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Do We Need Hyatt Hotel in Downtown Bridgetown?

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Submitted by Anthony Davis
Hyatt Hotel hotel coming to Bridgetown?
Two twelve-storey Hyatt hotel towers coming to Bridgetown.

“Not Browne’s Beach! Attorney-at-law David Comissiong made this plea to the Government on Saturday night while addressing a meeting staged by the University of Independence Square in the city. Responding to last week’s announcement by Minister of Tourism and International Transport Richard Sealy that two twelve-storey Hyatt hotel towers would be constructed on the old site of the Harbour Police Station and Detco Motors on Lower Bay Street, Comissiong was adamant that the people of Barbados must own some precious beach front property for relaxation.” – Barbados Today (27 October 2014)

I totally agree with Mr. Comissiong, but I am looking at the situation from a different perspective. Pray tell me, Minister Sealy, is Bridgetown and its Environs no longer a UNESCO World Heritage Site? If so, have you read UNESCO’s stipulations for its World Heritage Sites?

I very much doubt it, because there is a clause which stipulates that no new buildings of any kind are allowed within a certain radius of the said Heritage Site. Seeing that the proposed site for the luxury hotel is in the heart of Bridgetown, do you think that it would be wise to construct a spanking new hotel smack in the middle of Bridgetown, or do you think that because you are part of the Government of Barbados that UNESCO would be scared to pull the plug on Bridgetown and its Environs as a World Heritage Site?

If so, you have another think coming!

About four years ago UNESCO removed the German city of Dresden’s World Heritage Site status because a new bridge was built inside of the boundaries laid down by it. My mind boggles at the things this Government does or plans to do without switching on its thinking cap!

Which is more important?

The World Heritage Site where some Barbadians can find employment as Tour Guides and such like, or another all-inclusive hotel for the rich, the famous and the bigoted?

That is the $60-million question, ladies and gentlemen of this Cabinet. Methinks that we have enough hotels in Barbados. How come you are so sure that the Sandals brand will bring in tourists by the thousands, yet you are bringing more and more luxury hotels to Barbados? Is it because you have to look for work for the two tourism boards which are totally unnecessary in Barbados?

This “people-centred” Government is determined to run the people of this country from every spot they find for rest and recuperation, and to take more and more bread from taxi drivers, stand-alone restaurants, small hotels with their restaurants that need patronage, etc. by allowing an infinite number of all-inclusive hotels to be built here. You split one board of tourism, and make two from it, yet you have in mind to amalgamate the oil boards and dismiss some of the workers from those two entities.

There is a lack of common sense in that move. Is anyone in this Government using his/her common sense? Or is everyone playing follow-the-leader so that you will get your pensions at the end of the day?

This is a case of after me the deluge!

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47 responses to “Do We Need Hyatt Hotel in Downtown Bridgetown?”

  1. Do We Need Hyatt Hotel in Downtown Bridgetown? – Vibe Audio StationVibe Audio Station

    […] Do We Need Hyatt Hotel in Downtown Bridgetown? […]

  2. Answer Avatar
    Answer

    Sinckler, Sealy and Mark MaMoney are unstoppable.

  3. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    NO!
    …but someone clearly needs something….

    It is truly amazing how, once a black politician in Barbados is elected to office, they suddenly begin to think, sound and even look like the typical white businessman – COW, Bizzy, Maloney etc….
    ….suddenly it is all about big deals, Big international contracts, international brands ….and they can’t look you directly in the face.

    It is now past time for ALL of these ‘deals’ to come under INTENSE public scrutiny….and Bushie don’t mean by the shiite Public Accounts Committee either (THAT also needs to be exposed publicly – how the political class protect themselves). ….but by BU – The peoples parliament.

    @ David
    If we can source some official documents and reports from these various deals and bodies, perhaps a public review of the numbers and other details will provide a much clearer picture of what is being done to us…
    This could be an interesting sub-section of BU…

  4. ac Avatar
    ac

    question: is Barbados going to capitalize on his biggest Sector; or are we going to pretend it isn,t necessary and no longer exist?

  5. Answer Avatar
    Answer

    Capital Gains Tax on property in 2014 Budget. These clown really intend the drive the economy into the ground and take poor people back to a time when they must work like ‘dogs’ just eat and stay alive.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    We have people who post to BU who are privy to the documents but they are scared shiteless the finger will point back to them.

    @Artax

    Word about town is that deposits greater than $100,000 maybe targeted. We have dismissed this as idle talk. Bottomline the next budget will tighten the asterity belt.

    Hyatt is a businessman’s hotel, located in Bridgetown a la the one in Port of Spain is probably the model.

