Grandiose and costlyMarch 31, 2006Dear Sir,There are times when I do not agree with Andrew Trimingham but when it comes to the new City of Hamilton plan I have to say he has hit the nail on the head. While I applaud the Corporation of Hamilton for trying, this new plan is far too grandiose and costly for Bermuda and appears to have been put together quickly without much real thought for the overall needs of the City.

My first suggestion would be to excavate the City Hall car park and build as large a parking garage as could be practical and aesthetically pleasing, perhaps with the new civic centre on the top. I believe the concept of underground parking along the waterfront is far too costly, problematic and unnecessary. Create a new park between the flagpole and the ferry terminal with the ultimate aim begin to eventually extend as far as the cabinet building. I like the idea of Front Street as a boulevard, with one way lanes and please, somewhere, a bicycle right of way. A marina in front also makes sense provided it does not project too far south.

I see absolutely no reason to reclaim land for housing or office construction, we have the north of Hamilton crying out for redevelopment. I seem to recall that Marsh Folly was supposed to become a park to enhance back of town, have we abandoned that plan?

The biggest quandary is now to solve the dock and cruise ship issue. As the vast majority of freight is destined for the Hamilton area it is environmentally sensible to leave the docks where they are and perhaps create a container storage area north of the city within minimum trucking distance. Future freight volumes could be accommodated by extending the working hours on the dock and trucking containers at night.

I suspect that the cruise ship operators all want to come to Hamilton. In a few years most of the ships will be too big to get into the harbour and we can berth them at dockyard or in Grassy Bay and the passengers can use our ferries. If they don't like that idea, too bad, we can learn to live without them. Dr. Brown, please do not ever consider using dynamite on two rock passage.

Thank you for the space Mr. Editor, I don't have all the answers but I am trying to be realistic, I don't think the new City plan is.

ALAN GAMBLE

WarwickMaybe this will workMarch 14, 2006Dear Sir,I do not have an answer to your Island's drug problem. Redesign, and certainly re-enforce, the instructions on the pictured Immigration form for entry into Singapore. Should the Editor not be able to copy the form I'll read from page 2. In big read letters it says: "WARNING: DEATH FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS, UNDER SINGAPORE LAW."

Their land is drug free. Isn't that a wonderful thought?

One final need to get this remedy going is that your elected, and many of the appointed members of Government, should take the lead by being drug tested themselves. Else I fear, that their reluctance to do so many speak volumes.

FOR A BETTER BERMUDAFace facts, it's cruelApril 4, 2006Dear Sir,I should like to congratulate Eugene O'Connor, Jr. for his excellent letter in yesterday's paper. He wrote on the subject of the cruelty involved in bringing wild animals, such as lions, tigers and elephants by sea to Bermuda to participate in a circus.

I don't know or care who "DNA" are. They also must be dumb, deaf and blind not to have noticed from the media, that this kind of activity is deplored in our supposedly enlightened age.

A few years ago, I was at my office on the corner of Front and Queen Streets, when I looked out of the window and saw a magnificent, pathetic tiger in a cage too small for him to turn around in heading up Queen Street, where he went on display at the filling station for days in the sweltering heat and with children poking sticks at him. This was all under the sponsorship of our own supposedly worthy Lions' Club.

There may still be time for our Minister of the Environment to put a stop to this cruelty. It requires, surely, just one stroke of the pen. Hundreds of animal lovers will thank her and the publicity will be good for Bermuda.

JANE POCOCK

WarwickYou call this service?March 31, 2006Dear Sir,I am writing in extreme concern at a situation that has arisen just moments ago.

I received a telephone call from my daughters who are stranded at a bus stop. Why, you ask, are two young children in Bermuda stranded? Because the Public Transportation Board's acknowledged policy is to not accept the legal tender of this country in payment of services. It is apparently not possible to pay for a bus fare in Bermuda using the legal tender.

When I called the Public Transportation Board's dispatch office at 2.45 p.m. today, I spoke with an extremely rude gentleman, who, after telling me, with unnecessary volume, point blank that he didn't care whether the policies of the board are illegal or legal, hung the phone up in my ear. (Which in itself speaks volumes).

This is the New Bermuda, it is? This is the way we care for our children, not to mention the tourists who come there expecting, for some reason, that the legal tender of a country would be honoured by the public works department of that country.

What are we doing here? What sort of place are we trying to become? For whose benefit is this (illegal) policy? Certainly not for the poor commuter who has to walk about with pounds full of coins in their pockets in order to take a bus. Not for the poor mother of three young children trying to get a bus from St. George's to Town, who winds up with strained back muscles trying to juggle children, strollers, and heavy bags of change to pay for their fare. Not the public in general who would wish to have fewer cars on the road, and fewer pollutants in the air. I, for one, will not be giving up my car for public transport.

Is this the sort of "service" we are supposed to become accustomed to? No wonder taxi drivers make such a comfortable living. At least they will accept money in payment for their services.

I would write more on this topic, but I have to leave my job to go collect my children who have been let down by this rather questionable policy.

I'D RATHER WALKRight on the markApril 2, 2006Dear Sir,I have just read the letter from "36-year-old Married Mother of Three" in the March 26 edition of The Royal Gazette. It was articulate and right on the mark! Kudos to the writer for her public condemnation of poor parenting. Let's hope she is heard by both those "hard-done-by" folks in society for whom their hardship is always someone else's fault, as well as by those in Bermuda whose shout of "racism!" is a reflexive action in explanation of every ill that they or their children sustain.

JASON BENEVIDES

Hamilton Parish