The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I SOMETIMES get frustrated when misinformation, be it intentional or out of ignorance of fact, is used to mislead people into thinking something is what it is not.

The other day, as I was watching one of my news programmes on a US station, a local ad intervened. The ad was from the PLP and the voice was talking about the effectiveness of their Urban Renewal programme and how they intended to take that programme to another level - if re-elected.

Many things bothered me about this ad but the main thing was the use of the term Urban Renewal. I thought to myself, they must mean urban myth because nothing they (PLP) did while in office constituted or resembled an Urban Renewal programme.

Urban Renewal is really a legal term that has been used by governments around the developed world since the beginning of the 19th century. Perry Christie or anyone else in the Bahamas did not create the term or its meaning.

Urban Renewal generally refers to a "programme of land redevelopment" particularly in areas of high population density - hence the term urban or city.

Renewal is to transform or redevelop. Urban Renewal projects have been used to transform cities around the world. To a great extent, these projects have had the objective of redeveloping what once was old, rundown, outdated, congested, dirty and crime filled cities into newer, more modern, efficient, livable and aesthetically pleasing cities. We know and frequently visit many of these cities yearly. Some notable cities that have been transformed by Urban Renewal projects include Boston, New York, Chicago, Miami, London, Toronto, Paris, Kingston, Grand Cayman and the list goes on and on.

Methods used as a part of the Urban Renewal programmes include redevelopment and relocation of business districts, demolition of old structures, relocation and enhancement of residential areas, creation of green-open spaces, tax credits for redevelopment and eminent domain laws (also known as "in the public interest").

Urban Renewal projects are usually taken on by governments in response to population growth, traffic congestion in major sections of a city, overcrowded and degraded neighbourhoods, the need for better infrastructure, the need to reinvigorate a town or city to make it more livable to residents and more attractive to investors.

Many, if not all, of these projects taken on by the industrialised world have come in well over budget. In fact, some projects were cancelled halfway through because of escalating costs and time overruns.

Even the more modern projects such as the Big Dig in Boston, the subway and tunnel expansion in New York/ New Jersey and the channel tunnel project linking the UK and France have had major costs and time overruns.

The Big Dig for example, was 300 per cent over budget and took years longer to complete. Cost overruns relative to ambitious public works projects are a global norm not the exception.

If any of this sounds familiar it is because we have been witnessing and living the reality of Urban Renewal right here in the Bahamas - the city of Nassau - in particular.

And it has been the FNM government that has done more to the true spirit of the term Urban Renewal than the PLP ever did.

In fact, when you do a comparison of the two governments relative to Urban Renewal, you find that the FNM has delivered the true realities of Urban Renewal - both the pains as well as the gains. The PLP on the other hand pontificates about the effects of a programme that few truly understand or believe in.

I will, however, give the PLP some credit for the implementation of their Community Outreach programme - albeit they erroneously call it Urban Renewal.

DWAYNE LOCKHART-GAILLARD

Nassau,

March 23, 2012.