Here is a report scripted and posted to Facebook by Annalee Davis who attended the Blue Horizon town hall meeting – David, blogmaster
Report on Blue Horizon Town Hall Meeting
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111 responses to “Report on Blue Horizon Town Hall Meeting”
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Same old crooks, how will anything get better, how will corruption ever end..
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The same Gabby that sang Cadavers in 1984, fast forward to 2018–30+ years later–at least 3 medical schools are now established in Bim. The comment about sewage plant is but a red herring because it would suggest every new hotel on the South Coast would be required to build its own plant, which is infeasible and makes no sense. The Pierhead/Bay Street is multiple plots so obviously a plant can be built in that location to serve the proposed developments and funded by the developers collectively. What is required, however, is an infrastructure funding study by government to determine what infrastructural capacity is required to address current and future demand and the various funding mechanisms. A simple one would be a one-off levy on all new developments, so that for example the developers of Blue Horizon would pay a contribution towards infrastructure based on floor size or some other transparent method. Come, come, up the debate this is 2019 not 1984.
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@enuff
What we have here are valid citizen concerns in the context of what has been dogging the country especially relating to physical development and environmental impact. We need to move the discussion needle about this you are correct.
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I said yesterday and i will say it today Madam PM use the law of compulsory acquisition and buy back the beach front lot. They can keep the land side property.
The People have clearly spoken do you intend to go against them?
Gabbarts I with you on this one!
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@enuff
What might be a more useful and urgent exercise is a project to determine the % of foreign exchange leaking from our one leg sector.
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They are still on a high right now Mia &Co., give them another 18 months to 2 years to remember that they are VOTE BEGGARS..
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@ David
This is real simple now don’t let some try to distract you.
The people have made it clear that they wish the beach side lot left open for public use. The PM now has to decide if she will represent the people and use the same law she was willing to use against Mrs Ram to now compulsory acquire the lot.
This is where we are now. Will this government elected at a majority of 30 to 0 now represent the people or “other interest?”
It’s that simple let us not be detracted but focus there.
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Enuff
We are disappointed that you are so protective of a position which appears less and less viable every day.
Your attempts to kick issues into the tall grass by expressing the need for a national master planning ethos, which does not currently exist and maybe never will, is obvious to all.
Instead of ‘enough’, maybe you should be appropriately renamed the Machiavelli of our times. LOL
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The scenery in the pictures is always the same: White gentlemen from the north pretend to give presents to the clueless black masses in the south, bringing only badly paid jobs, even more sewage, even more environmental problems and a coastline paved with ugly concrete buildings. Anyone who now thinks of any colonial pictures from the 19th century is probably not completely wrong.
There is no room for the far too many university graduates from Barbados in the hotel industry. If Barbados really wants to focus on tourism like a banana republic, we must reduce the number of university graduates by 75 percent and create better conditions for tourism, i.e. better water supply, new sewage treatment plants, better roads and so on. Similarly, we should abolish publicly subsidised passenger transport, because tourists do not use the almost hundred-year-old rotten buses anyway. Of course we also need lower taxes, because food and transport are far too expensive.
The Barbadian welfare state has thus failed grandiosely. Education for the masses for highly paid jobs has proven to be a complete failure. The locals only find better paid jobs in the state bureaucracy. That, too, will change soon. Thanks to international creditors who no longer want to finance local idleness.
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David
What is the net increase or decrease in windows to the sea in the last 30 years from Oistins to Bridgetown? I see you have jumped to forex leakage. Too much licks??🤣🤣Pacha
Don’t blame me if I am a progressive thinker. I repeat Gabby sang Cadavers in 1984. Machiavelli not at all star.🤣 -
“Thanks to international creditors who no longer want to finance local idleness.”
U useless turd, now ya reduced to LYING ON INTERNATIONAL CREDITORS….whom yall REFUSE TO PAY THEIR MONEY…
……dont yall know any new words beside tourism….cause if that is all ya know…ya certainly dont know how to do anything else….
…short memories.
,…limited intellect…
,..taxpayers money wasted on educating asses…for 60 years..
No wonder ya scholars rightfully KEEP THEIR DISTANCE..
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@enuff
Not jumping any where although leaking by the sector is relevant. If BU has to ride emotive sentiment to ensure our voices are heard so be it. The citizenry have to fight the political class with all the âweaponsâ at our disposal.
