When the (PLP) government proposed to purchase the old City Market building on East West Highway to use as Customs Warehouse, it was strongly suggested that this not be done for security reasons. Customs Warehouse should be contained within the port itself where there is limited access and the potential for better security. The warehouse at LPIA is a challenge because it is an isolated building that is not really in the confines of the airport and therefore requires its own security staff.

While the number of murders are starting to slow from an average of 12.5 per month to 9.84 a month the time is now to get the count to under one hundred and sustain the reduction with a zero murder rate goal. More than 50% of the murders seem to be gang related and/or involved gang members either as victims or killers or both the killer and the victim. Yet government has not announced any plan of how it plans to deal with gang activity in the country. Will there be a publicity campaign to warn and discourage young men from joining gangs and warning them of the consequences of becoming a gang member? At least one gang has a policy that once you join you must be a gang member for life and if you try to leave you will be killed. How will authorities deal with situations where gang members want to get out but they know they will lose their life? And what efforts will be made to identify gang leaders and bring hefty charges against them. This was a strategy used successfully in New York several years ago. Once a gang leader or senior member was identified, the police monitored them and brought charges for the least infraction of the law, even traffic violations. Either the gang leader got tired of confrontations with the police and moved on or gave up on gang banging and crime, or the police eventually got enough charges on him to put him away for a long time. Once the gang leaders were taken off the streets the gangs fell apart.

It was strange to hear white Bahamians sit and complain about how they are now being discriminated against in favor of foreigners. One bone of contention was the Albany project which apparently has a clause in its bidding process that requires any contractor wanting to bid on a contract at the project to have investment in property of at least $1 million in Albany. this is clearly a clause of discrimination. Not unlike the days when Bahamians were required to own property in order to vote. And those with more than one property were allowed an additional vote for each property he owned. This was a clear design to keep the power of the vote out of the hands of Black Bahamians. Now the foreigners are doing the same thing in 2017! and even the White Bahamians are crying foul!

The retail format Shaefer was trying to implement in the Bahamas could not work for several reasons. First of all The Bahamas is too small to generate the type of sales these type operations need to realize a profit. Secondly because the high shipping costs and front loaded customs duties makes the cost of inventory extremely expensive compared to a store operating in the US. So inventory loss/shrinkage due to theft, damaged or misplaced items is also very high and while it should be at 5%, once it exceeds 10% then those losses are not recovered. Then the general overhead costs for businesses are very high and if the turnover is not sufficient to cover them the business will be like a car stuck in sand. Spinning tires but not going anywhere. And while the government would have one believe there is no impact of VAT on business, there is a 15% at least increase in the cost of goods sold, because businesses must pay the VAT at the boarder. In fact many businesses, after three years, are still trying to find their break even point and trying to return to profitability after the VAT was introduced. Super value has had several price increases over the years. But with there being no real growth in the economy in the 7.5% vat tax was actual a drain and resulted in a 10-15% decrease in sales for many stores.

This type activity use to happen several years ago with consistency. Then it was discovered that two things were happening: (1) Persons would import high value shipments into the country, then break into the customs warehouse and steal the goods so they did not have to pay the duties. (2) Persons working at the building knew when valuable shipments were in the warehouse. So they would organize the break-in and get away with thousands of dollars in goods. Guards were eventually stationed at the property and cameras installed. Some people were aprehended and the break-ins stopped.

When you spray your house for bugs, you must also take measures to prevent the bugs, flies, cockroaches from getting back in and re-infesting your home. Likewise with crime. When you flush out criminals and rid society of them you must put corresponding programs programs in place to prevent society from breeding more criminals: social programs, economic programs, employment opportunities, career development programs and financial assistance for some, removal of negative influences from external sources (movies, music, etc.,).and even programs to develop parenting skills. drugs and gang activity must go! This country's record on crime and breeding career criminals is not in the least impressive and it is time that something get fixed.

Least we compare the moon (Bah Mar) to the sun (Atlantis) the main difference is Atlantis has performed from day one and continues to hire Bahamians. Despite not being out the gate some three years later, Bah Mar is still struggling trying to stand on one feet. And despite this, Davis and his PLP government, rather trying to hold the resort to its commitment it sought to sweeten the pot and give them more concessions.

25% occupancy cannot even cover operational costs much less pay mortgage.

The PLP left a dead Bahamian economy propped up and on life support pretending it was alive and well, a closed and uncertain Bah Mar, sold one softly opened, a Freeport and Grand Bahamian economy dead and at it's lowest ebb, a NHI plan without a $100 million funding, dozens of other projects unfounded or underfunded and scandal after scandal after scandal. Millions on top of millions missing promises broken crime out of control. Now we complain about the price of medication and the cost of recovery.

Reports also indicate that air pollution leads to antisocial and violent behavior. Yet we, as a New Providence community, sit around and all the dump to catch fire as often as it wants to and even though we mope and complain, we continue to suck in the fumes, like stoned Rastas at a great big chalice party. And even though governments have spoken about managing and controlling the dump, none has given a realistic thought to moving the dump and relocating it to a site off the island of New Providence. And despite the years of denial and the burying of our heads in the sand about it, this will become and eventuality. The country must face that fact and the sooner the better.