A foreign-looking project

February 13, 2007

Dear Sir,

Reviving tourism in Bermuda may well be one way to bring diversity back to our economy but only with a well thought-out plan for achieving this and certainly only if the benefit will be to a number greater than just a handful of individuals. In respect of the proposed sale and development of the “Southlands”, I am amazed that we are even considering selling this precious land and granting permission to a foreign entity to allow them to build such a foreign-looking development, let alone by way of a Special Development Order which circumvents the required Planning process altogether. What this means is that there will be no Environmental Impact Study carried out; reflecting a short-sighted ‘let the chips fall where they may’ attitude!

No study to tell us:

— how this development will need to be built by foreign labour and then staffed by foreign labour... and let’s be sure we are including the building of the 10 storey structure that will house these foreign workers;

— that they will be granted permission for coastal development through beach-armouring which will absolutely destroy the ecology of the shore and will likely end up causing the beach to completely disappear;

— what these tourists will do here in Bermuda when our other tourist amenities aren’t exactly five Star;

— what impact the development (both staff and guests) will have on traffic congestion, sewage, electricity demand, access to medical services and general over-crowding;

— what social impact will be experienced when the next unilateral decision is made to allow gambling... and I do deliberately say “when” and not “if”;

— just who this Jumeirah Group is and why they are being given such liberties; and last but not least

— how, with five restaurants on site, this will effect the already established Bermudian restaurants.

It may be easy to ignore the facts and just focus on the ‘glitz’ that we are told is of such value (it certainly feels less depressing) but do not forget that we have finite resources here on our very small island in the middle of the Atlantic. Even ‘a little bit late’ is too late to realise we screwed up on this one.

It is incumbent on us to avoid cursing ourselves to a life devoid of natural beauty and the peace imparted to us by it. We need to slow down and approach the question of reviving tourism in a way that can be managed for the good of Bermuda as a whole. I feel very nervous at the way this is being handled and how quickly it is being pushed through. Just stop for a moment and think about the points raised above. Then, please, let your voice be heard.

KIM SMITH

Pembroke

We knew there’d be problems

February 8, 2007

Dear Sir,

I have been reading the news lately on the status of our public school system with violence, low graduation rates, high drop-out rates, etc. I try not to blame the system, because we do have our success stories and I believe that it is a combination of school and home effort. However, there are things about the school system that I don’t like, and I do believe that there is a lot to be done. First and foremost, I think that we have all come to the consensus that we should never have gone to this mega-school system. As a parent, I recall all the protests that went on and how the UBP government at the time wasn’t hearing it. As parents, I think we knew deep down that this was going to be a problem.

I know a current UBP MP who was involved with CedarBridge in another capacity at the time. As I worked with this individual, I remember him trying to convince his fellow colleagues that this was going to be a good thing. However, this individual had nothing to lose as he had his own daughter in Bermuda High School for Girls at the time. If he felt that this was going to be such a good thing, why didn’t he have his own daughter in the public school system? His mentality was that of so many at that time— it’s good enough. Good enough for other people’s children, that is. I always felt that CedarBridge was designed like one big prison. I know people will say ‘not so!’ Well, imagine my shock when my son came home one day and said that because of something that happened in school, that the kids were on ‘lock-down’ and couldn’t leave their classrooms-not even to go to the restrooms. I thought that he must have been mistaken about the term ‘lock-down’ but sure enough, that is the term the school uses. Even recently, my daughter has come home from Berkeley Institute saying that they had been on ‘lock-down.’

Do these so-called educators know where that term ‘lock-down’ comes from? In prison, when the guards suspect that some kind of violence is about to go down, or after it has happened, they lock the prisoners in their cells. No free time, no going to the exercise area or the recreation areas-the prison is said to be on lock-down. Why are our schools in Bermuda, in the year 2007 using this ugly term! And then we wonder why our kids act the way they do? This word should be banned from the vocabulary of our schools immediately never to be uttered again!

The newspaper talked of literacy recently. I don’t want to attack our teachers, but the reality is that some of our teachers have a problem with literacy themselves — that is a FACT! I don’t know how many times I have received notes home from teachers with misspelled words and bad grammar. I wish I had taken a copy of a note that was sent home from my daughter’s teacher recently so that the Royal Gazette could have it printed for everyone to see. The number of misspelled words was ridiculous. Examples are “I promise to be fare to your child” and “Please sign after you have red this letter”. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I nicely circled all the misspelled words and sent it back to her. I once had a teacher say at a meeting: “I don’t take no nonsense from these kids.”

I have had countless teachers mistake the words “to, too and two”, “where and were”, “there and their” — you get the gist of it. How can we expect these kids to learn if the teachers don’t have it together themselves? How many teachers are filling our children with misinformation and then everyone looks at the child thinking they have a literacy problem when it’s really that they’ve been taught incorrectly to start with? If the Government wants to get serious about literacy and the like, they need to start with testing our teachers. Most of our teachers are very good, but I feel that they need to be assessed so that the ones with problems can be given further training. Furthermore, we need to go back to basics. I went through the public education system back in the 70’s and 80’s and back then it was excellent. Our teachers were from the old school and they certainly knew their stuff-no doubt about about it. When I attended Berkeley, you wore your uniform with pride and you had better not act up while you wore it. Teachers stood for no nonsense and you had to respect them. Now we have too many young teachers, and they don’t always conduct themselves in the best manner.