  7. T J Avatar
    T J

    I support the investment, bring it on!. Being or not being on the World Heritage List will not stop tourist from coming, it certainly has not lead to an influx of tourist coming here. As a capital Bridgetown needs the facelift and some revival. The only thing I am concerned about the the vagrants and misfits that usually roam in and around the City.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    What is the value of being labelled a UNESCO world heritage site? Is it about bringing more tourists?

  9. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Hyatt shiite…sounds more like a Nelson street convenience to Bushie…

    Boss
    Bridgetown needs a proper cleanup, a coherent plan of action where it comes to maintenance and upkeep and someone with basic common sense and the ability to get things done to be put in charge.
    most of all, politicians must be kept far away from anything to do with it…

    Next it needs a unique meaning – like creating traffic free zones, a decent arts theater, converting Kensington from a white elephant into a multi use sport facility, a permanent fun park with some Disney-like attractions, and a permanent 20 Km cycling /hiking route stretching from Spring Garden to Brown beach.
    Vending needs to meet high hygiene standards…and be strictly enforced….and the WHOLE STRETCH OF BEACH FROM BROWN BEACH TO SPRING GARDEN should be cleared of the lotta shiite buildings and converted to park / public areas.

    …mean that is not obvious?
    …mean that black people cant do one shiite at a high standard or the damn white people can’t think about anything but accumulating money in their account?

    …steupsssss!!

  10. David Avatar
    David

    @Bushie

    Something like San Francisco Bay?

  11. robert ross Avatar
    robert ross

    TJ is concerned about vagrants and misfits.

    Do we (a) shoot them; (b) lock them up in Dodds; (c) house them in St Lucy; or (d) welcome them and learn from them something about ourselves?

    Is begging the ‘Way’?

    How do we identify a “misfit”?

    Does a rose love beggars and misfits?

    Is our attitude to beggars the same as our response to half-naked dervish dancing at Crop Over?

  12. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Ross
    …you are beginning to scare Bushie now…
    shiite man….. you are evolving in ways that impress…

    @ David
    Exactly…..Like Frisco Bay…..or even like Doha….. why the hell not?
    ….oh wait
    …because low class mendicant effeminate jokers cannot be expected to have the kind of vision / creativity/ balls to even conceptualize such a reality can they….?
    …… Else they won’t be low-class, mendicant, effeminate brass bowls…

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    Surprised actors with a vested interest like the creatives et al are happy t remain quiet and divided on this matter.

  14. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    BTW David…
    We have people who post to BU who are privy to the documents but they are scared shiteless the finger will point back to them.
    ++++++++++++++
    True……Bushie forgot ….NO BALLS.

    How about plan ‘B’?

    Why don’t BU randomly ask these organizations / institutions / persons for copies of these documents DIRECTLY via facebook / email / their own websites etc? ….We can then publish the various responses and publicly draw our own conclusions in those cases where there is no cooperation.

    Once these documents become available for public scrutiny, Bushie is quite sure that we will get some informed feedback – both from knowledgeable insiders and from the organization’s leadership.

    Only those with ‘things to hide’ should resist….. 😉

    Transparency and FOI ….BU style…

  15. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    David | November 4, 2014 at 6:48 AM |

    “@Artax: Word about town is that deposits greater than $100,000 maybe targeted. We have dismissed this as idle talk. Bottom line the next budget will tighten the asterity belt.”

    I heard about the $100,000 being targeted. I had previously read similar undertakings were being considered by Cyprus in March 2013 and Jamaica in June 2014.

    I refer you to an article I read on the Eurozone Portal “Eurogroup Statement on Cyprus” dated Saturday March 16, 2013. The following is an excerpt from that article:

    “The Eurogroup commends the Cypriot authorities on the steps already taken to adopt fiscal measures agreed with the Commission, in liaison with the ECB, and the IMF. This notably concerns the adoption of consolidation measures amounting to 4 ½ % of GDP. The Eurogroup welcomes the Cypriot authorities’ commitment to step up efforts in the area of privatisation.”

    On March 16, 2013, Cypriot leaders agreed on to impose a 6.75 % tax on deposits of up to 100,000 euros. “Cypriot officials created this catastrophe by relying on a lightly regulated banking industry to drive up its growth rate while encouraging foreigners to use the island as a tax haven.”

    Additionally, Jamaica’s Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips announced during his budget that, effective June 1, 2014, the government will impose taxes on bank withdrawals, calculated on a graduated rate system. This measure was expected to help government meets its 7.5% of GDP primary plus target as well as to gain $2.25B this fiscal year. It was also projected to provide the bulk of the $6.7 billion in new taxes which the Government was budgeting to collect this fiscal year.

    Note these proposals are IMF initiated.

  16. ac Avatar
    ac

    Surprise but those who have travelled extensively would have gleamed enough knoweldge to understand the value of having an international hotel situatedclose to or around the heritage sites .nevertheless u got ole relics like Bush Tea talking the same crap on every issueit is obvious this ole fart still clings to a past of retardation with a deep desire to remain there with a ‘chicken little attitude

  17. David Avatar
    David

    The MoT has advised we need brand name hotels to compete especially in the US market. The issue here is whether downtown Bridgetown is the best location.

