CableVision complaint

December 10, 2006

Dear Sir,

Hello CableVision, I am a Bermudian and at the present time I am away at school. I have bought cable here where I am and I receive FSC, Fox Soccer Channel, the same as you get in Bermuda, the only difference is that on a Saturday I get to watch all of the English Premiership games. I have been informed that yet again, when thousands of Bermudians (who pay an already over priced cable bill) sit down on a Saturday to watch a good game of football they are to find some sort of racing. I am appalled that a company would take advantage of people the way that you are. The greed that surrounds what was once a caring, peaceful Island is very hard to see. To take advantage of my fellow citizens so that you can charge them an extra $13 a month to pay for a channel that is not needed answers many questions to why Bermudians are quick to change their citizenship to British. I truly hope that those in charge there understand that when you die you take nothing material with you.

St. George?s noise pollution

December 17, 2006

Dear Sir,

It appears that we have a world record holder here in St. George ? a dog which can bark almost continually for 24 hours a day. It is already at full volume when we wake in the morning, is still going when we go to bed, and should we wake in the night , yes, it is still barking. This is just another example of a need for laws on noise reduction. We in St. George know that our quality of life is not enhanced by roaring bikes which drown out the TV in our home, passers by yelling and shouting in the wee hours,or late night parties being broadcast from cruise ships, yet we endure all this and more. Is anyone out there listening, or are we all deafened by the cacophony of daily life?

Bad fences...

December 14, 2006

Dear Sir,

On August 28, 2006, your newspaper ran an article by Mr. Scott Neil regarding our ongoing dispute with the contractor at the Harmony Gardens (also know as Royal Harmony Gardens) on Middle Road in Paget. To date the dispute continues. On Monday, November 20, 2006, the contractor was given permission to have the electricity at the site connected temporarily in order to check the air conditioning units and the elevators. Today, more than three weeks later (nearly four weeks in fact), the power is still connected and the lights blaze every evening/night throughout the building closest to Middle Road.

Our calls and letters to the Department of Planning have gone unanswered. We have yet to find out who actually gave permission to temporarily connect the electricity ? we were told a ?building inspector? gave the temporary permission. The Building Control Officer (again a nameless person) supposedly has been informed of the continued power hook-up, and we were told last week that he would investigate. Well ? here it is a week later, and still the lights blaze. The contractor has also ignored numerous Stop Work orders since April 2006, and even this week, planted trees in the disputed area of the trash collection directly below the kitchen window and garden patio of our adjacent property.

As has been noted by other writers of letters to the editor, it appears that the Department of Planning has no authority to stop this contractor. When the retroactive application for Harmony Gardens goes to the Development Applications Board, it will be interesting to see if the members of the board will do what is right and deny the retroactive application, and require the contractor to revert to the original passed plans, to which we had no objections.