DeVent urges blacks to support black businesses
By Sam Strangeways and Matthew Taylor
Government MP Ashfield DeVent has urged black people to "support your own" and give their custom to black businesses in North East Hamilton.
Mr. DeVent told the House of Assembly on Friday that Government's regeneration of Court Street and the surrounding area could only work in the long-term if businesses got the support of the community.
"There is nothing wrong with telling our young black people to support black businesses," he said, adding that Bermuda was a still very much a "black and white society" when it came to who shopped in that area.
"There is nothing wrong with supporting your own.
"If I think I can buy it somewhere and I know I can buy it with people who look like me, even if it costs me slightly more, although I have to be conscious with my pennies, I would be prepared to support somebody who looks like me."
The PLP backbencher was speaking on a take note motion about a new strategy to revive and rejuvenate the area now designated the North East Hamilton Economic Empowerment Zone (EEZ).
He said it had once been a thriving neighbourhood but was allowed to stagnate. The EEZ initiative, he said, was a "great start" to improving things.
Earlier in the day, MPs approved the purchase of a $400,000 plot of land on the corner of Court and Dundonald streets.
Finance Minister Paula Cox said the 0.048 hectare site would likely be used for a park or recreation although that could change. Known as Butterfield Corner, the plot was bought from the Bank of Butterfield and MPs praised the bank for offering a cut-price deal.
Art could also be placed at the site to draw people into an area which will be one of the cornerstones of the EEZ initiative, said Ms Cox.
Government backbencher Wayne Perinchief welcomed the project but hoped the area would not become known as "needle park" but rather Bermuda's equivalent of Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, London, where the public can make speeches.
Shadow Works and Engineering Minister Patricia Gordon asked that a waterfall be put there to bring about serenity. "When you have such beauty you do not have the attitude that would contribute to decadence and decay," she said.
Ms Cox started the debate by saying the objectives of EEZ included attracting more Bermudians and tourists to the area and boosting business.
She said Government had consulted widely about plans for the area included in the land use plan 'Bringing North East Hamilton to Life' and now further input would be sought.
Mrs. Gordon-Pamplin mentioned a spate of robberies near Atlantis House and Mr. Perinchief suggested a private security firm be employed by the EEZ to monitor the closed-circuit television cameras in the area.
He said public buses needed to start running along Court and Dundonald streets in order to get more people there.
Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons said public safety had to be a "key part of any effort to reinvigorate" Court Street and surrounding roads.
He also asked what the economic driver was that would move the initiative forward, suggesting that it might be a good idea to move some government offices there.
The area has about 900 residents and Dr. Gibbons said the EEZ scheme should aim to get more middle-class and non-Bermudian people living there.
Ms Cox told The Royal Gazette after the debate that another document focusing on economic development, rather than land use, would be circulated when legislation is tabled to establish Bermuda Economic Development Corporation.
She said: "The present economic drivers are both Government and private sector developments. At last count there are nineteen applications for commercial and residential developments."