Once, my kids went on an outing at the beach behind Blackbeard’s in St. George. Instead of the teachers who took them staying on the beach with the kids, they were sitting at the bar at Blackbeards’s! When I inquired at the school, the teachers claimed they weren’t drinking alcohol. These teachers should have been setting a better example-why not bring the drinks back on the beach and do the job you’re being paid for? I don’t know whether they were drinking alcohol or not, but the fact is that they were on school time during school hours, and the children observed what they were doing. There’s a saying: image is everything. What kind of image were they projecting to these kids? Children aren’t stupid-they see everything and these kids were left with a negative impression.

Something like that would have never happened when I was younger. Again, and then we wonder why the kids have no respect? If some of these individuals carried themselves with some respect, and dressed like teachers instead of like they’re heading for the disco, maybe they would get the respect they’re asking for.

This letter is longer than I intended, and there and things that I still have left to say but I’ll have to save that for another letter. I want to stress that I do try to support our teachers and the system. But it is becoming increasingly more difficult to do so. I don’t have all the answers — I wish I did. I just hope that someone out there is listening and that these problems can start to be resolved before it becomes drastically too late.

A. PARENT

Hamilton Parish<$>

Protect the Environment

February 13, 2007

Dear Sir,

The Government and the public should be reminded that the Minister for the Environment is not the Minister for Development. Nor is she the Minister for Tourism. The duties of the Environment Minister are to manage, oversee and, most of all I believe, to protect the lands within Bermuda, ensuring that all of Bermuda’s lands are rightly zoned, rightly developed and/or rightly preserved for the greatest benefit of all Bermudians — present and future.Therefore, the Minister for the Environment should not be, nor should she appear to be, pandering to the desires of any other Government official, including the Premier, or to the wishes of any developer, Bermudian or non-Bermudian, or to the desires or the needs of any group of people outside of Bermudians, including the vacationing public. Rather, she must be, or must be compelled to be, entirely concerned with the duty incumbent upon the post. That is to rightly manage, preserve and protect the lands of Bermuda for the benefit of all generations.

On these grounds, the Minister must not approve the pending Special Development Order (SDO) to develop the pristine, protected open space at “Southlands.” All of the evidence suggests that this development will only benefit the three Bermudian owners of the properties, and the Premier for whom the development appears to be a single-minded personal pursuit, and the approximately one percent of the world’s population who could afford to visit or to purchase Jumeirah. To approve this development by way of issuing an SDO would surely violate the spirit, if not blatantly violate the letter of the Development and Planning Act 1974, and would therefore be a breach of the duties of the office of the Minister of Environment. The pending development at Southlands, when considered along with the recent approval by the Minister to develop the Botanical Gardens, makes it clear that concerned members of the public are in the unusual juxtaposition of having to protect the environment of Bermuda from its Minister.

DUTY FIRST, MADAM MINISTER

Pembroke

Farewell to Bermuda

February 7, 2007

Dear Sir,

After nearly 14 years as the overseas medical case managers for the Government Employee Health Insurance (GEHI) scheme, our services with GEHI terminated as of December 5, 2006. We are grateful to the Royal Gazette for the opportunity afforded by this space to express our appreciation for the opportunity to have served the plan subscribers, and for the support and trust of the many friends we have made in Bermuda through the years. Doug and I wish you all the best. You will remain in our thoughts.

KRISTIN R. HILL, R.N., CCM

DOUGLAS J. HILL

Atlantic Institute for Medical Review

Can we take the strain?

February 18, 2007

Dear Sir,

Re: Quality of Governance. I would like to ask the Government to consider the impact of the Southlands development on the Quality of its Governance, i.e how are TCD, Customs, Immigration and the Police prepared to deal with the influx of foreign workers required to build it? Do we have the manpower and/or the efficiency to power these vital sectors if Southlands and the other major hotel projects come online?

FEVEN BINEGA-NORTHCOTT

Smith’s

Where are our Police?

February 5, 2007

Dear Sir,

I am a Bermudian who has lived abroad for the last ten years, and returned recently to wonder where the Police are, and what are they doing? When I was home before, I dared not speed as “the man” was always in the bushes, and I would get caught for less than 60k. First offence was six months off the road and a hefty fine. I just got back on the road, and then I was caught again, another three months and another hefty fine — the speed traps were everywhere. The law was enforced. Now I can speed all the time and I know I’m not going to get caught. The speed limits are not being enforced; and the speeders know it, and this is why we are having so many fatalities. There is chaos on the roads!

During a recent visit to Halifax (a tourist destination in the summer like Bermuda, that has murders, break ins, just like we do), I learned that they have the same amount of Police as we do, but they have over 300,000 people! This is five times Bermuda’s population — the same amount of police officers! When I told two Halifax police officers about this, they were stunned, and asked “What on earth can they all be doing?” I would like the present Police Commissioner to explain why there are as many police officers here as in Halifax to prevent crime by one fifth the amount of people.

CONCERNED BERMUDIAN

Paget