EDITOR, The Tribune.

For over ten years many of us have been staring at the decaying structures blighting eastern Bay Street, and agitating for their reconstruction, replacement, or demolition. Never seeing any action, our eyes now just glaze over as they scan the continuing dilapidation in the Zombie Zone.

We were given a ray of hope when last February 14 Prime Minister Minnis told the press that “we cannot have the derelict buildings just sitting in the centre of the city; that cannot happen”.

He decreed that the private sector Downtown Nassau Partnership (DNP), led by well-known activist Ed Fields, would be responsible for choosing the companies to engage in the development of our capital city. The DNP was forecast to announce big plans that very afternoon.

Wonderful. “Action this day!” Winston Churchill used to demand as wartime leader.

Not quite yet in The Bahamas. During the following three and a half months, we have not seen a lick of new paint, a repaired sagging roof, a restored antiquity, or a freshly unboarded shop window along the whole dismal stretch. The abandoned Corona Hotel still sits as a dark cock-roach haven fronting a whole city block.

The DNP has not issued a peep of what its plans might be. A couple of sources have told me of intense activity “behind the scenes”. Well, why not drag it out in front of the scenes? Does not every right-thinking citizen believe in the modern principle of “transparency”?

RICHARD COULSON

Nassau,

May 28, 2018.