  18. Adrian Loveridge Avatar
    Adrian Loveridge

    David,
    I think it would be if a new worldclass conference centre was built at the old Holborn Oil Refinery site at Needhams Point. Of course a great deal of cleaning up would have to be done and some serious traffic problems addressed. A Boardwalk for the entire length of Carlisle Bay and pier restaurants would also make sense.

  19. David Avatar
    David

    Isn’t the old refinery area still under litigation?

  20. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/11/04/scotiabank_axing_1500_jobs_twothirds_of_them_in_canada.html

  21. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/food-bank-canada-report-alarming-number-of-canadians-seek-help-1.2822684

  22. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    http://online.wsj.com/articles/saudi-price-cuts-to-u-s-see-crude-fall-1415100032

  23. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Loonie sinks
    “The Canadian dollar is at its lowest level in more than five years this morning, hit by an oil price war sparked by Saudi Arabia and a “very dovish” Bank of Canada governor”

    If this continues Barbados will not be very attractive to some Canadians.

  24. Adrian Loveridge Avatar
    Adrian Loveridge

    David, Yes! maybe but what isn’t nowadays? Barrack, Sams Lords, Harlequin. One day they will have to be sorted.

  25. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    The cost of cleaning an old refinery site is astronomical.

  26. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Breaking news.

    Scotiabank says the downsizing will affect people at all levels of the organization and include the closure of about 120 branches at its international division.

    David any word on ScotiaBank in Barbados?

  27. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    Not yet but if Scotiabank cutting is big news. It is the bank perceived to be riding the challenging economic times better than the others.

  28. Hamilton Hill Avatar
    Hamilton Hill

    Much ado about nothing. If it came from Minister Sealy there is nothing to worry about.What Sealy promises and what Sealy implements are two different things.

  29. ac Avatar
    ac

    Would u prefer the hotel to be in St.lucy.it is part of the revitalisation and redevelopment of Bridgetown in an going effort to capture the attention of international business and commerce.Btw the people who are helping with the planning are experts in the field of business management and not ole smuchs like bush tea.

  30. David Avatar
    David

    Listened to Dr. Nurse from Cave Hill yesterday who posited the interesting view yesterday Barbados has been concentrating too heavily on tourist arrivals at the expense of other areas. For example selling our country on the cruise ships directly, getting Barbadians employees in sectors that will create awareness and possibly translate in greater numbers.

  31. Cryus the Virus Avatar
    Cryus the Virus

    Tue, November 04, 2014 – 2:34 PM

    A MEETING TO discuss problems and other issues facing the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) apparently had an abrupt ending today.

    SSA employees said this happened after a senior official made some uncomplimentary remarks to a worker attending the meeting at the SSA’s Wildey, St Michael depot.

    An apology was given and accepted but a number of SSA workers expressed disappointment about the way things had gone and told the NATION there was basis for a protest, even a strike.

    Some employees reportedly stopped working for a brief period. (TY)

  32. SuckaBubby Avatar
    SuckaBubby

    This is how the government said it will restructure the economy, with Ossie Moore gimmicks.

  33. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Has another Barbados giant that has also been riding well in these harsh times, beginning to down size? Heard that Simpson Motors, started last month end to retrench workers.

  34. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Where roughly is Downtown Bridgetown? Next to Nelson Street and its environs or next to Cats Castle and Mason Hall Street.Or next to the Shanty Town in Fairchild Street.

  35. LOOK Avatar
    LOOK

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50kDK8u9Isk&w=420&h=315%5D

    Agree, Answer (poster), Sinckler, Sealy and Mark Mahoney are unstoppable as was the BLP for fourteen damn years. Thompson in 2010 abondoned the DLP, without choice. The DLP plane yet has not crashed, but the BLP Lord God “walking on broken glass”. Owen Arthur did the right thing resign/abandon them.

  36. John Jickum Avatar
    John Jickum

    @Colonel Buggy
    Yuh right ! And didn’t you know Lightfoot Lane, Emmerton Lane, De Orleans, Greenfield and de Pondside are all Uptown Bridgetown !

  37. Colonel Buggy. Avatar
    Colonel Buggy.

    Some likely Locations in the heart of the Bridgetown World Heritage Site The new Chinese built multi- storied car park on the Harbour Road. The Old National Insurance building on Fairchild Street. The abandoned Louis Lynch Secondary School. The abandoned Public Library. The Old General hospital grounds, including the abandoned ole Eye Hospital. The twice in 6 years, reburbished Nitengale Nurses Home on Wellington Street. Marshall Hall Site. Old Bico site on Bay Street. Old Detco Motors site. The abandoned Queens Park House.
    The soon to be UWI City Campus, the Mutual Building ,Lower Broad Street.

