Causeway closures

February 14, 2010

Dear Sir,

The Causeway was closed again sometime late on Saturday afternoon. This policy, now the responsibility of Minister of Public Safety Lt. Col. David Burch, was brought about as a result of the tragic loss of four lives in Hurricane Fabian some seven years ago, the worst storm to hit Bermuda in 50 years and is instituted whenever the winds reach speeds of over 55 knots regardless of wind direction.

While everyone can agree on the need to protect the public from any possibility of injury or loss of life, the manner in which this policy is managed and the contradictory statements from all involved only leaves one with more questions to ponder.

First and foremost in my mind is how do you arbitrarily pick a time to close and re-open the Causeway without knowledge of the actual (real not projected) conditions at that given time? We have been advised in some instances up to eight hours in advance of the pending closure.

How can you reach a decision to close the Causeway without consideration given to the direction in which the prevailing winds are coming from and the effect this will have on sea conditions that impact the Causeway? More boggling is how inspectors can walk out into these supposed deadly conditions but a vehicle cannot? Please help me on this point.

While I am neither an engineer nor a physics major, my base knowledge on these subjects suggests that any impact on the structural integrity of the causeway would be less significant if the wind was coming from the southwest with the main land keeping the causeway in the lee as opposed to say south east through Castle Roads as any sea swell would be negligible even at hurricane strength.

The same can be said should the wind be blowing from the north west with Coney Island forming the lee as was the case on Friday, February 12, creating sea conditions that amounted to a four foot chop. Remember Hurricane Fabian was a category four storm with sustained winds of 120 knots and gusts up to 130 knots driving a sea swell at least six to eight feet through Castle roads which "washed" out the causeway.

Beyond that I see the need to block the roadways with concrete barriers as an unnecessary and somewhat dangerous undertaking. Should someone require critical hospital treatment having the road blocked in this manner will only impede the time it would take to transport any casualty to the only critical care unit we have. A Police land cruiser or two would suffice effectively in this instance.

Given just those two considerations, along with the near hysteria that prevails whenever the winds do reach these levels, one must now wonder about the overall structural integrity of the Causeway and how honest the authorities have been with the public on the need to repair or replace what for all intent and purpose is a structure that is way past its due date.

Many have been critical of the present administration's frivolous waste of taxpayers' monies on consultants, first class travel, music festivals and remuneration to companies through lost civil court actions. Not to mention the overspending on capital projects. These wasted monies are in the ballpark figure to exact construction on the new Causeway span. But then it all comes down to priorities or should I say "agendas".

So with all things being considered one would think that the powers that be would look to expedite a final solution to what clearly is a stop gap measure that can only continue till such time as repairs are forced upon us due to a catastrophic failure of the structure regardless of wind and sea conditions. Let's bring closure to what some are beginning to see as a real issue that should be resolved in the interest of "Public Safety" for the country and the people's sake.

BUMPY'S BYE

St. George's

P.s. I've never professed to be an expert I'm just smarter than most of you lot.

A point of debate

February 12, 2010

Dear Sir,

I am tired of hearing this Government, in particular our Premier and Senator in charge of Labour and Home Affairs Public Safety, vilify and demonise anyone for expressing an opinion contrary to their political or moral view. If the Members of Parliament are too cowardly to debate issues long ago resolved in other jurisdictions, then let Bermudians vote for themselves through a referendum.

I remember way back taking my sister to vote on a Referendum before she took her flight back to college. I can't remember whether it was Independence or capital punishment. I was for Independence and against capital punishment. My sister on the other hand was against Independence and for capital punishment. But I took my sister to vote knowing she thought differently from my liberal views because the most important thing to me was that she exercise her freedom to vote.

If we have an intolerant society, it is because our governments both past and present have been intolerant. Both parties have had and still do have, Members of Parliament that use intimidation tactics to vilify those with differing views, regardless if the opposing views have rational ideologies.

Some of the issues that I would like to vote yes or no on a Referendum ballot are:

¦ Amend the Human Rights Act to include protection from discrimination based on age and sexual orientation;

¦ Introduction of legislation to allow women the right to chose to terminate a pregnancy prior to three months;

¦ Life imprisonment to be life imprisonment and not 15 or 20 years;

¦ Introduction of legislation to decriminalise marijuana;

¦ Introduction of legislation to permit a sex offenders list to be made public as well as to legitimise the production of posters with photos of the offenders;

¦ Mandatory publication of the findings of Commissions of Inquiry or any other investigation that uses the public purse;

¦ Enforcement of existing laws that prohibit Members of Parliament using their public office for personal financial gain.

