The malls were constructed in response to a speech by then Prime Minister, Sir Lyndon Pindling, that the time has come to end the monopoly the Bay Street Boys had on commerce in the country. And it was his government’s intention to create opportunities for other Bahamians in the Bay Street area. And the Bay Street Boys responded by coming over the hill and constructing malls in areas where only small, (yes black) businesses existed. And not only that, the mall operators ensured that ‘certain ‘ tenants renting space in the mall were not successful. In the case of Town Center the owners went into direct competition with their tenants, making it impossible for them to turn a profit and having to eventually close shop. So now the mall has become a barely occupied shell. So has Bay Street. And the owners have been calling out to government to throw them a lifeline. Not because they need financial assistance, per se, but in order for the mall to be sustainable the numbers of persons going there must increase. Retail stores alone cannot do this, especially now since local retailers have learned to ‘Beware Town Center Mall.’ So yes Symnonette as calling out to government to throw Town Center a life line. But what about the hundreds of smaller Bahamians who are struggling in this depressed and brutal economy? What about them? The difference between them and Symnonette is he is trying to save his mall while they are trying to put bread on the table. Forget the lights being off and other bills not being paid, for them it’s a matter of survival. For them and their families. So go ahead and throw out the lifeline to Town Center Mall. But what you gonna do for the smaller, lest fortunate, long suffering Bahamians? Many of whom their businesses it was Town Center’s Mall intent to destroy.

So what about the piece of property on East Street ( between the Hills that Brent Symnonette agreed to donate to the Bahamian people? Why does this property now have ‘For Sale’ signs on it. Symnonette was a member of the Hubert Ingraham cabinet and agreed to donate the property for public/green space/park.

So why has The tribune being operating a non-secure site for the past several months..hmm

Three points: One Minnis must now explain what makes Town Center Mall so much better than The Independence Shopping Center that was under preparation when he came to office and was stopped dead in the water.
Two: Renward Wells assertion that the people can no longer do without a post office is moot and a demonstration of the political selfishness of this government. This was the issue when the FNM came to office. The office staff were suffering from deplorable working conditions and the general population was without or was with limited post offices services. Renward sounds like a retard even saying this. His government delayed and held back in terms of progress and development.the relocation of the post office, strictly on terms of politics and to grant the lease to one of their own (greedy as he may be. In fact has any other politician benefited financially and otherwise,more from being in government, than he? ). And finally so to Minnis is ok with the policy that, should he lose the next elections, the new government comes in and terminated contracts in effect, work in progress and plans on the table, strictly on the terms of politics...you can't be serious. but you are!

Yesterday marijuana became fully legal in Canada. And while this is in no way to suggest The bahamas follows suit, especially for recreational use, the time may have come where the Bahamas handles persons found with small amounts of marijuana for recreational use differently. Mixing them with the general prison population tends to create more problems and more negative results as persons with a drug use or abuse problem now have exposure to a crime element. What Canada proposes to do is to pardon all persons charges with minor offenses of marijuana possession, once they remain crime free and law abiding citizens for a period of five years. This will affect some 500,000 Canadians, including some who are presently in jail. And despite marijuana being made legal, there are still strict laws governing it and persons can still find themselves going to jail or being fined if they violate these laws. Some judges here have started sending persons found with small amounts to a drug rehab program, rather than sending them to jail.

The problem of having an account or accounting department run a business or an economy is they spend too much time with their heads in the books. Rather than going out and implementing strategies and measures to drive the economy, they look at the figures on the books and ponder ways to move them around. That being said, the Minnis government has not implemented a single fiscal policy that will effect the entire Bahamas and stimulate growth, create jobs and increase government revenue. Increasing taxes in an economy with zero growth or negative growth spells disaster in the future. Yes, one may argue, and honestly so, that the Minnis Government did slash a lot of spending, which also caused quite a number of people to lose jobs, both directly and indirectly. And the cutbacks on government wastage and putting the brakes on corruption will definitely pay dividends in the future. And the people of Grand Bahama have faith (and their fingers and toenails crossed). That some success will come out of the government’s purchase and eventual resale of the Lucayan hotel. Some say the buyer was always identified but the government had to make the purchase on his behalf. And the SunWing scandal where it was revealed that government was actually paying visitors to come to the Bahamas. Can you believe that? Both by land and by air? That was always a question that so many Bahamians asked. Why do poor, average hard working have to subsidize Tourists vacations in the Bahamas? Look at. This good(and with two eyes: Bahamians make over a million trips to Florida every year. That is an average of three trips per Bahamian. So what resources and promotions and incentives does Florida, and by extension the United States give to Bahamians. During peak season airline ticket go up to over $700 for the thirty minute flight and hotel rooms go up likewise. And Bahamians have to pay. So why should people not want to or have to come to the Bahamas. So collect our tourist money, put it in the treasury, pay down the National Debt and stop taxing Bahamians out of existence. Stop it.

The easiest way to reduce crowding at the prison is to reduce the number of people going there. Persons charged with murder especially since most of them are in their 20’s or younger and can be expected to spend some 50 years (based on a life expectancy of 75 in prison. This year (again in October) the murder count stands a good chance of being under 100, but as you know once the information gets published things go crazy and the killings skyrocket. Hopefully not this year. The initiatives by the Minnis administration to increase work programs in prison to allow inmates to improve their skills to get better opportunities at employment when they are released and to offer training to the young citizens of the Bahamas and also to give the police additional equipment will definitely reap benefits. Obviously someone in government is seeing that you cannot continue to throw young people and the future generations to the dogs (or dawgs for that matter. Hopefully by next year government will be able to reduce the $5 mill allocation to vehicles for the police by half and increase the prison program and the youth development program by the same amount. Not because they will be shortchanging the police, but not only will the police be taking better care of their vehicles but the investments in the youth programs will be paying dividends and there will be no need for additional vehicles,

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.

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

judgment begins at the alter...let us pray. This task will not be easy.