ESTHER BYER-SUCKOO wants to take St George South to the next level by ensuring that every household has at least one income.
Before a packed audience at the St George Secondary School on Sunday night, Byer-Suckoo, in delivering her constituency report, said that quality of life was what representation was all about.
In a video presentation dubbed Touching Our Lives, Byer-Suckoo pointed to improvements in housing, roadworks and sport. The most notable effort may have been 51 houses completed at Greens, some of which are on a rent-to-own concept.
“It is not just about meeting a few immediate needs as would have happened in the past with others. Not anymore. My goals speak to moving St George South into the 21st century.
“Employment is critical and it is important that we have at least one person in every household with an income,” she said.
The medical doctor, a resounding first-time winner at the January 15, 2008 polls, said strides had been made but much still had to be done in St George South, which has 9 000 voters.
She said there was much ground to cover in a constituency that had 40 communities, 30 churches and six schools.
“We cannot undo in two years what has been done in 20 years, but St George South is going places,” said Byer-Suckoo, who presented awards to this country’s oldest man, James Sisnett, and die hard DLP supporter Hyacinth “Sis” Mapp. Sisnett, 110, a product of Ellerton, has had a road in the constituency named after him.
Byer-Suckoo said the housing project at Bulkeley Meadows was almost finished and land acquired at Brighton and Todds.
She also spoke about the Ellerton play park and the South District breakfast project, which facilitated dozens of residents.
“It is a relatively poor constituency, and there have been people who have been lining up for many years to get houses and have not been able to do so.
“One of the things we have been able to do with the housing at Greens is to secure some of those houses for persons who didn’t qualify for a mortgage, that they can get [them] on a rent-to-own concept,” she said.
Serenaded by mum Hassiroon Byer and Kenneth Armstrong before she went on stage, Byer-Suckoo, a St George South hometown girl who attended Ellerton Primary, said she was honoured and proud to be serving a constituency that nurtured her.
