The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

ACTION is imminent if no agreement can be reached with the government to compensate members of the Coconut Grove Business League for business lost when roadworks closed the area and the one-way traffic system on Baillou Hill Road and Market Streets was reversed.

Ethric Bowe, spokesman for the League, said the CGBL has been trying in vain to meet with Works and Urban Development Minister Philip “Brave” Davis to discuss the issue ever since their May 7 election.

He said he would prefer to amicably reach a resolution, but added that lawyers for the League have been working quietly in the background, following a Court of Appeal reversal after a Supreme Court win against the government over the road changes.

The CGBL’s problems stem from businesses claiming to have lost millions of dollars and even gone out of business because of the New Providence Infrastructure Improvement Project which saw the closure of many roads during heavy construction work. The NPIIP also saw Baillou Hill Road become northbound only and Market Street become southbound only.

“We have attempted to make arrangements to see ‘Brave’ Davis. We’re at the point now where I’m wondering if he’s avoiding us,” Mr Bowe said. “We wish for the roads to be turned back because the judgment that we got from the Supreme Court basically told us that as long as the roads persisted, damages continue, and the people who have been driven out of business really they must be compensated and compensated fairly.

“Nobody’s trying to dispute the right of the government to change the direction of the road or to build roads or even to take your property,” he said. “But the natural law and the actual law require that if they do that, they compensate you. And the FNM – the last government – they made it clear that they were not interested in that or even asking to you or being reasonable at all.

“So, far this government has been late. We have not gotten to a point where I thought by now we would have gotten. We are trying not to rush, but patience is starting to wear thin.”

Mr Bowe said the league will not concede on either point – financial compensation and road direction reversal, and will go to court if it becomes necessary.

“Our lawyer is in the background still doing his work and we’re proceeding on two tracks,” he said. “One track leads to the Privy Council because our Supreme Court win was reversed in the Court of Appeal. The second track is to go back to the Supreme Court because we already received judgment in the Supreme Court. The law is on our side.

“All we’ll do then is go back to the Supreme Court and apply for damages under the appropriate heading, but except this time when we go back we will have all the evidence of the PLP while in opposition dug up under the Public Accounts Committee.”

However, Mr Bowe claimed a fight in court is considered an option the CGBL would prefer not to choose.

“We really do not want to go to court. We never wanted to go to court,” he said. “We always thought we could settle this as reasonable people. We still want to do that. But we want to agree with the government and then have it ratified in the courts. We present ourselves to the courts in a friendly manner and say listen this is what we agreed. The important part of this is to set the precedent so that no future government could do this to future citizens.”

Mr Bowe said the CBGL had scheduled a meeting with Minister of Labour and National Insurance yesterday morning to further discuss their problems. He said they were meeting with Mr Gibson purely because he is the MP for Golden Gates — the area where most of the businesses are located.

The government, under then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, announced earlier this year a survey that would compile information, including the expenses, revenue, profits, accounts receivable and payable for each business that claimed to have been affected.

Armed with the results of the survey, Mr Ingraham said the Government would be in a position to determine the major parameters of a financial assistance programme. The Ministry of Finance began conducting the door-to-door survey on March 21.

At the time, Mr Bowe dismissed the survey as a political tactic and revealed few businesses have received compensation.

More than a year ago, the CBGL raised its voices in protest against the new traffic system that made Baillou Hill Road one-way northbound and Market Street one-way southbound, citing the negative impact this has had on their businesses.

The group of some 50 companies took their fight to court and last December secured a victory in the Supreme Court against the Government over the road changes, only to see that decision overturned by the Court of Appeal.