Bermudians are a people with diverse cultural, moral, religious or non-religious backgrounds that make up ONE society. We have formed our opinions based on our individual human experiences and we need to be a more open minded and tolerant society.

Referenda on these issues would clearly indicate what the majority supports and does not support and there cannot be anything more democratic than this process.

This is the only democratic substitute for yellow bellied politicians who cannot bring themselves to debate such matters in the House of Parliament.

CHERYL POOLEY

Smith's

Backbone needed

January 30, 2010

Dear Sir,

The metaphorical fence that Mrs. Cox has been sitting on for far too long, should give us great concern for the future, especially as she seems to be "The Lady in Waiting". Her latest perception of herself and these are her words, is that she feels a cog in the wheel, demonstrating her lack of control over her portfolio and her ability to say, "no", which in any country is considered the most vital aspect of the job, controlling the purse strings to steer the ship off the rocks and into safe waters.

The outrageous expenses that have gone to junkets, first class all the way, schemes and projects that have not been thought through thoroughly, a luxury golf course renovation costing millions and to date doubled over budget, the mislaid millions, outright theft and the dysfunctional planning that has left the people's purse empty to the extent of a debt owing so far of $679 million, not including the money to the Bank of Butterfield. All these and more, much more, Mrs. Minister has been accomplished with your signature.

A luxury golf course renovation? This should have been placed on the back burner, when there are people with children on this Island who have lost their jobs and cannot pay the rent and do not have a roof over their heads. The Salvation Army has once again been put on the back burner, when they go out into the streets to meet the people and offer help. Need I go on, Mr. Editor? There would not be enough space in your newspaper let alone your column. We are in a critical crisis, and yet there seems to be an apathy as strange as it is contemptible, a slipping into, correction, I cannot use the word slipping, because that connotation could mean by accident, I will rather use sliding into, as that suggests a sleaze feeling, that is this unpleasant uncomfortable sense that we are being governed by a dysfunctional group of conscience-lacking greedy men and women.

Many kind people have asked me why I have stopped writing letters. Mainly I think it has all been said ad nauseum, but the problem is that nobody in the PLP seems to care or listen, or if the few who do, and I know for a fact that there are some wonderful loyal members of the PLP who are sick to see what is going on and happening, and they are hanging onto a time when this nightmare will pass and decent (my favourite word) people will come to the top.

Another reason I find it difficult to put pen to paper is that I feel a cynicism that pervades all that this Government does, the weird feeling that there is always an ulterior motive, not to the people's benefit, but to line their personal pockets and their thirst for power. Have we had examples of this? The cement saga, comes to mind, the proposed takeover of the City Hall with all its nest eggs intact, just to name a few; but aside from all this, the people seem impotent, blind or ignorant and the Opposition does not seem to be able to get out of its own way to rally a threatening front and to challenge and throw out this corrupt bunch.

So what must be done? We should advertise for backbones, not from abroad but locally here, and if we cannot find any we should design and manufacture them ourselves and distributed them free. We should encourage people to design their own and tell them that if they want to take back this lovely lovely little island they would do well to use the finest materials so that it would last for ever.

DIANA WILLIAMS

Pembroke

A lengthy path

February 1, 2010

Dear Sir,

In today's edition of The Royal Gazette, Mr. Robinson expressed his outrage over the cost of the cart path at Port Royal. Mr. Robinson freely admits "I don't know how big the pathway is but for that price it would need to be over three miles long". I just wanted to point out to your readership that, in fact, the course stretches out to 6,842 yards, or just under four miles. One can reasonably expect the cart path to approximate this length.

Of course, one has to wonder at the quality of planning that resulted in a renovation plan and budget devoid of cart paths.

ANDREW WOODWORTH

Hamilton

Shine a light

February 2, 2010

Dear Sir,

I would like to know why so many streetlights are not working? Where is Belco?

I am particularly worried about South Shore by the Botanical Gardens and the tight corners by Tanglewood Drive, which is on Middle Road, Paget. These are just to name a few I see on my routes. I'm sure there are plenty more across the Island that I do not see.

"WHAT IN SAM HILL?"

Warwick

Auditor General praised

February 2, 2010

Dear Sir,

I would like to applaud our Auditor General Heather Jacob Matthews for taking the initiative to audit the cruise ship pier and TCD. I urge my fellow Bermudians to read the article published in the Tuesday, February 2 edition of The Royal Gazette. It is succinct and to the point. Government spending is completely out of control. For years the Opposition has been advocating constraint on public expenditures. It would be nice to see how our beloved Government plans to rectify the deficit with hotels closing down, international companies relocating elsewhere etc. At the moment, all Government is doing is re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic.

I wish them luck, because that is what it is going to take.

CHUM

Hamilton