Stop this blind devotion

May 25, 2004

Dear Sir,

I am so mad and angry with this PLP Government on their slowness in providing low cost housing for the people, so I write this letter to get rid of my frustration. I have somewhere to live, but I feel so sorry for those people I see living in tents, beaches and derelict buildings. They are working people and suffering because they cannot find any thing they can afford anywhere. It's so frightening for them. PLP have been in power for six years and they have done nothing to build or fix low income housing. Yes this is what came first: four fast ferries a gros overpriced high school, stadium still dragging on. Our taxes are sky rocketing every year. We have drained our money to things we have no right to support.

Mr. Devent does not have a clue how to begin and is still in the dark, “Poor man”.

You people on the hill, people with blind devotion put you in and I think there people with that blind devotion better put you out. Its your own that bites the hardest. We do have land, government land and its been there for years, just sitting there.

Start building tomorrow, not wait another six years thinking about it, and if your can manage to use your brains build condos for families to suit the Bermuda that has a family and only get $800 weekly, not luxury apartments for other people for money. Find out why there is a shortest and do something about turning it around.

PLP members please stop this blind devotion, you put them in and only your can put them out, they are only for themselves.

DEVONSHIRE

A senseless act

May 30, 2004

Dear Sir,

In the vain hope it is never repeated, you should publish a large colour photo of the destruction of the Palmettos along the South Shore Road in Smiths opposite St. Patrick's Church. Forty or so mature palms have been cut off eight to ten feet in the air, leaving tall bare stumps as mute evidence of unadulterated vandalism. Robust survivors of Fabian, and perhaps 100 years in the growing, they were no match for a few minutes of some senseless and insensitive desecrator with a chain saw.

As this is no single instance of such vandalism, and if the beauty of Bermuda is still important to anyone at all, someone, somehow, must get a grip on the ongoing brutality exhibited by those responsible for roadside maintenance. Indiscriminate hacking back of valuable growth on the principle of ‘If we kill it, we won't have to trim it ever again' is a sure recipe for the Mexican Pepper that is now thriving for example, in place of the mature Pittisporum rooted out of the roadside east of Harrington Hundreds Market for no apparent good reason.

KBB, Where Were You?

St. George's

Why are fares sky high?

May 20, 2004

Dear Sir,

This letter is written on behalf of all Bermuda travellers who enjoy visiting your lovely island and wish to avoid losing most of their vacation money before arrival at the airport.

The last few weeks, I have researched the air fares from New York to Bermuda and found them to be exorbitant and so uniform from one airline to the next as to hint of price fixing. While the distance is 600 miles, air trips to cities on other continents have lower fares though thousands of miles more distant. There is no apparent justification for this inequity.

That airlines up prices to manage their load factor is understandable. An extra charge for weekend travel, public holiday travel or for other special times that spread passengers over the course of a week makes economic sense to the tourist, citizen or airport authority acting for the government, i.e., the people.

It is incomprehensible that the fares become greatly inflated if a traveller is pleased to spend more than a month in Bermuda.

After so many ordinary Bermudians do a good job of feeding, housing and politely entertaining a visitor, it is a shame to permit the airlines to punish the pleased traveller as well as the industrious and well mannered Bermudian. In other words, the airlines who have landing licenses at Bermuda air port raise their ticket price if a visitor wishes to stay for longer than a month. With the implicit approval of the Tourist Board and without a rationale, the overcharge is grabbed by the airlines.

Who can say which agency of Bermuda profits from this anomaly. Certainly the ordinary hospitality industry does not!

It is my hope that someone in government can normalise the fare structure.

USA 3000, a low cost start up, not US Air, is currently carrying passengers one way from Baltimore to Bermuda for $79 plus taxes, etc.

Why do the big carriers need to charge senior citizens three times as much?

As one who has travelled to your island over a hundred times, I thank your for your attention.

ROBERT W. MULLEN

Ad campaign is all wrong

May 22, 2004

Dear Sir,

Over coffee this morning, my friend was telling me about her recent trip to Aruba. When I mentioned Bermuda she said, ‘Frank and I used to go there all the time'. I asked, ‘Why didn't you go to there instead of Aruba last week?' She smiled wistfully and said, ‘Bermuda has charm. Don't you think so?' She never answered my question but reminded me of the dozens of people I spoke with during this far too long winter. It seemed that everyone in the Boston area who was heading for a sunny island went to Aruba or the Bahamas. When I asked them, like my friend this morning, what about Bermuda, most replied, ‘my folks used to go there. They'd go every year'. But when I asked if they'd been, the answer was always no. Thankfully, no one has yet said ‘where?'

From the lack of coverage one would assume Bermuda has disappeared. These aren't cruisers I spoke to but the demographic range Bermuda Tourism is supposed to be targeting. So why aren't they? All the US carriers either have a direct link from Boston to Bermuda or offer connecting flights, yet the only consistent ads are for cruise lines and the two Fairmont hotels. It's a ready and waiting market especially now the US government says not ‘if' but ‘when' for the next terrorism attack. Why isn't the Minister of Tourism advertising the 90 minute flight, pink beaches, Bermuda shorts, the Bermuda triangle, mopeds, pastel homes with white roofs, traditions, serenity, and yes, charm?

This past month, for the first time all winter, a small ad ran for two consecutive Sundays in the travel section of The Boston Globe. It showed a man and a woman in summer gear touting Bermuda as a bargain. Now let's be honest, Bermuda is many wonderful things, but it's no bargainnot for Bermudians and certainly not Americans. It's not only the extravagant airfares which cripple wallets but also the cost of taxis, buses, ferries, touristy trinkets, and meals. Even if, by some miracle, everything else were free the cost of three meals a day in local restaurants is daunting. We've always recommended Surf Side Beach Hotel for their kitchened units and Bermudian charm (there's that word again) and at least our friends have a choice of whether to eat out or in.

Who approved this ad? What where they thinking? Whose money were they spending? And whom precisely were they trying to lure with such a banal, generic ad? Whatever happened to brand recognition of the traditional Bermudian images? McDonald's wouldn't think of straightening out its arches or painting them chartreuse. Designer shorts? By using two people in designer gear the ad blatantly trumpets the opposite of its intent.

I realise Bermuda is now awash in cascading scandals but perhaps an influx of tourists might take away some of the sting? It's a specious argument to say that occupancy rates are up if only half the hotel beds are available. It's also specious to say that the exit polls are 100 percent enthusiastic - what guest is going to complain before they've left the premises? New Englanders feel threatened, hectored, and isolated, why not tell them Bermuda has precisely what they long for. Is that so hard?

JOYCE FINN

Winchester, Massachusetts

What are they afraid of?

May 29, 2004

Dear Sir,

Are our Government MPs more afraid of being drug tested or of the public knowing the results?

CURIOUS

Pembroke