AMMONNEWS - By Abdulillah - I am not sure if any of you have looked at our City lately; it is falling apart at the seams.

The old section of City is in transition, where few of the traditional stores are left. The nearby outskirts are in even worse condition, traffic is endless and unmoving, and noise pollution from horns are blaring constantly where one can walk (if they actually could) faster than drive throughout the streets.

Sidewalks are non-existence, and the where they do exist, are always packed with cars that have parked atop them, or trees have been planted only to have the branches block the pedestrian from walking. Jay-Walking if you are brave and don’t mind being struck by a driver who isbusy texting or on his phone; in the street is dangerous if not contributing more to the congestion.

These and other issues related to broken water pipes, potholes, poor roadways, dirt, trash and lack of open areas are other factors to this slow decay. Laws in-place are not enforced and the sprawl is widely rampant , where businesses and the rich keep moving out even further and further from the center, yet the same poor City planning and poor law enforcement is almost non-existent. The areas regarded as the “the place to live” five years ago are now relegated to the old heap bin of decay and demise, as sprawl is allowed expanding the service areas even further from the centers of control.

If you are an ex-patriot to your City coming and going yearly between spells you find yourself wondering what happened to the home you once knew and loved, the stores you frequented and the vast changes to the landscape and the slow deterioration of the streets, not upgraded since their inception and what happened to your neighbors who have quickly moved to the ever expanding outskirts of sprawl. Houses are un-kept, decline evident from the smog stained limestone walls that once shined bright white in the sunlight. One does not even want to come back during the summer months because of the massive traffic load on our streets and traffic planning for these times if it exists is obviously NOT working.

The City services are strained if non-existence and one wonders if they have actually “blue screened”like the old computer systems when overloaded with commands, frozen, unable to function, requiring re-booting, where you lose all your data and work. I am not sure what the Mayor’s office or the GAM municipality is doing as it seems to this interloper, they are overwhelmed with so much decay, that uncertainty, confusion as to what to do first, is leading them to error in attacking the problem.

This affect is not new to any City. It was and is still rampant even in old Cities in the US and Europe especially in the 60’s and 70’s and 80’s. It has been a challenge for every major City planning centers and municipalities. Fierce infighting and wide ranges of ideas and money were spent frivolously with little or no improvement.

Things started to change when City planners overwhelmed, short of money and ideas started to work with local and outside developers tearing down the old parts of the City, enforcing laws on absent landowners and rent-holders who have failed to correct or comply with the ordinances.

Roadways were improved, parking regulation kept in check by new metering and enforcement. Large trucks and large vehicles kept to deliveries at low peak hours. Sidewalks and biking lanes established with clear lines of demarcation. New mass-transportation methods improved .

However the MOST effective contributions were made with business who were slowly wooed back to the main business centers. The young who are more sensitive to climate change and “green” living not wanting to sit in traffic jams to get to their places of work have flocked to these old areas, where they are flourishing once again.

I am not sure if these new ideas have sunk into the minds and in the halls of our municipal centers and offices, and if they have not then they need to, because in another five years the new areas today will be the old areas of tomorrow and services will deteriorate even more.

The world is ever changing and we must start learning to change with these developments. Municipal leaders need to learn new ways, laws by police need to be enforced and delinquent homeowners need to maintain properties and setbacks from public roadways.

My brothers and sisters, it time we start contributing by cleaning and dropping trash in trash bins and not throwing them on our streets. It’s time we got up off our backsides and starting walking a bit more then jumping into our cars to drive where a 5-10 minute walk could save a lot of gas and congestion. That we convert our homes to solar energy and we keep our parked cars off the sidewalks will also help us get better.

These are easy and not harsh changes, however for those who believe that these suggestions are only for others. Let me assure you if not today but in the next few months or years they will change because the next visit to your domicile will be from our enforcement people summoning your to visit the courts to pay a hefty fine. This cycle of deterioration, incrimination and lack of consideration of others needs to stop.

God Bless Jordan and its People.