Well, Saturday before last I received my B.E.C. bills for May, June and July all in one batch.

It is better for the government to rent than own as the landlord's responsibility would be to maintain and insure. Government does not appear to do that with any of its own buildings..

Pirates of the Caribbean. Did the rum running ever stop. Because this government is punch drunk and no longer even have national pride. Poor Bahamians!

Ma Comrades, who is still around from 1967/68 with the visionary of mind to have foreseen that only changes to Bay Street Boys Landlords - would've been re position their outstretched hands into PeoplesPublicPurse - way far beyond structures Bay Street.... Yet. they have sat in wait whilst Bay Street turned into slum for the PeoplesPublicPurse/Chinese to pay rebuild Bay Street anew.... But not before staking they claim Kelly Island. { Just can't make this up }.

They sold out Bay Street to the other pirates ,,T Finlynson etc ..And any Bahamian w 500 dollars could buy shares in the port , did you ?? Ingraham even made a special deal for public servants to buy shares w no interest deductions from there pay ,,did they ??The folks that bought shares in the port have done really well .

So he was clearly in Miami when the cronies met. Even drug dealers make sure to have air flight (err air tight) alibis. This government continues to keep taking from one set of Bahamians and giving to the same other set of Bahamians who have been taking from Bahamians all along.

John you need to dismount from your dead racist horse, you trying to make a case that the government only rents from white descendants of the Bay Street boys? Take a good look around you and see who the new Bay Street Boys are, but I guess its OK for the government to rent from the numbers boys and Leslie Miller an Frankie Wilson dem............

John you're absolutely right.

This messenger idiot must be an FNM crony

@ BahamasForBahamians ''It is better for the government to rent than own as the landlord's responsibility would be to maintain and insure. Government does not appear to do that with any of its own buildings."'
Your words ma brudda, or are you suggesting that the government should only rent from black people and PLP's?

No he is not. . .that was the first and best location found by the PLP. . .before they went and go into business with Island Luck (this location was not suited from the get go). . .to which you said nothing!! And you must be a PLP with this one-sided dumb thinking!! Carry on with ya nonsense. . .we are used to dumbness around here. . .but usually from bird or tall. . .but however. . .PLP as PLP does!!

Says the king PLP crony.... right fweddie?

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2017/apr…

To the Victors belong the Spoils, I guess!

Let's keep on focus and not become distracted. Why is there still no Freedom of Information Act, Fiscal Responsibility Act, Campaign Finance Reform Act? Why are the Tribune and Guardian allowing Minnis to get off so easily without passing these important legislation? Don't they realise if the PLP get back in power, they will steal like never before and jeopardize our future? Every day the PRESS should be pushing for this legislation!!!!

agreed

Folks it amazes me how everyone gets in a tizzy about whose buildings is rented.

1. The staff need to move NOW!
2. For the old phils compound to be refurbished to suit the operation is costly. Independence shopping center would present the same challenge.
3. They need appropriate space and parking
4. On an island 21 x 7 where the options are extremely limited, they shouldn't rent the space because the owner is a member of parliament????
5. What are the other options? To build another building takes time and as was mentioned by truetruebahamian, even if they built a new building governments track record for maintaining their buildings is dismal. If I owned a building that would comfortably accommodate the "Main" post office,(not a sub post office), Id be upset. He has the space. So what da heck?

and you can park there!

One of the reasons the crime levels are so high in this country (and not condoning it) and so difficult to control is law abiding Bahamians see the same set of Bahamians being enriched, while their own lives are becoming more difficult, they are being taxed more and more and it has become impossible for small businesses to survive in this country. It was greed that was a part of Town Center Mall’s failure. Greed by the owners who wanted to monopolize everything and compete directly with their tenants. Now rather than dip in his own deep pockets, This Symnonett intends to use taxpayers money to revive his white elephant mall.

What a small minded yard chicken mentality. . .this can only be shelly moss or fred Mitchell!! If yinna will stay right there and let this pea-brained mentality to be the center of adult dialogue then yall deserve whatever comes on yinna plate!! If this the sum total of our educated elite and learned commentary. . .count me out of this stupidity!! I will sit this one out. . .obviously yinna prefer rock kickers to comment on vital national developmental issues. . .carry on smartly!! I have no time for political bull crap!!

