Difficult decision to makeFebruary 22, 2011Dear Sir,I would like to reply to my friend, Allan Marshall’s spirited response to my letter concerning Tucker’s Point. There are a lot of rumours circulating concerning the financial situation with respect to Tucker’s Point. Bermudians love to gossip especially about other’s misfortunes! I have no idea of the degree to which Tucker’s Point may be in the hole to HSBC or other creditors. Certainly it is a factor in the SDO decision and I agree with others that Tucker’s Point’s audited financials should be made public as part of the SDO process. Then we can all make a truly informed decision on the SDO rather than relying on rumours.On the other hand, we can very easily get sidetracked by this issue and end up “cutting off our noses to spite our faces”. When you see 850 unemployed Bermudians attending a job fair for 150 positions, you know that our economy is in bad shape. We can make what is a bad situation into an even worse situation by allowing “laissez faire” economics to do its painful job and allow Tucker’s Point to be placed into receivership. As an investor in distressed assets, Allan knows better than I that such an event will optimistically take a minimum of two years to resolve and find alternate buyers.Banks, particularly large banks, rarely move quickly, especially when their decision involves a large write-off. In the meantime Tucker’s Point’s future will remain uncertain, hotel operators such as Rosewood will avoid getting involved and the property will languish and probably deteriorate (given Bermuda’s climate) in the never never world of receivership. In the process Bermuda will have lost an opportunity to start rebuilding tourism at a time when tourism on the island may actually become economically feasible for the first time in 40 years. It will truly be a lost opportunity.At this point, my guess is that an 80 room hotel is really too small to support the Tucker’s Point infrastructure and that a larger hotel is needed. The residential component does feed into Tucker’s Point hotel since those residents will use the hotel’s services. You can be sure that any astute operator such as Rosewood will take full advantage of that opportunity. Finally the construction of the new hotel and residences will provide jobs in that distressed sector. If HSBC benefit from this situation, so be it. I think there is more to be gained than lost by proceeding.So we as a community have a difficult decision to make. We only seem to be hearing one side of this debate and that is why I wrote my letter. I am in favour of the SDO because it allows us to realistically start rebuilding tourism as part of our economy. Tucker’s Point has some momentum and we need to build on that momentum for the good of Bermuda. For once the Government is actually using the SDO process for what it was designed.I admire Allan’s willingness to reenter the “cauldron pot” of Bermuda politics. We need people like Allan in the House. Theoretically let us say that Allan had regained his seat in the House and the UBP were in power rather than the PLP. What decision would the UBP be making at this time? There is little doubt in my mind that the UBP would be making the exact same decision as the PLP. MPs such as Allan would be holding their nose but still doing what is probably best for the island.ALASTAIR MACDONALDCity of HamiltonFor bipartisanshipFebruary 20, 2011Dear Sir,I don’t quite know where to start this letter as there is so much to say, so I will start with the Budget. Have I missed something or are we still financing those two offices in New York and Washington? The last I heard of them the New York office was several floors up and no one could find it, and the Washington office was unmanned. Closing these would be a huge savings.I am speechless that the Premier has chosen to cut education, probably our most urgent need, because if education in Bermuda was up to scratch, there would not be the same amount of crime. Far better to put an extra tax on cigarettes and liquor, with the amount of booze we all drink here on the rock. This would be a huge help to the economy. Bob Richards was right, we should do much more to encourage International Business, the main pillar of our economy, by cutting red tape and re-thinking the six-year term limit. I also hear that consultants to these businesses have to leave the Island and return every three weeks. What is the sense in this? These guest workers are our customers, and it is their spending in Bermuda that makes the economy tick.I also read a letter in Saturday’s daily criticising the BDA for joining with the UBP. I have never been able to find out what the BDA had on its platform that was different. It must be remembered that the UBP did a marvelous job running this Island for 33 years.There was no debt, a balanced budget every year (which is what the PLP inherited when they won the election),no unemployment, very little crime, a thriving and happy International Business sector, tourism, and cruise ships regularly visiting Hamilton and St. George’s. What do we have now? We are heading towards third world status, and I don’t think the PLP supporters understand what life will be like if this happens.The answer is for the PLP leadership to liaise with the leaders of the Opposition and business leaders to work out a plan to get this Island back on its feet. When Churchill was Prime Minister in the Second World War, he took the cream of the country, regardless of party, and worked together to the betterment of everyone. Dale Butler was right. At the moment we are working on one cylinder instead of four, as some of the best brains