Crime Taking A Toll? NCB to close Red Hills Road branch after 42 years

The Jamaica Observer reports that the “National Commercial Bank (NCB) will shut down its Red Hills Road branch in March [2013] after more than four decades in operation on the St Andrew strip.”

This means “the community is now left without a commercial bank, with Scotiabank having left there in the 1990s, and more importantly another major employer.”

Crime taking a toll on business | Photo by Cali.org

The financial institution said it will consolidate the outlet, located inside the Red Hills Mall shopping complex, with its Half-Way-Tree branch. The NCB automated teller machine (ATM), however, will remain at the entrance to the shopping halls at the mall.

Crime

The paper reports that

…Red Hills Road developed a disturbing reputation in the 1990s to early 2000s which resulted in an exodus of a lot of the businesses. The road traversing once peaceful uptown communities became one of the city’s feared flashpoints of violence with stories of extortion, turf wars and political infighting. The decline of Red Hills Road reached its lowest level in early 2002 when a violent flare-up resulted in the killing of seven people and the burning of a housing block at 100 Lane.

Could it be that crime is taking a toll on this community?