Comment history

empathy says...

Smells ‘fishy’🤨 We find it hard to believe that a Bahamian contractor with relatively little resources compared to multinational corporations that maneuver in this fashion (providing its own financing) can carry out such a project to completion. We wouldn’t even talk about ’on-time’ and ‘on-budget’🙄 Is the pursuit of this strategy meant to avoid the requirement of a bidding process?

One would think if we really wanted a Rehabilitation strategy imbedded into our Bahamian Correctional institution then we would have consulted one of the Northern European and specifically the Scandinavians whose system is built around this concept?! Not meaning to be in anyway derogatory to our American neighbors, however their known for something quite different in the ‘corrections’ world 😳

empathy says...

Many Bahamians are well aware of the concessions granted to hotel (foreign) investors as well as the history of government funding their staffs’ termination benefits when they exit the country. No; we’re not feeling the guilt of hotels paying the room taxes while a few Bahamians with part time rentals (not listed on Air B&B) reap a few dollars “tax free”. You have outlined a number of benefits that accrue to government and the country so government should thread carefully if and when they decide to interfere with this seasonal emerging market. In many Family Island communities homeowners represent the lion’s share of the rooms available! There are probably ways for Bahamians to contribute a small portion in taxation for these rooms although it may indeed be that their income does not exceed the $50,000 annual threshold government has established for VAT charges/payments in many instances, especially for Bahamian home owners.

Bahamians, or at least many of us, are entrepreneurial by nature. We prefer to own our our business and work for ourselves. This new market of short term home rentals is one step where we can realize that dream…forward, upward, onward…

empathy says...

Wow, Mr. Munroe, a man who always seems to ‘know’ so much, suddenly doesn’t no a darn thing🤨 His response is a disgrace and a genuine attempt to avoid responsibility. Everyone who ever lived or currently lives on a Family Island knows firefighting is mostly a voluntary effort; we have never relied on the RBPF Fire Services, it’s just not feasible.

However establishing and maintaining a standard for equipment, training and ongoing simulation exercises should be under government control. It would be good for the Cabinet to discuss ways to avoid similar situations in the future by addressing the above. The problems and solutions involve more than simply manpower and equipment and should be comprehensive and nation wide.

Let’s learn from our mistakes (and those of others); and let’s stop passing the buck. If you can’t stand the pressure, get out of the public service!

empathy says...

How do we gain? Not sure how anything other than Bahamian entrepreneurship grants any “gains”?!

Maybe the question should be “how much do we gain?”
Answer: “nothing!” Except environmental damage and social degradation 🙄

empathy says...

Is there a similar program available for central and northern Abaco where the pine forests were also significantly damaged?

empathy says...

…it’s the huMAN, not the dogs per say. If you’re going to have dogs that can cause these types of injuries you should be responsible to have your yard ‘fenced’, your dogs (and owner) trained and your pet placed on a leash when outside at all times…the authorities should have the same level of enforcement as they do for traffic related violations; no wait that’s really just a taxation scheme isn’t it?!🤔

empathy says...

If you’ve read the PM’s quoted words surely you can support his statement on the issue. As Bahamians we have no right to involve ourselves in our neighbor’s’ constitutional rights, whether those rights are debatable or not. However we do, and the PM as our constitutional representative, have a right to speak up on our behalf when their actions impair our ability to have a happy and fulfilling life.

empathy says...

When are we as a country going to ‘grow up’? Any and all significant issues facing the country could and should be addressed in a Bipartisan fashion.

empathy says...

Let’s not complicate the issue of economic (poverty) migration even more than it is.

Bahamians ‘like’ rich migrants from any nation, regardless of ethnicity.

Bahamian laws, especially our constitution is vague and inadequate to address regular migration. In fact we have no current program to deal with regular migration from Haiti, ie folks wanting to work: employers ready to hire located in that country. As a result these folks oftentimes have to sail here along with the other “illegals”. We, the so called ’black’ Bahamians have enough of the blame and so much to fix before we look under the microscope to find more issues…Haitians have been and will continue to be a vibrant part of this nation.

Let’s stick together and fix these issues and stay focused on the major ones at hand.

empathy says...

I’m told the flooding on the northern island of this twin Island the Lucayans called “Bimini” has been significantly aggravated by dredging of its harbour by the Bimini Bay developers over the years. Continuing ‘development’ of the area once called East Well (now Bimini Bay) will damage a natural fresh water cistern that drains from north to south with even further environmental degradation of this once beautiful isle.

Government should look into these concerns as part of their assessment and correction of the drainage and flooding issues. Bimini’s recent tourism boom should warrant greater government scrutiny and support.