Leaves you wondering

February 20, 2009

Dear Sir,

In these uncertain economic times when everybody is concerned about not only retaining their jobs but preventing their wages from going backwards, we are informed in Tuesday's paper that Julian Hall got a 68 percent pay rise from Government to continue his consultancy work with Works & Engineering. You have to admire the man's temerity. On the one hand he suggests he does not even have a debt and then turns around and agrees to initially pay $3,000 and thereafter $6,000 per month to his creditors. How ironic that the taxpayer now finds himself paying his bills. More importantly, one has to wonder what exactly he consults on. Based on past history at Berkeley Institute, taxpayers must be wondering if they are getting value for money, particularly on the Magistrates' Court project.

WHO'S KIDDING WHO

Warwick

Value for money?

February 26, 2009

Dear Sir,

We read that Mr. Julian Hall, a two-time bankrupt, has a contract as a legal consultant to the Ministry of Works and Engineering which pays $200,000 per year. Folks – those of you who hold a more normal job – this is $16,667 per month or $3,846 per week. Since the lifting of the ban of his right to practise law in Bermuda (due to being a bankrupt) Mr. Hall has joined the Phoenix Law Chambers in the private sector in addition to his commitment to the Government. You have to wonder if we, the taxpayers of this Island, will now get value for the money we are handing out for his consultancy at the Department of Works & Engineering. Mr. Hall stated that the law banning him was passed by the UBP for his politics; was the consultancy, under the PLP government, awarded to him for his politics?

Was this position offered to others in the Bermuda Bar Association for open competition? The following pertains, although you cannot compare professional service to that of other contractors. In your Royal Gazette article of February 23, we read:

"Government is to create a website where contractors can bid for work on an 'equal' footing. The Ministry of Works and Engineering's $71 million budget for 2009-2010 will include funding for an Internet bidding system.

Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Paula Cox said yesterday: 'The further development of a web-based bidding system in the coming year will assist in equal bidding opportunities for all contractors seeking Government work."

What about all the other Consultants hired over the last several years? Did we get value for money? Did they solve the problems for which they were contracted?

UNCOMMON SENSE

St. David's

In defence of cyclists

February 26, 20009

Dear Sir,

I find it difficult to respond to the letter written today by ARCY W. Whenever someone resorts to personal attacks on others because of the way they look or dress, as far as I am concerned it totally discredits the point they are trying to make.

However, as he/she quite rightly points out, the cyclists in question were in fact abiding by the rules of the road. Having been one of those riders for over 25 years and travelled Harbour Road many thousands of times, riding in single file does not assist in motor vehicles passing due to the width and winding nature of the road. It simply makes the line much longer and more difficult to pass. Perhaps the writer would like to have cyclists banned from using Harbour Road?

At a time when (as in today's Royal Gazette) experts are telling us the two out of three people in Bermuda are overweight, should we not be encouraging exercise and not discouraging it simply to 'occasionally' save a car driver two or three minutes on their journey? The writer proudly tells us that his 77 year old brother-in-law rides six hours a day six days a week (more than Lance Armstrong incidentally); I would suggest that he is able to do so because he has led a healthy lifestyle.

Finally he/she was on the way to church. I thought the church encouraged understanding and acceptance of others. Perhaps the writer missed those sermons because he/she was late for church after being held up by others who were trying to relieve the stresses and pressures of everyday life by simply riding their bikes.

Sir/Madam I fully accept your right to an opinion but may I respectfully suggest that in the future when you voice them in public, that you firstly have the courage to print your name and secondly that you do not resort to personal attacks on the way people look or dress. Isn't this exactly what is wrong with society today? Proud to be a cyclist,

GREG HOPKINS

City of Hamilton

How much further?

