The OBA can turn around St George's

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 10: As I canvassed in St George’s and talked to people who live there, the deep concern they feel about their economic future under this Government is always close to the surface.

The continuing disappointment of the Park Hyatt hotel project is the most obvious sore point in a long line of un-kept promises and collapsed ideas for the East End which is, beyond argument, the jewel in Bermuda’s tourism crown.

People see the fault as lying with Government, noting the decline of the St George’s economy has coincided with its years in power — a period when Dockyard, by contrast, has grown stronger.

Many in St. George’s believe the Government’s record shows it has taken them for granted.

Even those who believe the destruction of the old Club Med building was justified can think of no reason why the golf club was demolished and the course left to the weeds.

Not only was it a functioning operation for tourists and locals, but the club restaurant had become a favourite place for East End folk to have a meal. Its destruction seemed to symbolize the Government’s disregard for the East End.

St Georgians also believe Government has not worked hard enough to getting a dedicated cruise ship for the Old Town. Perhaps the trend in cruise ships is towards the mega-ship, but that does not mean that every cruise ship in the world is too big to get through Town Cut. We reject the no-ship policy for St. George’s.

The OBA will revive the fortunes of Bermuda’s first town. We will restore economic vibrancy to its streets, growing jobs and incomes and enabling more people who live there to work there. To make that happen, we will:

• Help the town stand on its own two feet, directing tax revenues to the Corporation and its partners to balance their budgets, provide for much-needed improvements to the Town’s infrastructure and support its continuing development as a World Heritage Site.

• Raise St. George’s profile worldwide. It begins with understanding the Old Town as a unique community that has huge market potential, particularly in the context of Bermuda itself. A Tourism Authority that puts professionals not politicians in charge of tourism will realize that potential.

• Secure a dedicated cruise ship for the Old Town, berthing alongside Ordnance Island or Penno’s Wharf, to restore commercial life to the economy.

• Get the new hotel project under way. Figure it out, sort it out and make the promise happen. The people of St. George’s deserve more respect on this one. 

• Open the St George’s Police station 24/7. Ask any resident and they want it open. The station nevertheless remains closed at night, and the town becomes less safe.

St George’s can’t afford another five years of drift and economic decline. The Old Town has been undersold. The Government of Bermuda must be a better partner for it.

The One Bermuda Alliance can be that partner. We will bring forward the change the town needs. We will turn local ambitions into national ambitions, applying Bermuda’s total weight to making sure the best days of our first settlement are still to come.

“As my leader Craig Cannonier has said time and again: “We will leave no one behind”.

• Nandi Davis is the One Bermuda Alliance candidate for St George’s West, Constituency 2.