Great idea .......... and great site ........... PLPs sure do not have a problem sharing the Treasury spoils with their PEPs .............. and Brent will probably donate that pocket change to some worthy cause, anyway.

If you look across the street from Symnonettes mall, a place, a temporary location was being prepared for the post office. It was one of the first things Symnonett’s FNM Government applied the brakes too when they won the government. Then they used Phil’s as a diversion when they knew they intended to put the post office in Symonette’s mall. So the government has now spent or will spend three set of monies on three different properties for the post office, only because of Brent’s greediness. It will have to pay substantial amounts to get out of the lease with the Independence Shopping Center. It has spent Millions to squire Phil’s and ‘pretend ‘ to prepare it. Now it must give Symnonette it’s other arm and leg to move into Town Center, where Symnonettes Commonwealth Bank and Cost Rite will also benefit from the post office’s presence. But it’s the people’s time.

John you need to dismount from your dead racist horse, you trying to make a case that the government only rents from white descendants of the Bay Street boys? Take a good look around you and see who the new Bay Street Boys are, but I guess its OK for the government to rent from the numbers boys and Leslie Miller an Frankie Wilson dem............

ok, don't rent from Brent. Don't have a post office. you have no idea how Banana Republic our country is.

For years the Ministry of foreign Building onEast Streel hill was rented from the Maynard family. Some people have short memory

John ......... you cannot compare Town Centre Mall and what was left of the Independence Shopping Centre ............ Shane Gibson and his PEPs were running a racket ........ Brent is giving the Treasury a big discount ($12 psf) ......... Remember what Potcake said??? ....... He said he was giving the Government a deal at $25 psf for his Summerwinds plaza ..... Compare and shut up talking nonsense.

Compare what? You shut up with your insider trading

So let me get this straight. The Government should not rent from Brent even if the location he has is the better option because it seems wrong? This is silly thinking. When you compare Town Centre to the old City market, Town Centre wins hands down. It won't cost as much to convert (the building is there and open), There is more parking, there are other stores in the location meaning the landlord has to keep the place clean for them as well as the post office. This is one of those decisions which actually makes sense (unlike that silly Gladstone road one).

Now there are plenty of other Government buildings that are rented which shouldn't be, but this is probably the quickest and cheapest option to sort out that post office

The government shouldn't do it because it is a conflict of interest.

Its the same reason Hubert Ingraham fired him from Airport Authority...Confliccts of interest.

If there was no issue with this Hubert Minnis would not have moved hastily to recuse himself from the Statcare building conflict.

which is the exact same as this.

You talking 'bout the same "conflict of interest" that caused Christie to fire Shane Gibson, Leslie Miller and Jerome Fitzgerald?
Some people can't see the forest for the trees.

Say it louder for the people in the back! Freddie is a hypocrite!

So due to a conflict of interest the Government should spend more money and rent elsewhere, no matter what the additional cost would be?. I take it that they should also state in the lease that the landlord is under no circumstances allowed to run for political office nor give finances to any party as this too would be a conflict of interest. There is no conflict if you recuse yourself from the decisions AND whoever does make the decision can show that it was the best of the choices available .

that you Bahamians are debating this due to party affiliation is disgraceful. Conflict of interest is conflict of interest no matter who does it and needs to be avoided in what is fast becoming a cesspool.

.

Ma Comrades, this mornings Town Center Mall shoppers talkin; done has it you may have be fingerprinted before postal clerk goin hand handover your mail or parcel? Maybe sometin' Her Excellency Marguerite, makes royal entry note of?

Did any of you Naysayers note that the PLP had also considered renting this location from Mr. Symonette for the Post Office? SMH!

@themesenger.. if all you can gather from my post is that I am a racist that have an issue with renting from your ‘White Bay Street boys’, then your brain is smaller than a gnat’s eyebrow. And further more you are mentally sick. Now go back and read my posts (after taking your medication or did you miss two doses) and address me correctly. Y’all thinks that once you call a black person a racist it excuses you and gives you license to say what you like. When I wants to become a racist I’ll move to Mississippi and battle the Klan. There’s this thing about crosses burning that is more sensational than...

@John,to treat the kind of mental hang ups you have you need more than medications, only Jesus and his Cross can help you. You have my deepest sympathy.

