PNM says fete restrictions risk Carnival livelihoods

The Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment has raised con­cern over the Prime Min­is­ter’s de­ci­sion to im­me­di­ate­ly re­strict all fetes and par­ties at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um and Jean Pierre Com­plex to a small set of days and hours close to Car­ni­val.

In a me­dia re­lease, PNM Pub­lic Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer Faris Al-Rawi said the an­nounce­ment came with­out prop­er con­sul­ta­tion and has cre­at­ed un­cer­tain­ty for sur­round­ing res­i­dents and the thou­sands of peo­ple who earn an in­come dur­ing the Car­ni­val sea­son.

Ac­cord­ing to the re­lease, the par­ty ac­knowl­edged that res­i­dents near the venues have long ex­pressed con­cerns about noise, traf­fic and the im­pact of late night events on their qual­i­ty of life. It said those con­cerns are valid and de­serve at­ten­tion.

How­ev­er, the PNM said the Gov­ern­ment’s “sud­den and un­ex­plained de­cree” does not serve the com­mu­ni­ties or the many stake­hold­ers who re­ly on Car­ni­val for work. It said ma­jor changes of this na­ture should in­volve di­a­logue with af­fect­ed com­mu­ni­ties, event or­gan­is­ers, law en­force­ment, busi­ness­es and lo­cal au­thor­i­ties.

The re­lease al­so said Car­ni­val is a na­tion­al in­dus­try built on long-term plan­ning, and pro­mot­ers, DJs, tech­ni­cians, stage crews, cater­ers, se­cu­ri­ty per­son­nel, dri­vers, ven­dors and small busi­ness­es pre­pare months in ad­vance. It warned that the abrupt change threat­ens the in­come of thou­sands dur­ing the peak sea­son.

“The busi­ness of Car­ni­val can­not sur­vive ar­bi­trary and un­ex­plained de­ci­sions hand­ed down with­out warn­ing or con­sul­ta­tion,” the re­lease said.