THE brother of current Tucker's Point president Edward Trippe once threatened to "close down the airport" if the Trippe family and other shareholders in Bermuda Properties Ltd.(BPL) were not given permission to sell real estate at the former Castle Harbour property.

About 20 years ago, Charles Trippe, having been told by Tourism Minister Jim Woolridge that the then-UBP Government would only consider modest redevelopment of some existing buildings at Castle Harbour, threatened to use powerful contacts to achieve their goals.

"If I don't get what I want," he warned, "I'll close down the airport, because (then Vice-President) George (H.W.) Bush and I went to school together, and he will acquiesce to that."

In response, Edward Trippe, in an interview with the Mid-Ocean News (see accompanying article), expressed regret for any offence caused to Mr. Woolridge. He said that his brother Charles had not been involved at Tucker's Point for many years, and stressed the importance of moving ahead with a positive frame of mind.

"It was so long ago, and I have heard Jim say it, and I have a lot of respect for Jim. We have got along very well over the years. He knew my father too, and Juan Trippe really introduced modern tourism to Bermuda, beginning with the Pan Am Clippers and all the way to modern jets.

"He put Bermuda on the map when the Caribbean wasn't really a tourist destination. That's relevant to my father's relationship with Jim, and my relationship with Jim, but my brother's relationship with Jim was, I think, frustrating for both of them.

"But it's all in our past, and we have a new project, and I hope Jim would be supportive of what we are doing, because it's absolutely in line with the Bermuda tourism plan he has always espoused. My brother was only involved here briefly, a long time ago, but I would be happy to offer an apology for what was said. It's history."

In recent years, BPL's shareholders finally achieved their goal of building real estate for non-Bermudians, and a brochure currently being distributed locally details the success that they have achieved. According to Mr. Woolridge and other sources who preferred not to be named, that success has been achieved after decades of political pressure, threats and intimidation.

In last week's Mid-Ocean News, we reported that there was no sign of the hotel that had been promised by BPL if the company was given permission to sell real estate to non-Bermudians. Although this week Edward Trippe predicted that a hotel would be completed by 2007, Mr. Woolridge remained unconvinced, having predicted the primacy of the real estate component of the development during a stormy debate in Parliament in February 2000.

In an interview this week, Mr. Woolridge described his continuing anger at Bermuda Properties, his contempt for the cowardice of successive Governments in dealing with owners of tourist properties, and his concern for the effect their decisions have had on the direction of Bermuda's economy.

"I told Charles Trippe, the oldest of the brothers, that I would only consider allowing the conversion of the Stables at Castle Harbour into a shopping complex and spa and change the location of the first tee and golf clubhouse, and he had the audacity to come to my office and demand to be allowed to do what they are doing now.

"He slammed the coffee table in my office and said that if he couldn't get what he wanted, he'd close the airport down, because he and the senior George Bush went to school together, and he would acquiesce to these demands."

[Charles Trippe and President George H.W. Bush both attended Yale, albeit some 15 years apart Mr. Woolridge asked Mr. Trippe to leave and not to return, but the former minister recounted that pressure to develop Castle Harbour had come from generations of the Trippe family.

"I had to deal with Juan Trippe, the father of Charles and Edward, first. At the time, I was deeply concerned by the shoddy condition of the Castle Harbour hotel. We were getting so many complaints that I asked Juan Trippe to meet me, and he came to my office.

"I told him about my concerns about the condition of the hotel, and told him that if he could not give an assurance that he planned to upgrade the hotel, I would have no alternative but to pull his licence and close it down. He seemed surprised that I would take that action, and his then-manager Pierre Roellinger called to arrange another meeting. At that meeting, I asked Mr. Trippe if he could give me some idea about his plans for Castle Harbour, and how much he planned to spend, and he told me that his wife had just had a dividend from some investment, and he could spend $67,000 on Castle Harbour. Well, I told him that amount could perhaps upgrade a bathroom or two, and not to waste my time."

Mr. Woolridge was particularly angered that successive UBP and PLP politicians had given in to threats by Tucker's Point management and shareholders because of the controversial nature of the original acquisition of the Tucker's Town lands by BPL's predecessor, the Bermuda Development Company Ltd. (BDC)

"I am not a racist, and I don't harp on the past, but the facts are what they are. That land down there was taken from black people, and even in 1920, people saw the possibility of what would happen. Mr. A.B. Smith, then a Member of Parliament, foresaw exactly what has come to pass."

In his memoir, The House that Jack Built, Mr. Woolridge quoted Mr. Smith, speaking in the House in 1920.

"Perhaps I am mistaken, I suppose it may be taken care of in this Act incorporating the company. I will be glad if the Honourable Members enlighten me because it seems to me possible," warned Mr. Smith, "that the company may have acquired the lands and, for some reason, may not spend money on them but, in time, get rid of them at great profit."

