By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

A  Long Island businessman has slammed web shops as a “scourge” that is “drying up” the island’s economy, with residents prioritising gambling above everything else.

Mario Cartwright, a co-founder and past president of the Long Island Chamber of Commerce, while addressing the Long Island Business Outlook this week, said the island was “in a state of serious decline”, with the 2008-2009 recession and Hurricane Joaquin’s devastation among the major causes.

“The state of business in Long Island is weak and not gaining strength,” he charged. “From a socio-economic standpoint, Long Island is in a state of serious decline.

“Entire settlements are dying; just look at Roses in the south and Clarence Town.  Businesses are closing down. Sadly, the same is happening in the other islands that make up the south-eastern Bahamas.”

Mr Cartwright argued that while the private sector had already been reeling from the 2008 economic recession, the arrival of web shops

had created another problem.

“By 2012 they were in full swing. These gambling houses eventually carved out  a major portion of the local economy for themselves,” he added.

“It is unfortunate that many Long Islanders are avid gamblers. Playing numbers transcends everything in their lives. Money for gambling is set aside first before consideration is given for groceries, clothing and other vital household needs; it’s a pity.”

Mr Cartwright said: “Every month, tens of thousands of dollars leave Long Island via human couriers who carry the money to the numbers house bosses in Nassau.

“This money never comes back. This gambling scourge has caused a severe decay in the moral fibre of the Long Island community. Parents are setting a very poor example for their children. Legitimate businesses are suffering because the numbers houses are drying up Long Island’s economy one spin at a time.”

  Mr  Cartwright added that the introduction of Value-Added Tax (VAT) in 2015 has also driven up the cost of living.

“The added cost didn’t end there,” he said. “Government agents insisted that businesses, no matter how small, should invest in point of sales systems to maintain accounting records and to properly report VAT receipts.

“Some small businesses closed down because they could not afford a point of sales system and felt it was too cumbersome to do it manually.”

Mr Cartwright said that in the aftermath of Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, most businesses who had insurance were not made whole by their insurers, and the business community has received little help from elsewhere.

“There is a total lack of financing available to Long Island businesses except  cash guaranteed fixed deposits, required at 100 to even 110 per cent of the requested loan amount. This is absurd,” said Mr Cartwright.

He added that Long Island’s population of around 3,000 people comprised of mainly the young and the old, with middle-aged working class individuals having migrated to other places for employment.

“We need to stop the population drain. We need to put in place opportunities that will entice at least of some of our children to return home,” Mr Cartwright said.

“For economic reasons, more and more citizens of the southern islands are being  forced to move to an already overly-congested Nassau. Government must take immediate action, otherwise we will continue to see the gradual closure of businesses and depopulation of these south eastern islands. Everything is focused on New Providence.”

Mr Cartwright added that the island’s lack of infrastructure, and absence of any apparent plan to address such needs, were a major deterrent to any new investor - whether foreign or local.

“Our current infrastructure is deteriorating and we hear nothing new about improvements, apart from study after study being done,” said Mr Cartwright, adding that the Deadman’s Cay airport has outlived its usefulness.

   He challenged the perception that Long Islanders were independent and had no need for government intervention.

“Long Island needs everything, and this misconception must be changed. Successive administrations, PLP and FNM alike, must stop giving Long Island lip service and peddling false hope. Long Island needs action now,” Mr Cartwright said.

He suggested that the Government look at introducing substantial tax incentives to the island, major duty reductions, discontinue VAT, slash Business License fees, subsidise utility costs and bring about needed infrastructureimprovements.