told reporters.
And he observed that the situation had not been addressed legislatively regarding acceptable decibel levels.
“We do have individuals that have moved very close to where entertainment is going to continue to be enjoyed in the community and so we must sit down at the table and see what we can do as one people,” the MP stated.
“We all have to sit at the table, make decisions, legislate against what we do not want in our community, and move forward as a people,” he asserted.
Casimir said he did not think it was fair to accuse the police of doing nothing.
“My interaction with the police is that they do from time to time ensure that at 2 O’clock, sometimes two fifteen that the noise, most of the times the persons that are still playing they are stopped,” the MP noted.
But he said the police are not perfect and cannot be ‘ubiquitous’ as much as people want them to be.
“We want them to be everywhere dealing with certain situations,” Casimir observed.
“We did make a decision to walk through as a collective – the residents and the bar owners on a Friday, on a Saturday, mid-week, to see what noise levels are actually there in the community and see what level we could actually bring it down to,” he said.
“We can have a decision using an App about decibel levels. As a collective, we could say, ‘Okay, based on where the residents live, this is the level we expect it to be,’ so when the police, despite the fact that the legislation is not there, like I said moral suasion. When the police come in, it’s agreed upon, and check the decibel levels we know ‘Well okay, you are over’, we expect you to bring it down. If you do not, then we have to shut it down,” Casimir told reporters.
“These are some of the things we need to explore and as an MP, I think I have done my part in having several meetings,” he stated.
“I have not just sat down on the side. I can say there are times that I have been pulled in different directions in my constituency. But I think we have made every effort to deal with this situation,” Casimir told reporters.
Note to Mr Casimir …. THERE IS A NOISE LEVEL LAW!!!!
Look it up!
Weak! Weak! Weak!
I do recall in the mid 70’s or mid ’80’s a law was enacted to protect people from deafening loud music – especially emanating from moving vehicles, when this had escalated to a real problem.
Meanwhile people dying from noise in all other communities. What is happening there? If people can’t go to the police or the legal system to resolve issues they will find a way to do it themselves.
wat about gun noise???
Pretty straight forward; blanket ban on all loud music and other noise pollution at midnight (in residential areas at a certain decibel) ie LEGISLATION not relying on people (moral suasion, really?) to do the right thing. As a member of parliament and as the representative of your electorate then YOU Mr Casimir can and should seek to enact a Bill that enshrines the Law. “Had a few meetings and done his job” wow…
What a load of unmitigated obfuscation, kicking of the can down the road, excuse making , lack of commitment and pure bs from Kenson Casimir.
This is the same SLP bigwig enjoying the perks of office with family and friends, who had every answer while in opposition and now he sounds like a kid who has thrown his hands up in the air with a shrug, as if to say ‘ what am I to do ?’
A simple thing as noise abatement, easy to measure, easy to stop and NECESSARY to stop.
Noise affects the mental and physical health of St Lucians not just in Rodney Bay but throughout the island. The loud decibal levels, the times it is played plus the lewd vulgar types of music are also indicative of a society in decline , with no breaks on indecency and poor morals. It is linked to the murders and crime in the country.
Control those little things and you stop the big things. This is a policy that has worked elsewhere.
But the SLP parasites and venal clowns in Parliament have no clue. They operate in a bottom feeding mode , grasping for more and more with no focus on the citizens and voters.
For Casimir and phillip and fredericks and king and hillaire the Rodney Bay residents are just UWP troublemakers. Guaranteed they are looking to see if they can identify who amongst them is of the opposition party, so they have a political excuse to do nothing. All about power and pay.
With their focus on themselves and self agrandizement they have no clue how to manage a country for the citizens. They never talk about the causes of inflation or crime or fatherless families producing dysfunctional children or the drug culture of low pay for workers. They do not even MENTION these maladies in their rantings and garbage in Parliament.
What a useless bunch of disappoinring players!
There are laws that set how loud music is played and quiet times. What is there to negotiate? One time a police officer read a section of the law to me after I had made a noise complaint. For the life of me, I can’t recall whether decibel readings were stated. The law definitely states information about amplified sounds.
A calibrated decibel meter cost $17.99 on Amazon. By the way, it’s “Amazon Choice” pick.
A decibel app is non-scientific. I can’t seem to get my “human rights representative ” engaged in this serious health issue.
Casimir want his perks when he goes to those bars. Of course he won’t do squat. And herein lies his stupidity. Say you have 100 voters complaining about an issue cause by 3 or 4 bars. Are you seriously going to ignore the plight of your constituents for 3 or 4 bars entertaining people who most likely don’t care to vote and are largely not from your constituency? What kind of lunacy is this?
The problem is planning. Rodney Bay should not be a residential area.
I am a St. Lucian visiting from overseas. Went by a dying old ladies house down south the other day. We could not hear ourselves talk in the room. The neighbor was blasting some kind of dancehall music with obscene lyrics. I was going next door to complain but the house owners told me make sure I’m ready to get a bullet or get stabbed. St. Lucia has fallen. In the 70s and 80s this would not happen. People say we have made progress since independence but is that just an illusion. Maybe just the politicians have it better.
@Black Ants and Joseph Coat if they were blasting Beethoven or Tchaikovsky would it have made difference you Clowns?? Like I have stated these foreign clowns have to go
This is the way I see the mess in SLU. No one has balls like the criminals. The politicians are afraid to enact tougher laws for fear of pissing off a segment of the population and thus lose their votes and favors. The police likewise are afraid to enforce the laws for fear of losing their/family lives and those who have criminal connections are afraid to piss off the criminals and lose financial gains. What’s left are the general citizenry who are all fearful for their lives because of a total lack of protection from the authorities. The criminals operate without any fear of being caught day or night because the population is fearful of them. Talk to anyone about sharing evidence on crime and the fear would show in his/her response. Unless we grow some balls, the criminals will remain with the upper hand
5 pts to the Minister for the use of ubiquitous .Evidently, the vocabulary app is obviously effective. Carry on.
However the issue of noise pollution and it’s legislation is a simple one. The Minister is fearful that enacting such laws would make him less popular. Minister, you entered politics to make the tough decisions necessary for development and growth of the people you represent, not just for the perks.
Time to stand up and deliver
Or the door will come your way sooner than you realize.