The original company, BDC was acquired in 1957 by BPL. The Trippe family is believed to own, or have owned, some 90 per cent of the shares in BPL.

Mr. Woolridge described what he saw as the very negative aesthetic consequences of the Tucker's Point development.

"I drove across the Causeway from the airport a few days ago, and looking across at what used to be beautiful green fairways, I saw instead a sea of concrete and homes. We don't need to build luxury homes for people who have two or three places around the world, who will live in them for a few weeks and leave them empty for the rest of the year, or rent them out."

Mr. Woolridge believed that developments such as Tucker's Point would contribute to what he viewed as a serious and worsening social problem.

"Luxury developments for non-Bermudians on some of the finest 'green-field' land left in Bermuda will only add to our inherent social problems. This present Government is not addressing the problem of housing for people who need it.

"Eventually, if we keep selling off real estate to non-Bermudians, we are going to develop serious social problems in this country. If you think the current situation is bad, then just look out! I was looking at this from social, ethical and political perspectives in 2000, and the worst part of this is that some people sat up there (in Parliament) and only saw the fact that Bermuda Properties was going to spend $60 million rather than what was right for the country.

"Bermuda is the most beautiful country in the world and we are destroying it from within. 'Greedy kills Piggy'! That is so true.

"And it's not just Castle Harbour. It's a disgrace what they allowed to happen at Palmetto Bay. Now they will never get a hotel in there, and that block on the western end may as well be in the middle of the street. The same thing will happen at Belmont. It's only a matter of time before the people at Elbow Beach say that they would like to sell off their cottages."

Mr. Woolridge expressed concern that the sale of what were once the most prestigious properties in the tourism sector would leave Bermuda seriously exposed economically if changes proposed in other jurisdictions affected the international business sector.

"I have been out of politics for over two years now, " said Mr. Woolridge, "and I have not made a single statement, or been quoted about anything, but what really worries me is the prospect that the US Government, facing record budget deficits, will propose fiscal changes that could have the effect of making it much less advantageous for US companies to be here. We will not be able to survive.

Mr. Woolridge bemoaned the lack of enthusiasm for tourism displayed by the current Government, and its complicity in allowing more properties historically zoned for tourism to be sold off as residential property.

"Castle Harbour should not have been allowed to break one blade of grass until such time as they turned the key in the door of the new hotel. Then they should have been limited in terms of development. This Government has given away the shop!

"Long after I turned Castle Harbour down, Peter Parker of Bermuda Properties went in the back door of Parliament and handed letters to every member, saying that if they did not get what they wanted, they would close down Castle Harbour Hotel and pull out of Bermuda. Except for Trevor Moniz and Ann Cartwright DeCouto, every other member gave in to this intimidation.

"They closed it down anyway, and we lost the 400 jobs, and they have sold off all of that land that was expropriated from Bermudians all those years ago, and so far, there is nothing there of any lasting value for Bermuda and Bermudians.

"I am really concerned that there will be something left to pass on to my four grandchildren. The way things are going now, I am worried. Somebody in this Government doesn't know what they are doing. The only thing we don't have enough of is land, and we aren't making any more of it.

"These (people) at Castle Harbour didn't even have to buy the land. It was confiscated for the original company (BDC) for the purpose of developing Tucker's Town as a 'mecca for tourism'. There is this little vehicle called a 'Development Order' and it allows a Minister to circumvent all of the usual bureaucratic procedures if he believes that some project is in the best interests of the country.

"(Former UBP Minister) Harry Soares signed that order for the Ship's Hill development, but it was meant to stop there. But the PLP have gone much further, and that golf clubhouse looks about as big as the whole of the old hotel!

"I love this country with a passion, and it make me sick to see some of the things that have been allowed to happen around here. We are destroying the most beautiful little place in the world. Pretty soon, we will just be a concrete jungle, and the attraction of Bermuda will be gone, and the people who are doing what is being done at Tucker's Point and Palmetto Bay and Newstead and Belmont are only greatly adding to that process.

"One of the wonderful things about this country, in the past, was that people had dignity. They worked hard, they bought a little place, and they had real independence. If you worked hard, you could get ahead. Now, this situation is disgraceful. It makes me ill.

"This Government has got to make a stand. The Tourism Minister may be new, but our system is one of collective Cabinet responsibility for actions that have been taken, and there needs to be a clear policy going forward.

"I am no rocket scientist, but if the US Congress decides to change its views on recognition of off-shore domiciles, we will not be able to generate sufficient revenue from our current tourism base to survive. When I was Minister of Tourism, we had 10,875 beds. Now there are only about 3,000.

"When you see the desecration at places like Tucker's Point and Palmetto, it makes you want to weep. You can say that the 'Voice of Summer' was 'crying in the wilderness' to his parliamentary colleagues, but they did not heed it, and look at the results. We will not survive without the right values, without foresight, and without honesty and integrity."