Dont worry about these fools. Bahamians always use race when its convenient to either dismiss people or to rile up the base. wrong is wrong whether you black, white or other and we seem to change those rules as we go to our death.

LMAO

Ever note how whenever someone on this site questions the FNM/UBP cabal and their obvious plan to take back the Bahamas to pre1967 while pointing at the numbers boys and Frankie as the true plutocrats (what a joke!), they are called 'racist'? As Tal correctly says, you can't make this stuff up!

@messenger: give your sympathies to your parents.. both of them.

John, the fact that you would bring my parents into this discussion simply proves what a sorry insecure creature you really are.Again, please have my very deepest sympathy.

Anyone knows there are white gangsters as well there are black gangsters in this country. PLP gangsters as well as FNM gangsters as there were UBP gangsters. And there are turn coats and clingers-on and opportunists who plan to benefit from whichever government is of the day and what ever decisions are being made.

I am into early minutes reading internal party's poll which clearly speaks how each 35 comrade red shirts MP''s, have feared in representing their respective constituencies residents...... Clearly does points to the lighter the 'lighter lick da brush' is in they DNA, the worst their residents representation - since combined 91,409 got their thumbs all purple 10 May 2017. { Not making this up }.

http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2018…

Well I see the talk started, perhaps you folks need to continue using that old post office... here is a 5 year resolution... I think what is important is getting my mail thru to Nassau... The post office here in GB over the years have experience a/c challenges, but all I want is my mail, I don't care where its be housed at.

"Ever note how whenever someone on this site questions the FNM/UBP cabal and their obvious plan to take back the Bahamas to pre1967"
What exactly is the FNM/UBP cabal? All the UBP's dead except Godfrey Kelly who is a real gentleman and true philanthropist.
These true plutocrats of whom you speak, are you referring to the ruling class of the last fifty years namely the Pindlings,Christie's, Maynard's, Gibsons, Hanna's,Butlers, Ingrahams,Minnises et al, has it always been their plan to take our country back to pre 1967?
In retrospect, considering the state of our country and economy today, that might not be a bad thing!

How does the koolaid taste??

....sleep wid ya house door an windows open...healthy food.....bake ya breads....ride ya bicycle good exercise....walk anywhere nobody robs ys...erryone plenty manners.....pastor really preaching fire an brimstone....errybody speaking english language....police is real police errybody fears dem...huge hamburger from Palm Tree....chillrens good clean fun...swimmins.....plenty fruit trees all over none gets chap down cause tieffong.....no razer wire high chain link fence concrete fence ....no fencing erry yatd.....no national debts ...budget wid surplus...plennty farming.....Stafford Sands taking plenty Bahamians all over travelling showcasing their entertainment....Banana Boat..Silver Slipper...Centtal...Zanzib...gets ya house loan Pops....materials Citi......tourism been developed...banking industry...peoples having two jobs....plentiful...mind you erryting not that so good cause former PM Hubert Ingraham...come to Nassau....did lose he bicycle cause somebody tiefs it....

Ma Comrade Bogart, I remember I had old file photo from my collection keepsakes pictures over years cause memories how Papa Hubert's toes would hardly touch ground.
Actual true picture Papa Hubert's first prized bicycle, before it got thief.

http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2018…

What a bunch of utter nonsense ..First that we could not build a building that last over forty years . Second Tal and John going on about the UBP etc ,you do know who was the old bay street boys conduit right to Pindling office ,that's right the one and only appear to speak for the black people ,Big Bad Brad .By the way if the old white UBP money would of split at independence this country would of made Haiti look like a paradise ,Pindling knew that . Much smarter to rent a post office as mail is going the way of the dodo bird and who in their right mind would trust our post office w/ their amazon purchases .Money is green folks ..Now if you want to get down to the nitty gritty , go walk around Hope town ,Green turtle cay , Spanish wells ..then go walk around down town George town,an Island doing well economy wise , and get back to me on which one looks run down slum ..

