Where is the deterrent?

May 12, 2010

Dear Sir,

"Stupid Black Men" ... is the title of a must read novel by US national radio host and social commentator, Larry Elder, who has made a career out of being a thorn in the side of the conventional wisdom crowd. As a black man himself, he is not calling black men stupid. He attempts to bestow a heightened level of awareness and self worth upon them. And most importantly to me, he does not believe in excuses. One might now question the relevance of such an offensive title to a letter to the Editor and I will attempt to explain.

I consider myself a quiet, yet politically informed young, black, Bermudian male who is the first to admit to a plethora of personal flaws and, up to this point, is truly guilty of tolerating the ills of society. The principle behind this lack of concern originates from the fact that its effects on my quotidian schedule are negligible and have little direct bearing on my personal success.

However, after the most recent debacle plastered over the front page of your newspaper last week, I have come to a frightening realisation. There appears to be an infinite number of young black males who have no regard for the efficacy of our penal system. Plug any high profile criminal's name (or victim if you like) in the archive search engine of The Royal Gazette online and you will be guaranteed to find a litany of offences committed by the same individual that spans decades if the criminal is old enough.

Do we not have the ability to hand out sentences that run consecutively? What deterrent is there for someone who commits ten offences only to have them run concurrently? The public is so sick of the same old reprobates who refuse to grow up and take responsibility for their actions. If you have the audacity to curse out a Supreme Court judge upon being convicted of a crime or worse still, don a "Stop Snitching" T-shirt immediately after narrowly escaping conviction leads me to the following deduction; that we need to seriously amend our penal codes to deal with this new breed of criminal.

They need to fear Westgate facility, not hastily ask to be taken there to start another regimen of hitting the bench press while receiving ridiculous daily shoutouts from their babies' mamas on local radio stations before they are prematurely unleashed back on society. The sooner the black man realises that the 40 acres and a mule are not coming any time soon, the better off he will be when tackling life's obstacles. A career in crime will not suffice.

We live in a capitalist society that is heavily based on competition and has very little time for those who cannot compete. The black man has to realise that if he feels that this society is too unfair, then maybe he should look into emigrating to China or maybe Cuba. The most important lesson that every young black male needs to learn in order to compete is this focus on education. It is not the only course but it is a damn good one. The playing field is not level when it comes to achieving success we all know this but we need to get over it. It will be this way long after any of us on this planet are gone. Instead of touting "Stop Snitching" we should be thinking "Stop B—ching".

We need to rid ourselves completely of blame, white rule and the myriad of other excuses for not achieving personal goals. It is too easy and convenient and is a prophecy that will always be self-fulfilling. When one takes a good look in the mirror and is truly honest with oneself, most of life's failures stem from being ill-prepared or as result of bad decisions that are most often realised in retrospect. If only The Royal Gazette would allow more words to the Editor.

DISGUSTED

Pembroke

Not in Bermuda's interests

May 17, 2010

Dear Sir,

With all this discussion on gambling, it is morally wrong and the churches need to stand up for the people who cannot see the light. We have to stop our people from sinking in a cesspool. Mr. Jefferis stated last week that he would like to see a casino and he would like to have Bermudians as shareholders, well if he feels that way, how come we are not shareholders in his hotel Coco Beach Resort?

He is just been given a 120 year lease. And one taxi driver stated he did not know why people were upset, he can't take it with him. He can however sell the fractional units and than sell his lease for 120 years and walk away with lots of cash, and the people of Bermuda will have to wait 120 years to get the facility back.

On the Fairmont's Manager Comment on gaming that he was for it and if not, the hotels would close; he needs to keep out of local politics and just run the hotels to the best of abilities and be creative with packages and incentives, selling a Bermuda experience.

As far as I know the group that was involved with the Prince in purchasing the Fairmont Hotels, Colony Capital Investment has casino ownership. I am sure this is the group. And we need to get more locals back into the industry (Bermuda is You and Me). The visitor wants to mingle and to be served by locals not all foreigners, we Bermudians need to understand and appreciate the Industry we had and work together to revive it.

If it's a full-time or part time job it means economy survival. And I am not saying we don't need foreign staff. We need quality and creative atmosphere like we had at Holiday Inn.(smile) It was not all fun and games but visitors and staff were happy. The guests mingled with staff; they came back and looked up the staff on return visits.

We need local entertainment in the hotels get steel bands from the Caribbean and have locals under study and play like the Steelers/Esso Steel Band. The talent is here to be explored and exploited for good cause to better the individual's for development and character building. The Hotels need to offer more than a room, soap and towels.

It should be a requirement for a hotel license to offer local entertainment to the guest. Anyway enough of my reminiscing in the glory days, we can get the industry back to a certain degree although the Island has changed. We have to ensure controls are put in place. The Country is literally being prostituted, not in the interest of Bermuda, by some development.

RAYMOND RUSSELL

Pembroke

Where we should look

May 6, 2010

Dear Sir,

I am writing in reference to the calls from some leading business leaders, as well as several hoteliers, expressing their opinion that Bermuda should be modelled on Monaco to cater to the casino gamblers as well as the owners of the mega yachts to be seen in the Med in the summer and the West Indies during the winter months. I don't intend to dwell on the pros and cons of casinos except I was fortunately turned off after my first visit having come away empty-handed.

I am familiar with most of the ports and larger harbours in the Med stretching from Gibraltar to the South of Turkey. I also have extensive knowledge of almost all of the West Indian Islands. These are the cruising grounds of the larger motor vessels and sailboats. I have particular knowledge of the ports in the South of France and Monaco as I have been racing there for about six years.

Each harbour or port has its appeal tailored to meet certain demands. The larger marinas, such as Cogolin, are extensive, holding between three and five thousand boats. Others such as St. Tropez cater to fewer yachts and vintage sailboats, while Antibes specialises in catering to the largest of the private yachts with extremely heavy moorings and facilities for pumping large amounts of fuel very quickly. The yachts in the larger marinas are floating summer homes to many Europeans. The majority of these yachts seldom go to sea.

Monaco Harbour has a particular niche. On account of its shape it lends itself to promotions and displays. It is not a large harbour but at night with floodlights and fireworks the setting is magnificent. Monaco promotes large events very successfully. It is home to the annual gathering for yacht sales and charters, to important regattas, to motor racing and automobile displays, and much else. However at the end of a promotional week it returns to being a rather nondescript port.

One side has a narrow walkway with a road along side ascending a steep hill. The bottom of the harbour has a poor selection of shops and the other side has a wharf which again is not attractive. The point is that its success is due to the huge promotional boost given to it by the government as well as supporters in their particular industries. The port is close to Nice, the second largest airport in France.

It is also easily reachable from most ports in the Med as well as the large yachts kept in the Balearics. Bermuda would take decades to build up the following that Monaco has.

We are not in a cruising ground. While smaller boats can go to various anchorages in Bermuda the larger vessels are very restricted. Most yachts spend their summers in the Med and their winters to the South of us. The route for sailing vessels across the Atlantic from Europe is usually via the Canaries at the middle to the end of November. Motor vessels go a more direct route except that those needing fuel might stop briefly. Returning to the Med they go directly as well as do those going to New England. It is mainly the smaller sailing yachts that stop in St. George's for a day or two but few come to Hamilton. On the larger yachts changing station very few owners or guests are aboard as they leave the change of station to their crews. They are not and never will be interested in Bermuda as a cruising ground as we are in the hurricane belt where it is very difficult to obtain coverage from the middle of August on.

I am afraid that if we put huge amounts of money into building a large marina in Hamilton it will be much like existing marinas whose occupancy is about eighty percent small motor yachts or outboards with the majority parked and hardly ever used. I see nothing attractive about the scene. I have a friend in Europe who is the market leader in running the rental and sales of almost all the larger yachts and if one wants further knowledge I would be pleased to obtain his advice.

Of course the city has to undergo change. We should take ideas from others as well but in the end we have to come up with a unique model that will not only be a drawer to tourists but to Bermudians as well. The closest attraction that I have found so far is Cape Town, South Africa. After the opening of the Suez Canal, Cape Town became less important. Today, however, after three decades of development, it attracts more visitors than any other site in Africa. It has something for everyone. I would suggest that one go on the web to the V&A Waterfront or www.waterfront.co.za and you will find charts, pictures, and the full background story. I think that there are many ideas here that Bermuda could use in the future.

WARREN A. BROWN

Smith's