The parishioners of All Saints Anglican Church at the corner of Marli Street and Queen's Park West are now strongly protesting major inconveniences caused by construction work for nearly one year outside the American Embassy, which stands opposite to the church. When a lane on the savannah roadway was blocked off, at the same time that entry was denied into Marli Street as far west as Woodford Street, without much notice, Sunday Newsday was told by an Embassy official that the Americans were beefing up external security worldwide after the bombings and loss of life in Embassies in two African countries.
While commuters were given back the savannah lane after a few months of traffic jams, Marli Street remained blocked from Monday to Sundays and citizens who needed to travel west to Woodford Street are forced to travel north of the Embassy and access Woodford Street from the savannah. It is only recently that the Marli Street barriers are being removed on week-ends.
The parishioners, says Assistant Bishop Clive Abdulah, interim rector of the church "have complained about the tremendous inconvenience this construction has caused them and some have, in spite of their patience, been most upset about it. At the end of last month's Annual General Meeting of the parish, a small delegation was asked to meet with Ambassador Roy Austin to lodge a formal complaint because the disruption has gone on for far too long." The meeting is yet to take place.
Funerals are the worst affected as the hearse alone is allowed to drive into Marli Street so that the deceased's casket can be placed at the west door. Relatives and friends attending the Funeral Service , which could run into hundreds of people, are forced to park long distances from the church.
The same goes for weddings where until the barriers were recently removed on week-ends, only the bridal car was allowed to drive to the west door. And in both the above instances, the Embassy must be informed ahead of time by the church, which Bishop Abdulah says "sometimes works but should there be a breakdown in communication at the Embassy end, the security guards may not have been informed and the barriers are not moved in time."
Even worst than the problems mentioned above are the varying degrees of noise emanating from the Embassy's loudspeaker and from the construction work and workers around the American Embassy at all hours of the day. One casualty has been the Thursday morning Mass which takes place at 6.30 a.m. rather than 6 a.m. as on other week-day mornings. The celebrant is forced to stop the Mass until the announcements of the names of visa applicants over the consular department's loudspeakers, are finished.
Last July, at the most touching funeral of a young 36 year old mother who had left a one year old infant behind, and who had passed on exactly six weeks after her own father, the harsh, drilling sounds coming from the workmen opposite the church drowned out the priest's homily. A member of the congregation was forced to leave the church and request a halt to the drilling.
Sunday Newsday was informed that during last week's Good Friday services, the operation of a large backhoe in the vicinity, caused parishioners to have to leave the service to remove their cars from the equipment's path.
Assistant Bishop Abdulah told Sunday Newsday "One cannot really see how the Embassy building and its occupants can be protected from a bomb thrower because of its proximity to both Marli Street and the Queen's Park Savannah, and all this beefed up security makes no sense for Trinidad and Tobago. One would need to have a tank as far as the new security wall is concerned but then who has a tank in Trinidad?"
The Embassy's Public Affairs Officer, Stacey Rose-Blass, who only arrived here in October, assured Newsday that the permanent blocking of Marli Street was not at the request of the Embassy. "This was done by the Trinidad & Tobago Police Service after September 11 and I have been told by the people who work at the main Chancery that the street is closed only during office hours."
As far as Rose-Blass knows "no formal complaint has been made by the church. I am sure that if we were aware of the specific needs of the congregation that we would be more than willing to make accommodations. As it is the Embassy is right now trying to make the visa area more comfortable for the public but this embassy is No 80 in the line of embassies that require significant renovations to accommodate these things."
However, Bishop Abdulah assured Newsday that discussions on the situation had in fact been held with the former Public Affairs Officer of the Embassy and David Stewart, Charge D'Affaires at the Embassy. When contacted, Stewart, who leaves this country in less than a fortnight for a Washington posting, remembered speaking to Bishop Abdulah, and did refer the Thursday morning disturbances to the consular division. He hopes it has been regularised.
Stewart referred to the September 11, 2001, World Trade Centre attacks, and also the two previous bombings of United States Embassies in Africa saying that "in all the overseas attacks the majority of people killed are of that particular country. Should there be an attack here in the consular area, a lot of Trinidadians will be killed."
Stewart confirmed that the closure of Marli Street has been mandated by the Police Commissioner. And said that "the project is being done as quickly as possible, while trying to be as good neighbours as we can be, but worldwide all Embassies are trying to improve the external perimeter security. In this Eastertime, we are hoping we can live with our neighbours in a spirit of charity. We wish terrorism did not exist in the world but unfortunately it does. We are doing this to protect the lives of the embassy employees, visitors, visa applicants and our neighbours."