👍👍👍

It doesn't matter who does it. Conflict of interest is conflict of interest. To debate it is purely political party BS. This is DISGRACEFUL and RIDICULOUS and would be considered unethical, corrupt in most democratic societies. We will never get out of this BS if we keep electing these despicable people who obviously have no flickin shame. Is this the only option? Really? How much money has been wasted on selecting a GD post office? The government was renting the TCM for NIB and that was a disgrace too. Depressing just to enter that space. Cost Rite full of rats. The place is in such poor condition the government will have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to make it decent. However if the NIB situation is an example, it won't look like much. Sick of this sheet.

and I am sick of people saying the government can't build and maintain a damn building? why is that exactly? if you cant maintain a flicking building then logically governing a country will prove impossible. So here we are. What utter tripe. Both parties and their cronies have benefited from this lie for decades, enriching themselves off of the tax payer money- only to have these people send the money out of the country to Switzerland. not an ethical bone in the bahamas. our so called values constantly shift according to perceived short term benefits. country aint going nowhere but down. these greedy visionless bastards, will take it own faster than climate change.

I'm going to have to agree that this is a bad idea. The TC Mall will have to undergo a huge amount of structural renovations to be fit for a post office. Instead of spending 20 million on changing TC Mall into a post office, use it to build a new building. Father, the Government owns enough buildings that it does not need to be renting one. I'm going to have to call this corruption based on the information at hand.

And here I was thinking that Town Centre Mall has been a run-down ghost town for years because it was a terrible location and nobody wanted to be there, when in reality Noble Brent turned away scores of interested tenants to keep this prime location available for our postal service, and now We The People can finally look forward to reliably receiving world-class mail service in this wonderful location! Thank you, FNM, we are so glad that you put an end to corruption and nepotism.

this is ridiculous. at this rate I feel like getting off my couch and running for office. these are some shamelessly corrupt people.

Finally we are getting close to the heart of the matter. The deal smells like a rat, not only because of the conflict of interest and potential corruption issues but because the economics of the deal are also questionably. Someone commented that Brent is giving the government a discount at $12 per square foot. What utter nonsense! First of all for a dilapidated and structurally unsound building and space $12 psf is no discount. More importantly, if the government has to spend over $20 million or more on improvements to get this location up to par then the true effective rental costs would be the $20 million plus the annual $12 per square foot. It is important to remember that a recent hurricane destroyed a major section of this same structure recently, therefore, the poor structure would also likely lead to significant and unusually high maintenance costs in addition to the $12 psf. Some have compared this deal to the deal the PLP entered with the numbers boys. In that scenario, the numbers boys put up their own money to get those buildings up to par for the intended use of the government. If we really want to make the comparison and talk about $12 discount rate, Brent would have to finance the $20 million for improvements to get the building ready for its intended use for this deal to make sense. Only then can Brent and is sad apologist brag about $12 psf discount. Otherwise, I do not see how this cannot be called corruption, in broad daylight and rank hypocrisy. The government is in essence taking $20 million plus a future unknown dollar amount of hard earned tax payer money and depositing it directly into the account of Brent, no more no less for a building that currently has no commercial useful purpose.

No where in the article do I see a 20 million figure mentioned to get TCM up to par .I do see mentioned that it would take 4 million to get Phils up to par .Its easy to prove ones point if you just pull figures out of thin air

Of course you would not see it in the article. Have you wondered why?

4 million is a great deal. The Gov owns Phils through Resolve. Using Phils, a new building, is a no brainer. The Phils building is a much better option for the Government.

That still does not answer where the 20 million figure to get TCM ready came from ..Like I say its easy to prove a point if you pull figures out of thin air .I say try to sell Phils to a private enterprise and rent the post office ,,mail and bills are going the way of the Dodo bird, and nobody in there right mind trust there amazon purchase etc to our postal system ,we all use friegth forwarders or courier services

The 20 million was an approximated guess of how much it will cost to transform a derelict shopping mall into a functional government central postoffice. I guess in your mind you would have them storing mail in cardboard boxes. I do not believe this approximation is that far off. Even if it is 10 million dollars or 5, these funds would be much better spent on a building the Government already owns. That my friend is a no brainer. Why invest millions into someone else's building?

so which is it ,20 or 10 or 5 ?? They must think they can do it for less than the 4 million it will take at Phils ...really the couriers and freight forwarders are moving the packages , and now I think The Mailboat is coming from florida w our amazon etc .For years at the post office I mostly got some one elses mail in my box ,and letters from abroad took about 3 months ..Only old folk go to the post office ,,its a dying institution ..letter are replaced by email ,text etc ,,do u get your amazon through our post office ,,lmao..Its really just a jobs program that needs to begin to wind down