in the country are wasting their time in the Opposition.Regarding tourism, why do we need to employ foreign agencies to take care of tourism when we have Bermudians more than willing and able to do the job? Twenty six million dollars is an awful lot of money and could be spent on TV advertising, colourful articles in travel sections of leading newspapers, and a thousand other ways. Has anyone ever seen an advertisement for Bermuda anywhere? This way we would have a firm hand on expenses with every penny properly accounted for. The fiasco with Golden Hue was a scandal, with millions unaccounted for. There is no excuse for this. We need to use our own considerable brain power and ingenuity to advertise our lovely island, Foreigners just don’t have it. Yours in hope for the future,E. RABENPagetTurncoats and quittersFebruary 14, 2011Dear Sir,Two groups have formed in Bermuda in the last few years which have much in common. One calls itself BAD (Bermudians against the draft) and the other calls itself BDA (Bermuda Democratic Alliance”). They are both supported by individuals that are turncoats and quitters who spend their time attracting attention to themselves by trying to persuade the media that their public performances have been clever when in fact they have been silly.The United Bermuda Party was formed in the 1960s determined to put right many of the wrongs in our society and in the decade following its election in 1968 more was done to advance good government and promote racial equality than in any other decade in our 400 year history. The UBP has had problems which led to it losing the Government in 1998 but Bermuda’s only hope for a return of good government is for voters to support enough UBP candidates to enable it to form the Government after the next General Election.WILLIAM M COXDevonshireNegate this disgraceFebruary 23, 2011Dear Sir,I am very concerned that the Minister in charge of the Tucker’s Point fiasco is the same one who presided earlier in the year over the assault on the finances of the Corporations of Hamilton and St George. We recall that he spent thousands of taxpayers’ dollars in employing foreign consultants to advise him as to the methods which could be employed to justify this act.The Mayor in today’s letter to the newspaper sets out the problems which have resulted from the action of the Minister and his cohorts in neutralising many of the sensible municipal programmes which have heretofore been in place and welcomed by the community in general. Freeholders in the municipalities have carefully husbanded their assets over the years only to find them being requested by ill thinking measures of Parliament.We now turn the page to the newest edict from the Minister, Walter Roban, in connection with the further theft of public amenities in the guise of promoting the tourist industry. Mr. Trippe and his entourage are not owed anything by Bermuda. They have taken advantage of the situation which pertained when the Bermuda Development Company annexed lands belonging to Bermudians, mostly of whom were black, in the pre-war development of the Castle Harbour project.If indeed these Eastern lands are surplus to Bermuda’s basic development requirements, then the sooner they are transferred back to the ownership of the Bermudian public by compulsory purchases, taking into account the amounts that Bermudians originally received when the lands were originally transferred, the better. I am reminded of the opening line of the Chorus of the Fairies in the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera, Iolanthe, which goes as follows:“Tripping hither, tripping thither nobody knows why or whither” and who does?I appeal to our Members of Parliament and all others to negate the disgraceful act now proposed and for all concerned citizens to sign the petition, now being circulated, to prevent the granting of the SDO. I am not without knowledge of the vagaries connected with condominium developments. Over the years I have guided the development of over 200 high quality apartments including Roxdene, Cavendish, Langton, Mizzentop, Manor House, Mt Wyndham, Richmond Court etc. All these developments were carried out with the assistance of a small band of local professionals. Each development was completed in a timely and profitable fashion due to the full understanding of what this kind of development consisted and how it should be organised.GEOFFREY R. BIRDPembrokeEnforce stiffer prison termsFebruary 18, 2011Dear Sir,Here we go again. Evidence of the fact that a prison sentence handed down to certain individuals who have attitudes are “no problem” (and of course, no deterrent either”). If you want to know how a 20-year-old nonchalantly accepts an 18-month prison sentence (even after being labelled a habitual thief) this is how. After violating a previous suspended jail term (this individual was before the Courts on December 11, 2009 charged with robbery. He had received an 18-month suspended sentence along with three years probation) on February 2, he was fined $500 for stealing an iPod from the mother of a so called friend.His term of 18 months’ probation was extended another two years for that offence. He was then arrested on February 12 for stealing a BlackBerry phone from someone who had offered him a lift. Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner activated the 18-month sentence for the December robbery and added three months for stealing the BlackBerry but get this. The sentences are to run concurrently. The courts need to enforce stiffer jail terms, especially on habitual criminals. (Like baseball, three strikes and you’re out!)RAYMOND RAYSt George’s