  38. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    “Hyatt is a businessman’s hotel, located in Bridgetown a la the one in Port of Spain is probably the model.”

    Bridgetown is not a business capital like Port of Spain. It’s a dying trading port of days of yore. Most businesses are moving out of Bridgetown leaving behind a trail of derelict buildings occupied by vagrants and vermin.
    Which set of international business people would want to walk or eat or relax in and around alleys filled with filth and garbage? Who would want to inhale the testosterone-based aerosol circulating and enveloping the air laced with urinary aroma?

    Why are Bajans so easily fooled? This is just another red herring to shift your focus from the Four Seasons fiasco and the Sam Lord’s incomplete abortion.
    Do they really think Hyatt Hotels would allow its name be associated with such a project?
    Who would be financing and constructing the hotel? The Barbados government?
    Wasn’t the Four Seasons at paradise (a stone’s throw away from dirty Bridgetown) earmarked to serve a similar purpose of accommodating so-called international business persons?

    Why would a business spend so much money to come to a ‘high cost-low value for money’ destination to stay in the middle of a shanty town when modern ICT can be used to conduct whatever instructions are needed to be given to the local people on the ground? Who are these business people coming from Trinidad or Jamaica? And why would they want to stay in run-down Bridgetown? Why not the West Coast or South Coast which is no more than 20 minutes drive away from their intended corporate offices in little 2×3 Barbados?
    Should we expect the next hotel would be built in Warrens?

    Barbados is not a business destination. It ought to be a tourist destination/winter resort for well–heeled people, pure and simple.

    Hal Austin proposed a redevelopment plan for Bridgetown why not consider it instead of shooting at stars.

  39. Hants Avatar
    Hants

  40. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David | November 4, 2014 at 7:19 PM |
    “What kind of fucking cash flow problems they could have and buying new raaasssshhhhole Rav4s for the cunthole messengers?”

    The above extract from Facebook is the epitome of how Barbados is being managed by a set of johnnies and why the country is fast becoming a banana republic.
    The Cabinet of black jackasses can’t see it fit to either repair or replace the many SSA vehicles and equipment that are absolutely necessary to protect the health of the nation and the country’s most important foreign exchange earners.

    Now you see why the miller is so foul-mouthed in referring to the current lot of idiots running the show.
    Money can be found for messengers to drive around SUV’s in 2×4 congested Barbados but not enough to repair the vehicles that are necessary for the collection of garbage. You might be prepared to allow the SUVs if they were running on alternative energy sources or even natural gas.

    You see why white people laughing at stupid black people?
    Black jackasses running Barbados and running it into the ground. Based on its present trajectory I am predicting that in the next 10 years Bajans might have one of the lowest standards of living and quality of life in the region unless things change significantly in the country.

  41. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Beautiful Barbados

  42. ac Avatar
    ac

    wunna misfit and busy bodies can fret and throw temper tantrums all wunna want, if wunna don.t like what is happening two ways to avoid next plane out, or wait till next election,nobody listening to wunna rubbish,

  43. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    @Miller
    Bridgetown is not a business capital like Port of Spain. It’s a dying trading port of days of yore. Most businesses are moving out of Bridgetown leaving behind a trail of derelict buildings occupied by vagrants and vermin.
    ……………………………………………………………………………………………
    In that case Warrens City would be the ideal spot. Perhaps Al Barrack building could be turned into a Hotel, and we could have Ms Sandiford-Garner as the Security Guard there.

  44. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    Ha, ha ha! Colonel Buggy……the bandit chaser is going to come on BU and attack you, you hear? Ha ha, ha!

  45. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    miller,
    Two good posts above!

    Hyatt my foot. Yea right, we can wait on it like the Pickering project. I wonder if the financier in Canada got back his money he invested in this project yet?

    Dems are such liars and bullshitters.

  46. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    A room with a view
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/83717797@N04/8344356320/player/

  47. Smooth Chocolate Avatar
    Smooth Chocolate

    @Anthony Davis: “… there is a clause which stipulates that no new buildings of any kind are allowed within a certain radius of the said Heritage Site.”
    …so are we to assume that those buildings should continue to dilapidate? i passed thru Bridgetown, and up bay street yesterday and could not believe that we Barbadians just seem to wallow in filth…almost all of those buildings and guard walls looks utter dirty..can not the owners etc at least power wash the walls? can they not repaint, remove the old stickers? the walls are black and faded..why would anyone want to walk down there? why must we have such filthy looking and very faded looking buildings gracing that area? we must start to take pride in our surroundings.. the St. Patrick’s church for example, beautiful church but it’s walls and surroundings make the area look like some shanty town

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