Extortion Menace - Crime On The Rise As Downtown Kingston Returns To Pre-Tivoli-Incursion State......Most shoppers at the Coronation Market in Kingston have to pay 'parking fees' to men on the corner to do business in the market.

Most shoppers at the Coronation Market
in Kingston have to pay 'parking fees'
to men on the corner to do business
 in the market.
 - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

Raging illegality, rampant indiscipline and flagrant criminality that have, again, overtaken the bustling downtown Kingston commercial district have left influential players in the redevelopment exercise troubled.

The actions of re-emerging extortionists, unlawful shoppers and illicit vendors are, once again, generating high drama daily on the streets of the busy business community, bringing back terrifying memories of the period prior to the 2010 incursion into Tivoli Gardens.

Unlike the days shortly before the military incursion that crushed extortion in Tivoli Gardens and neighbouring communities, the scourge has, in recent times, been rearing its head.

For Chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) K.D. Knight, complacency is to blame for the resurgence of criminality in the area. read more...