By RICARDO WELLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
rwells@tribunemedia.net
TOURISM Director General Joy Jibrilu revealed yesterday that shareholders in the downtown Nassau development partnership are all “coming back to the table,” with a view to finally address the “unacceptable” state of the area.
“As I said (before), and I am not afraid to say it again, we should be ashamed,” the longtime tourism official stated in response to questions on the government’s plans for the tourism hub.
Mrs Jibrilu was speaking to reporters following a presentation on the state of the country’s tourism economy at a Rotary Club of Southeast Nassau meeting.
Mrs Jibrilu said it is imperative for the government and stakeholders of properties in the downtown area to “make it a priority” to fix the many issues.
She said the area must become an important part of the government’s new tourism strategy because it acts as “front entrance” for cruise passengers.
Specifying the section of downtown Nassau east of East Street, she said it is nothing short of “disheartening” to see the state of an area that could, if revamped, play a vital role in the country’s tourism product.
“So, sitting down with all the stakeholders, there are some challenges if we look east of East Street and we see a lot of derelict buildings, buildings that are falling to pieces, those are actually privately owned.
“So, you are needing to work with families, people who owned those properties to say that, ‘you’ve got to do something.’
“I can’t trespass and go on their property and start to do something. So it is getting all the stakeholders around the table, ensuring that conversations take place, having a plan that we are working towards, and moving it.”
Mrs Jibrilu said ideas have been put on the table for some time and now is the time for them to move from ideas to action.
“I think it has to be a time when we say, collectively, ‘enough is enough, let’s do something,’” she said.
Asked to clarify what held up potential development in the past, Mrs Jibrilu added: “The fact that you are dealing with stakeholders.”
She explained: “Why should one person carry the brunt to do some major upgrade, to do some major renovation when you have, perhaps, six others who are not prepared or not willing to. And so, everybody has to be on the same page. There has to be goodwill.
“This is not something the government can do alone because it is not just government owned property. And this is when we talk about derelict buildings, it has to be a public private partnership.
“So having someone who will champion the cause, having a minister who will be out there, who will speak with his counterparts; and let us hope that the fact that he is from the business sector, that these are people who understand each other, know each other, they speak the same language, that there is now a core belief that this is the right time.
“But it is really discouraging that you have visitors who are coming to our mega resorts for example, and feeling Nassau itself is not worthy to visit or they come and they visit and can’t wait to leave.
“So all of us have a role, litter, some things we can do immediately - we are looking at campaigns. But we have to clean it up. All of us have to take pride in our surroundings, dropping rubbish just on the ground like that, it is unacceptable.
“Each and every one of us now has to accept responsibility for the small changes we can make while the big ones are being planned out.”
Back in 2014, following China Construction America’s acquisition of the British Colonial Hilton, then Prime Minister Perry Christie said the developer had indicated his willingness to join in a public private sector partnership with the government and other stakeholders along Bay Street to implement an overall plan for redevelopment, extending from Arawak Cay in the west to Potter’s Cay in the east.
This comes as Financial Service and Immigration Minister Brent Symonette, owner of a property in the downtown area, has indicated that he and his family, along with other property owners, have provided the government with various options for a proposed boardwalk, which is supposed to run east from the British Colonial Hilton all the way to Potter’s Cay Dock.
However, he warned that downtown Nassau’s major property owners, his family among them, would not invest in the redevelopment of their landholdings until the government gave them “the rules of the game.”
There have been rumblings that a major downtown redevelopment could amend current height restrictions for buildings, which currently exist at four stories.
Comments
sealice 6 years, 8 months ago
This is the epitome of the whole country
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
Please don't hand downtown to the Chinese, please
BahamasForBahamians 6 years, 8 months ago
In layman's term's: The UBP is back in power and they will now strike a sweetheart deal to reinvest in their own assets (most likely through Bahamian government subventions) they've allowed to deteriorate at expense of the Bahamian tourism product.
Right on George Mosko and Brent/Craig Symonette! