Looking for justice

November 26, 2007

Dear Sir,

I have made contact with the Rent Commissioner's Office in reference to the apartment I am currently living in.

I have found out that I am paying double of what they have on file and have been advised that if I pursue action to drop my rent I will have no security against my landlord and can be asked to leave.

Why? Because of a 1983 law that states something similar to this: "If the landlord lives in the same house of three or less apartments, than the tenants can be asked to move with no or little notice."

I understand that this law was made for nuisance tenants, but what happens to the good tenants that are not loud or dirty and pay double the rent on time?

And what is the point of having rent control if, in the end, the tenant will lose the apartment anyway?

Where's the justice in that? Maybe Dr. Ewart Brown will look at rephrasing this law to protect the innocent?

ALMOST HOMELESS MOTHER

City of Hamilton

Independence loses magic

November 21, 2007

Dear Sir,

I read with great interest an article in Monday's newspaper entitled "Independence loses its magic".

This article described how Kosovo Albanians are disillusioned with independence from Serbia. Low voter turnout showed "profound dissatisfaction" with the economic situation in Serbia where "certain people in Government have gotten richer" and the lower echelons of the society are faced with no water, no electricity and no jobs. The unemployment rate is 60 percent and it is widely felt that "nothing has changed for the benefit of the people" and the realisation that "prosperity is going to take years of work" is frightening to all.

Sadly, the people who fought for independence are realising that "the flag-raising jubilation of independence day" will have a "sober undercurrent" as they realise that independence was not what they thought it was going to be.

Hopefully, it will not be Bermuda that will be in the newspaper one day in an article such as this.

LIKING THINGS THE WAY THEY ARE

Devonshire

No one is Independent

November 20, 2007

Dear Sir,

I've been reading the various thoughts and feelings of your readers, especially those of the letter writers.

My deepest concern is of the direction in which Bermuda is headed. I remember Mr. Manley and Jamaca. I remember The Bahamas. I remember Guyana. These Islands asked for Independance, (and got it), from England. They found out they couldn't go it alone. Bermuda seems to be headed in the same direction.

There is no such thing as IndependEnce. Even England, the USA, France, Germany, Japan, and whatever country there is, they all need some assistance.

We are a minute speck of land miles from anywhere. Stop and think, who really cares about us? The economy here is dependent on the "offshore'' companies that are located here. Just as quickly as they came they can leave.

Dr. Brown is a good orator. Knows all of the great words. Can spin heads. Be careful, think of whom is profiting from his deeds, ¿ not his words ¿ in the end.

CHARLES P. HOLLIS

Hamilton Parish

Mass market frenzy

November 21, 2007

Dear Sir,

I am still not convinced that the latest tourism numbers are really what they are made out to be. If one subtracts the regular business traveler and the visitors who come to visit guest workers, the repeat visitors to establishments like The Reefs and Cambridge Beaches plus the visitors generated by the Fairmont Group's own marketing department from the overall total, it would appear to me that we are probably spending a lot of money per new visitor.

I would like to see categories of visitors which include 'new visitors to the island' instead of lumping all passengers into 'air arrivals'. Only then will we really know if our huge tourism budget is money well spent.

What concerns me even more is the increase in cruise ship passengers which, if left unchecked, will eventually make Bermuda unattractive to the high end tourists for whom we are currently trying to build new accommodation. I came across the following article in The Daily Telegraph which sums up perfectly what we have to look forward to if we let cruise ship companies dictate our future.

"I have visited Grand Cayman (population 49,500) in the Caribbean when four ships, each with more than 2,000 passengers on board ¿ mine had 4,000 ¿ descended at once one morning.

The main tourist attraction, Stingray City, where you can walk in the water with these Frisbee-like fish, was more like a Disney theme park in high summer.

It was even worse in St Thomas earlier this year ¿ six ships, each with capacity for well over 2,500 passengers jostling for space in the tiny capital of Charlotte Amalie.

It's bad enough when there are loads of people milling around in must-see sights, but truly awful when a group of 40 or more comes around the corner, led by a lollipop-waving guide who steam-rollers over anyone in her path.

I feel privileged to be able to travel the world, but my enjoyment is tempered when I have to share my moment in paradise with thousands of others, especially when it has a negative effect on local people.

In the Caribbean in particular, where they are used to American visitors whose sole mission seems to be to buy tacky t-shirts and gaudy jewellery, locals see dollar signs rather than people disembarking from cruise ships, making the experience all the more unpleasant."

We must not allow ourselves to be dragged into this mass market frenzy which is already ruining many destinations.

ALAN GAMBLE

City of Hamilton

Auditor shows courage

November 19, 2007

Dear Sir,

Mr Larry Dennis is a brave and honourable man and I think the way he is being treated is abominable.

His mandate as Auditor General is "to add credibility to the Government's financial reporting and to promote improvement in the financial administration of all Government departments and controlled entities for which the Government is accountable to Parliament."

Presumably the Housing Corporation is a "controlled entity". Therefore it should not matter how he obtains information about suspected financial irregularities. In fact, as I see it, the police should be offering him the information rather than harassing him for having it.

When the UBP was in power, Mr. Dennis was a thorn in their flesh over accounting incompetencies. They did not like it but they put up with it. They accepted that this was and is his job. Now it is the turn of the PLP and what they are being accused of is far worse than incompetence, although there is that too.

Mr. Dennis' role is to protect us all, every Bermudian taxpayer, from government financial maladministration and in this he should be helped by the police. Where is the public outcry over the way he is being treated?

MARGARET LLOYD

Paget

Looking for transparency

November 24, 2007

Dear Sir,

How can anyone say the PLP method of governing is not transparent? Their method is so transparent, you can see right through them! You can see through them like you can see through a pane of glass that has just been cleaned with "Windex Original with Ammonia-D for that Streak-Free Shine!

They are so transparent; you see the drastic measures they are taking to win seats in the up-coming election.

They are so transparent; you can see through the last minute promises they are making to the voters.

Mr. Editor, two years ago Bermudians for Referendum presented the former Premier Alex Scott with a petition signed by 15,523 audited, registered voters, and Alex Scott said these petitioners did not know what they were signing.

In other words, Alex Scott called 15,523 registered voters, stupid! We have not heard from him or the current Premier regarding this petition until now, and now, on the eve of the election, Premier Brown has thrown Referendum on the Xmas Gift Giving List hoping to win the votes of these same so-called, stupid voters! How ignorant does he think the Bermudian public is? I know we have some real stupidos out there but thank heavens they are in the minority!

Suddenly, we have promises of a referendum; a new Police Station in St. George's; a fictional, housing brochure with houses built by the UBP (not the PLP) in the 90's, including one structure that is a school named after Dame Marjorie Bean and the list goes on. Is this another case of "We had to ah, was it lie? Or was it deceive? Or was it mislead you" again scenario? It certainly makes you wonder!

I find it harder and harder to trust the PLP. Their supporters keep saying we had 30 years of "white" rule and that was wrong because of all the "bad" things that were done back then. Do we want to have 30 years of "black rule" and use it as an excuse for the PLP to do the same, if not worse. I agree the UBP dropped the ball in the past and that is why they were voted out. I was one of them who voted them out. But, never in a lifetime did I expect to end up with a Government that is so questionable in their leadership and the governing of this country.

To my knowledge, former UBP Premiers and Cabinet Ministers have never had the controversy surrounding them that this present Premier and government have. We have had millions and millions of dollars unaccounted for. Thousands of questions unanswered ¿ closed shop inquiries ¿ reports from God knows how many overseas consultants, costing the taxpayer millions of dollars, which were never made public ¿ the blatant arrogance of this Premier and some of his Cabinet Ministers ¿ the BHC affair which many of us are still waiting to hear the rest of what the leaked files contain.

And, it is our right to know even more so now that we, the public, have to pay for the Privy Council hearing because of the unethical behaviour as stated of the Premier and others. Don't forget that it was the Premier and Commissioner Jackson of the Police Service who wanted to gag the media so that the public would not find out what was so damaging in those files that they were trying to keep from us. I wonder what they are really trying to hide? There is a saying, "Inquiring minds want to know", and I for one, certainly want to know!

Since the Premier and the Commissioner want to keep these files out of the sight of the public because of some inappropriate conduct by the Premier and others, why should we the taxpayer have to pay for this? Why don't we the public, take the characters involved in this BHC affair to court, sue them, and make them pay for trying to keep their own unethical conduct under covers. If we have to pay for them trying to keep their dirty deeds under wraps, then there is something terribly wrong with this picture.

Another thing I want to know is, "What about Independence?" We need to know the costs and risks because the Premier can take us to Independence at the drop of a hat, or by hook or by crook, plus, he can easily change his mind about having a referendum.

The BIC Report was supposed to give us the pros and cons on independence, but from what I have read in the COHA (Council on Hemispheric Affairs) article on Bermuda, "Memorandum to the Press" of February 25, 2006 (www.coha.org) ¿ Bermuda 2/28/2006. Here is a quote from that report: "It is widely known that the document (BIC) is mortally flawed and little short of being worthless".

Here is another quote: "Full independence ¿ the decision must be determined as a result of a free and voluntary choice by the people of the territory. This must clearly be expressed through an informed and democratic process. The most transparent process is through a referendum". Go online and read for yourself all that the COHA article has to say on Bermuda! I found it very interesting.

It also seems that if we do go independent, we will need a visa every time we travel, which will take some time to be processed. We will not be able to just jump up and go, and that is just one of the small disadvantages of being independent. I certainly would not want to go independent under the present Government.

In fact, even if the UBP was the Government of the day, and the atmosphere was as it is, I wouldn't want to go independent under them either. But I do know for a fact that the UBP will never force us to independence and then say: "We had to lie to you"!

I am sorry, Mr. and Mrs. PLP, but the ruling party in my estimation is under some very dark and stormy weather, so consequently, many people are working and praying very hard to get rid of this stormy weather, because we want to, and will, operate in the sunshine of scrutiny!

PAT FERGUSON

Warwick

We need a BHC inquiry

November 17, 2007

Dear Sir,

Given that $8 million of taxpayers' money has been stolen/gone missing and given that only one person has been held responsible for $2 million, wouldn't any Government with an ounce of integrity hold a full public enquiry rather than going to every court in the land in a pathetic attempt to conceal the facts?

Only with a full public inquiry could the taxpayer be informed of the what, who, why, where and when of what happened and why nobody can be held accountable. The money is after all the property of the taxpayer, they have a right to know. Integrity, it's everything.

OBSERVER

Warwick

Calm down on the roads

November 22, 2007

Dear Sir,

When you observe reckless driving on the roads, it is a helpless feeling. The only way I know to try to do anything about it is to "name and shame". So to the driver of the silver Daihatsu Cuore who was passing traffic on Burnt House Hill and then in blind stretches on Middle Road Tuesday night (before zooming out of my sight): Slow down before you kill someone!

CONCERNED MOTORIST

Southampton

Editor's Note: For legal reasons, the licence plate number has been removed from this letter.

Let Police do their jobs

November 22, 2007

Dear Sir,

I keep on hearing and reading about people complaining that there are not enough Police on the roads and complaints about people speeding.

Well, this morning, driving into Hamilton from Warwick on South Road I saw at least 12 cars and bikes flicking their lights at me to warn me that Police were on the road stopping people for speeding! I don't get it. Why stop the police from doing their job so the roads can stay safe?

G.B.

Warwick

Poll's unsurprising result

November 19, 2007

Dear Sir

I see another Walton Brown poll, done for the PLP, shows an unbelievable victory for them ...

I can say that the shock results of that poll were only outdone by the shock I had this morning when the sun came up !

Samuel Langhorne Clemens

Southampton