started with the plans to improve St. George's. But then it may stem from the recent sensitive restoration done to a collapsing building by David A. White who deserves as great deal of credit for carefully retaining the character and atmosphere of the old village.

However, ambitious plans for Flatts are not new. Back in the days when Haskins Davis was Minister of the Environment there were plans and meetings designed to improve Flatts. At that time property owners in Flatts were not very keen on changes but there was an idea to connect Flatts along the water side with a boardwalk extending from what is now St. James' Village to the Aquarium. It is very difficult to walk in Flatts itself or to create sidewalks because of the proximity of the old buildings to the road and those old buildings must be preserved because some of them go back to the days when Flatts was a port of entry.

Flatts is a very attractive part of Bermuda; some people think of it as the most attractive small area. In recent years there have been some serious planning mistakes. As an example, the look of the village and the flow of traffic has not been improved by allowing a marine gas station to start pumping gas to vehicles practically in the street. Nor is the village enhanced by Four Star Pizza with its garish colour and its excessively large signs. It seems to us that the liquor store contributes to obstructing traffic and helps to downgrade the neighbourhood.

Some of the "modern improvements'' to buildings are also out of character with the older buildings. It may be that Flatts needs a preservation group based on the lines of the St. George's Preservation Authority.

Clearly traffic is a problem and it might be sensible to make the village one way to the west from the traffic island, sending eastbound traffic up a widened Store Hill and along Middle Road to Flatts Hill. That would allow the inclusion of a sidewalk through the Village.

Flatts already has a built-in clientele with two visitor facilities, a large condominium and office complex and the Country's most popular tourist attraction, the Aquarium. That should provide business for the Village if it could be made more user friendly and more comfortable.

As Bermuda works to get its visitors back and to make them comfortable, it has to make the most of what it has to offer. We should be aware that we can improve and that we have to take care of all our amenities. Flatts already is attractive and it can be a small gem of an attraction. It would have to extend the variety of the shopping it offers but that might follow naturally from the improvements.