Have you read your own post? If the intent was not to deceive why not just state what the estimated costs to get the TCM to its intended use? Surely they must know this information to make this decision? The PM went on foreign soil, yes foreign soil, to talk about how corruption was costing the Bahamian taxpayers over $500 million a year. The Bahamian public should not have to guess whether its $20 or $5 million. The TCM structure has already been compromised, and even if the improvements costs are the same, which is highly unlikely, why enter the deal with Brent to pay rent when the government already own the Phil's building. In a situation of a conflict of interest and potential corruption, the burden of proof is on the government to prove and demonstrate that self-dealing corruption is not at play. They have failed demonstrably to make that case, in my opinion.

So your 20 million was a guess. Well the Phils Building would be $50 million, i based this on a guess too, using the cost of other new builds the Government has done on Thompson. So the $20 million guess form you is better then my $50 million guess.

you pay rent, you get a space.. simple business. America the great, the self-appointed global leader of political right and wrong, has the whole Trump family working in the white house, no problem. the Saudis send assassins to kill their citizens who speak against the ruling family, no problem.. a former Prime Minister's wife is GG of this country, no problem. the gov't rents from the PM for the hospital, no problem. The BAMSI building burned down in Andros costing us taxpayers millions. no problem..there is no wrong as such anymore. its all the new normal. we should get use to it.

I agree. The Post Office is a dying or already dead business model. The old Post office building is in a very valuable location that should not be wasted on another post office. IMO it should be torn down and replaced by a multi story marketplace where Bahamians can set up shop and sell goods to tourists and locals. Asia, especially China, has these marketplaces all over the place. The key is giving many Bahamians a chance to become vendors at a reasonable rent.

I am 100% sure the old Phil's is a better location for the post office to relocate permanently!!! 1. We already own it; 2. It's a new, modern building; 3. Excellent location. It's a no brainer over Town Center Mall, which is: 1. Old, run down, ugly and outdated; 2. We don't own it; 3. Conflict of interest;. 4. Will cause increased traffic jams in the already high traffic location.

so we are going to pay to turn phils into a post office ,,when u admit the post office is a dying business ,,the only thing keeping the postal service going in the US is amazon etc ,USPS have trucks and deliver ,,we don,t . Sell Phils make TCM put up the money for a post office ,,dam it can only be about 100 p o boxes still used and use the money from Phils to pay the rent until in 5 to 10 years you shut the post office down ..The reason ur pushing phils is not about logic ,,its about something else ,,hence your 20 million out of thin air figure ..Increased traffic lmao no one goes to the post office lol and less people will each year

Just for you forgetful peeps.

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2017/apr…

PLP's malfeasance doesn't validate FNM corruption you idiot.

Man. say this a hundred times. Because these apologists are making me sick. wrong is wrong.

Total garbage. He was speaking for his sick father about a contract that was LONG PAST the approval and even the construction of Baha Mar! Government had no further role in approvals and Jerome was NOT the Minister with responsibility for Baha Mar. ZERO conflict of interest there. In the UK or any other country it would not even have been considered newsworthy. We are so ignorant in our country that basic facts are hidden behind newspaper-invented propaganda.

Re ConcernedCitizen Do you know how much it will cost to rent most of Town Center Mall and convert it into a functional, modern post office for the next 5 years? If this Government can spend 65 mill on a dump in Grand Bahama, imagine what they will spend for a "prime" location in NP. Add to this that corruption is likely involved, and the price is anyone's guess. The truth is you likely don't know how much it will cost and will never know, neither will I, because we have no Freedom of Information Act.

ReConcernedCitizen What a joke it is to question my approximation, when we don't even know where hundreds of millions of VAT money went. Bahamians are a very jokey people. They let their government treat them like fools.

Oh and BTW get used to corrupt deals like this. FNM just getting started. When I saw FNM wasn't passing a Freedom of Information Act after all their promises of transparency, I realized we were dealing with real con artists. You ain't seen nothing yet. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Look at the FNM policies – since its inception ‘ they are based on a UBP ideology!

The public is further advised that the P.O. Box at the East Hill location must be cleared, and the keys turned over at the General Post Office Town Center Mall.