February 25, 2009

Dear Sir,

Lt. Col. Lamb is correct, but his article doesn't include any substantive solutions. Mine are that any juvenile who displays blatant disregard for laws or school policies, including being found fighting on or off school grounds or caught doing drugs, is suspended or expelled from school. Their parents need to be visited by Social Services, drug tested and if found to be users (this includes excessive amounts of alcohol), the family dynamic needs to be put under a microscope. From there a multitude of things could happen including removal of the child (children).

It is a tall order and would need thoughtful legislation to be drawn up and enacted to accomplish anything. Drugs, alcohol and abuse are major factors in the lack of parenting skills. How much further does Bermuda have to go down the sewer pipe before it becomes a cesspit? And this would give the PLP Government the opportunity to do what they do like more than any other party in history, hire more consultants!

MORALITY FIRST

Hamilton Parish

The worst kind of racism

February 26, 2009

Dear Sir,

The social conditions described by Lt. Col. Lamb did not happen overnight! It has taken at least 30 years for the Black community to deteriorate to this extent. I lived abroad for several years and when I returned in the early part of the 1980s I wrote a series of articles bemoaning the disintegration of the black community. It was very clear to me then that those in the black community who were supposed to be the Standard Bearers were so busy being "integrated" that they had turned their backs on the black community and the values which had stood us in good stead for the hundreds of years of our exclusion and struggle.

At the time, I wanted to work in the public school system to address the teachers and to make them aware of how and why our society was deteriorating so rapidly. Of course since I was not among the "integrated", anything that I said was dismissed. I will admit that with the widespread use of drugs and what appears on the TV, it may not have mattered even if I had not been. Yet I would have welcomed other voices at the time.

Most in the black community did not realise, or did not want to accept, the extent to which we had internalised the very same racism that we fought against when we experienced it at the hands of the white community. All of those who had been "integrated" and had "upgraded" their social status by their white association or enormous salaries that the older generation could never even have envisioned, made it very clear that the older generation of blacks had nothing to offer them which they valued. Unfortunately we cannot turn the clock back, even for the values which once saved us. The present generation of teachers, unlike those of 30 years ago, probably have not even experienced the more civilised black society of a totally segregated Bermuda, when we knew that the only people who cared about us were other segregated blacks — but at least at that time, with all of our problems, someone cared about us even if it was only other segregated blacks. We knew that they did because we heard about the two or three Blacks in the House of Assembly speaking about the things that we all cared about.

Today no one cares about us because some blacks are "integrated" and doing very well for themselves and only care about accumulating as much money as some white person they know. Others are perhaps worse off than they were 30 years ago. And clearly some do not even care about themselves. But at some point the black community and those who profess to be leaders will have to address the internalised racism that has caused us to turn against ourselves and each other. Ultimately it is doing far more damage to us than anything done to us by the racism of economically and politically powerful whites.

EVA N. HODGSON

Hamilton Parish

Use the Railway Trail

February 25, 2009

Dear Sir,

I see that there are plans afoot to build a new Causeway. After Hurricane Fabian, extensive and expensive repairs were made to the existing Causeway and appear to be successful, including the addition of the two Bailey bridges. Huge sums of money were suggested for this project, I can't remember the exact amount but it amounted to many million dollars.

If this sort of money is going to be spent perhaps it would be a good idea to leave the present adequate causeway as it is, and spend the money on a completely new access road to St. George's on the site of the old railway track. The supports of the track still exist in Castle Harbour connecting Coney Island with Ferry Reach, and certainly appear strong enough to support a road. This is a much shorter span than the existing causeway and would relieve traffic congestion, provide a shorter route to St. George's and probably cost less.

If they had the technology for this bridge almost 100 years ago, surely now such a project would be easily accomplished. I understand that Government still owns the old railway path which would be converted into a road. Of course it would be nicer to have a scenic railway trundling across that bridge, and some might remember the campaign that was launched some forty years ago called BBBR, Bring Back the Bermuda Railway, but unfortunately it came to naught. Perhaps the powers that be would give this suggestion a thought as it is always a good idea to have two strings to one's bow, and it would certainly be a boon to the people of St. George's.

E. RABEN

Paget