Tivoli Gardens, Kingston
| Tivoli Gardens | |
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| Political Garrison | |
 Tivoli Gardens
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| Coordinates: 17°58′27″N 76°48′05″W / 17.9742°N 76.8014°WCoordinates: 17°58′27″N 76°48′05″W / 17.9742°N 76.8014°W | |
| Country | Jamaica |
| City | Kingston |
| Developed | 1963-1965 |
Tivoli Gardens, a political Garrison, is a West Kingston neighbourhood in Kingston, Jamaica. Developed in a renewal project between 1963 and 1965, the neighborhood continued to suffer from poverty. By the late twentieth century, it had become a center of drug trafficking activity and social unrest. Repeated confrontations took place between law enforcement and gunmen in the neighborhood in 1997, 2001, 2005, 2008, and 2010.
Tivoli Gardens was developed in West Kingston, Jamaica, between 1963 and 1965 by demolishing and redeveloping the area of the Rastafarian settlement Back-O-Wall. It was notorious in the 1950s as the worst slum in the Caribbean area, where "three communal standpipes and two public bathrooms served a population of well over 5,000 people."
Because its people were poor and lacked political power, West Kingston had been the site for many institutional and undesirable projects, some of which were hazardous to the environment. According to Desmond McKenzie, a senator from West Kingston, the area contained:
"the largest dump at Bumper Hall, on lands where St Andrew Technical High School is now situated; the abattoir which is still there; the largest sewage treatment plant; the largest public cemetery in the English-speaking Caribbean - the May Pen Cemetery; the morgue at that time; the two largest maternity and public hospitals in the English-speaking Caribbean - the Victoria Jubilee and Kingston Public hospitals; the Blood Bank; the largest market in the English-speaking Caribbean - the Coronation Market, and also 99 per cent of all the markets within the Corporate Area." He continued, "It is also the site of 99 1/3 of all the funeral parlours in the Corporate Area; the oil refinery is situated in West Kingston; the Jamaica Railway Corporation is situated in West Kingston; the JOS bus depot at that time; it is today the site of the largest power plant - Hunts Bay."
Edward Seaga entered the community in 1961. From the beginning, he encouraged youth to get training and education. In 1963 he was elected to office representing the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), and was appointed as minister of development. He has never lost an election since. He facilitated redevelopment of the area as Tivoli Gardens. In the process, some observers said that many supporters of the People's National Party (PNP) were displaced by those supporting the Labour Party. McKenzie noted that people had to be able to buy some of the new houses. The new development was named after a theatre, which was later renamed as the Queen's Theatre. It was considered a model of community development, especially after the construction of a large community centre in the 1980s, which held such activities as a training centre for a range of skills, a sports field, a library, a base for the Tivoli Steel Band, and other facilities. Seaga also ensured that more schools were constructed in the area.
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Wikipedia