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I hope the poor folks in Bay Street are given the same opportunities to air their views on the Hyatt project.
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@Enuff July 19, 2019 7:49 AM
“comment about sewage plant is but a red herring because it would suggest every new hotel on the South Coast would be required to build its own plant, which is infeasible and makes no sense.”
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Absolute nonsense. Crane Hotel and a handful of other hotels already have their own sewage plant, so does Coverley and Ross University. It is entirely feasible and absolutely must be required. -
@David
“determine the % of foreign exchange leaking from our one leg sector.”
Wily agrees with you to a point, foreign exchange leaking is indeed an issue under the present currency peg. You are also promoting the implementation of “Money” which will effectively eliminate all present in effective leakage controls. Foreign Exchange leakages issues can be brought under control with elimination of the currency page. This will also force the country into living within their means, no matter which duopoly is in power, take control away from the inept politicians.
You guessed, this scenario will never be entertained by either of the present political parties as it would be political suicide.
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@David
“determine the % of foreign exchange leaking from our one leg sector.”
Wily agrees with you to a point, foreign exchange leaking is indeed an issue under the present currency peg. You are also promoting the implementation of “Money” which will effectively eliminate all present in effective leakage controls. Foreign Exchange leakages issues can be brought under control with elimination of the currency page. This will also force the country into living within their means, no matter which duopoly is in power, take control away from the inept politicians.
You guessed, this scenario will never be entertained by either of the present political parties as it would be political suicide.
(
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Yo Gabby…YOU ARE THE MAN..
People ENUFF…want to speak to you.
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@WURA- War-on-U July 19, 2019 9:49 AM
“……dont yall know any new words beside tourism….cause if that is all ya know…ya certainly dont know how to do anything else….”
A very insightful statement. One would figure that with the world’s financial meltdown of 2008, Barbados’ political elite would start diversifying the pillars of the economy. This has not been done; as far back as 1999, Dr.Neville Duncan lamented the fact that Owen Arthur had a great opportunity to refocus the Barbadian economic developmental path, which he failed to do( soon there after Duncan was relocated to Jamaica).. It was not surprising that Arthur missed the chance: it was this same Arthur who publicly stated that the only viable thing Barbados had going for it was the sale of land, he was so bereft of ideas. Barbados( he is according to a lot of local pundits an economic genius) has been so committed to tourism ( a case of all of one’s eggs in the same basket) that to alter course now is unthinkable because those responsible are bereft of ideas needed to pioneer a new start. Thus we are seeing hotels here, there and every where. No thought has been given to entry of Cuba in a big way on the tourism market.
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peterlawrence
Coverley and Crane vs Blue Horizon site. Spot any difference? -
I have said it many times and i will say it again. i am all for development which provides employment but not at.the expense of of the destruction of our coastal lands which are crucial to the preservation of nature.
IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO BAN ALL CONSTRUCTION ON BEACH FRONT LANDS. -
PLT
Yes, you’re right.
Hotels, like Welcome Inn, back in the 60’s or early 70’s had a sewage plant on site.
We unfortunately, knew that too well.
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@Enuff July 19, 2019 12:08 PM
“Coverley and Crane vs Blue Horizon site. Spot any difference?”
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Every site is different… but if you are trying to imply that the Blue Horizon site is too small, that too is nonsense. Modern treatment plants can be fit into a 40′ shipping container (and I’m talking tertiary treatment where the output is basically potable, not the way our travesty of a treatment plant dumps nasty waste into the ocean). -
You really want to stick those little ugly apartheid boxes at Coverley in a comparison, don’t care what it is…with Crane…really…they do have early stage Alzheimers you know…lol
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@Enuff July 19, 2019 12:08 PM
We have all the expertise right here in Barbados. Ecohesion is a local firm that has designed, installed over a dozen wastewater treatment plants across the Caribbean, Mexico, and the USA. -
@WURA-WAR-on-U July 19, 2019 12:32 PM
I’m not talking about the kennels at Coverley, I’m talking about the wastewater treatment which is far superior to either of the two government operated facilities. -
Got ya PLT.
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PL
Why would you seek to sewer only Blue Horizon, if the entire south coast needs upgrading? That does not seem to be a comprehensive approach. The same peeps asking about a plant are the same ones who say dem ain’t connected to it so shouldn’t pay? -
Around and around and around we go where we stop nobody knows
Seems like i have heard all this noise and chatter many moons ago
One thing i can say for Mia she knows how to serve up Koolaid well
Stupse -
I attended the Blue Horizon public information meeting last evening along with about 250 others. I went to last night’s meeting looking for compromise that would allow this development to proceed, but the arrogance and misdirection employed by Bjerkham, Tempro et al has robbed me of any notion that this lot can be trusted to behave in a minimally professional fashion.
They bought the property at a mysterious discount from the previous government on the promise that it would be a branded Hard Rock Hotel. Now that is out the window and they are making a completely unrelated proposal to build a Marriot. They tried to stealthily get through the public consultation process by not advertising the first meeting so it was only attended by 21 people from the neighborhood… but the social media campaign on FaceBook forced them to publicize the second meeting last night and over 250 people were in the room with others outside unable to find standing room. The people who were at the first meeting tell me that the developers presentation last night was completely different from what they said at the previous meeting. The developers showed drawings which blatantly distorted and misrepresented the streetscape to make the six story South Beach Hotel to the west of their development look as tall as the ten story building that they are proposing. The developers refused to provide architectural perspectives of the building from the point of view of the residential neighborhood behind it. In addition the Blue Tourism team quoted a respected local historian out of context to distort his meaning in a disgusting and disrespectful manner.
Their entire performance was manipulative and disrespectful.
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When ya can get FREE TAXPAYER’S MONEY and money from the PENSION FUND….as a member of the CROOK BRIGADE…ya can afford state of the art anything…especially since both governments are always reluctant to SPEND the taxpayer’s money on anything state of the art unless there is some bribe involved and even then…they skim and siphon off money and still end up buying inferior hardware…like they were accused of doing with the south coast sewage plant…
just look at the stae of the buses a shameful sight…that tells ya all ya need to know…
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@Enuff July 19, 2019 12:50 PM
This development is trying to make the Bajan taxpayer pay the cost of their huge addition to the sewage wastewater load rather than factoring it into their own capital plan. Furthermore they know that the current sewage infrastructure is severely compromised and that this additional load (30,000+ gallons/day) carries with it an overwhelming risk that sewage will again be flowing in the streets. -
@PLT
Barbados is a failed state. The Stuart DLP were incompetent; the Mottley BLP are behaving like gangsters, gangster capitalism. The idea of having a discussion/debate is to reach a compromise. Both parties must be debating honestly.
I have now reluctantly reached the conclusion this is not part of Barbadian political culture. We have the government we deserve. Be careful what we wish for. -
PLT…don’t be even a little bit shocked that they are quietly planning to TIEF taxpayers and pensioner’s money to get the ball rolling on this big ugly concrete development too…with the help of the shitehounds in parliament…NONE OF IT CAN HAPPEN WITHOUT THEM…
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it is written in Proverbs 29:18…..and it cannot be refuted that
WHERE THERE IS NO VISION…….THE PEOPLE PERISH -
when I was last in Bim, I visited one of my favorite places…OISTINS
as I looked, I could see the sea, in a way that it never could be seen before
eventually I realized, and was later told that the GOB had demolished the Geriatric Hospital there!they really created an a window or opening to the sea. didnt they
DO WUNNAH TINK DAT ALL THEM CORAL STONES WENT TO THE DUMP?
THE GOB CAN CREATE WINDOWS TO THE SEA AND THEY CAN CLOSE THEM TOO ……ah lie?
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@Hal Austin July 19, 2019 12:59 PM
Barbados is a failed state. You are correct. You win. 😉We have plenty of company… the UK and USA too are currently failed states.
It is actually much worse than that, though… Barbados is a failed society!
It is axiomatic that in a moderately free democracy we get the government we deserve. It therefore falls to a minority of public spirited activists to exert strategic interventions in the political system to nudge the society away from its most self destructive idiocy. This can only be achieved outside of any political party because the party system itself is the prime perpetrator of the idiocy.
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The noose is tightening. Soon Barbados will be a de facto penal colony for the majority of Bajans. 50 years (maybe 10 more) was a good run for a small place.
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This is a very good point … “One would figure that with the world’s financial meltdown of 2008, Barbados’ political elite would start diversifying the pillars of the economy.” … we are putting all our eggs in one basket … Tourism … one Hurricane come through here and we done for a couple years or so, and what then?
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PLT…welcome to Barbados’ shitey whitehood..
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I wonder what Barbados will look like (not just physically) in 10 years.
If Edutech is anything to go by then we are in for interesting times.
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When did the “political elite” ever diversify or otherwise anything about the “pillars of the economy”?!!!
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Tourism remains the lone economic crutch mainly because it presents the path of least resistance.
Build a few buildings, sell the idea of the tropical getaway and voila – we have a tourism ‘industry’.
Not much vision, planning or intellectual heavy lifting is required.
We basically rent out nature’s endowments – whether beach, sun or Bajanness – to foreigners.
In a way it is a perverse type of rent seeking. -
Heard the arrogance coming through today on Brasstacks between Maloney and Ellis.Maloney says he can take his plant and his water and sow it any part of the world.White capitalist class attitude thumbing his nose and finger at a 95% black population.Well Maloney tek ur filthy lucre and haul allyuh azz from bout hey.Yuh chopsutter,gaul bline yuh yuh red effing leg.Fkg JA swine.Wunna so can manipulate azzoles like Stuart and make him lose all 30 seats.Mottley got more sense than that and Gabby mekking sure all yuh don’t get away with this nasty attitude wunna got that Sparrow sang bout “all is mine,all is mine” and I add,”black man whine”
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Heard the arrogance coming through today on Brasstacks between Maloney and Ellis.Maloney says he can take his plant and his water and sow it any part of the world.White capitalist class attitude thumbing his nose and finger at a 95% black population.
@Gabriel
He is absolutely correct. The 95% population deserve this. Who made these guys rich in the first place? -
I love to hear and read the keyboard warriors.
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@Dullard July 19, 2019 2:09 PM
“In a way it is a perverse type of rent seeking.”
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You are absolutely right! It is renting out to middle class visitors the chance to pretend that they are wealthy landowners (classical rent seekers) with a retinue of servants at their beck and call. So “we basically rent out nature’s endowments” so people can pretend that they are living off the profits of renting out nature’s endowments. Perverse indeed. -
Hey PLT
you didn’t feel out of place at that Blue Horizon meeting? I didn’t see a lot of socialists or environmentalists there. I saw a lot of people who realise that their happy south coast existence is being imperiled by some of their own! Funny how things go around! I wonder if dey were singing “Emmerton” too? -
@PLT
There is a myth that tourism can contribute to the development of a nation. How do we define development? European tourists still go to Egypt; they also went to Portugal under Salazar; to Spain under General Franco; to Turkey; to Greece under the general; etc.
in short, tourists are not interested in the politics of the nation they are visiting.
The sociology of tourism is basic: ordinary people save up throughout the year to go on holiday overseas; they see tropical places on television, the lifestyles of the rich and famous, and realise that lower travel and accommodation costs, and cheap debt, means they can ‘afford’ to travel to Barbados for ten days and live the life, repaying the credit card debt on their return. It is high risk.
The truth is that for over 60 years our political and busjness leaders have failed to capitalise on tourism while diversifying in to other services and industries. They have failed the nation. -
One would expect nothing different from Maloney as he is what he is and that can’t be changed.
The reality is the last government put him on the pedestal that he now behaves like a $3 whore from. He and his cohorts were allowed to do as they like over the last 10 years without question, the fact that he must now conform to law and guidelines is therefore new ground for him.
The truth is the $5million he paid for Blue Horizon should of been tied to the property known as Blue Horizon and not the assets of the entity there of. For some reason this ” oversight” by the MOF cost the beach front land to go along for the donation of $5m bds, inclusive of hotel.
Also why was the offer from another entity of $11m dollars turned down and one of $5M accepted? In real terms Maloney never paid for the Beach lot hence compulsory acquiring it for $1 should not be problem.
The people have spoken Madam PM which side of the fence you sitting on? The people that put you there with a 30 to 0, or the said persons you condemned while on the political platform?
There is no middle ground so choose carefully!
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@John A
The president is also minster of planning. Did you see Commissiong at the meeting?
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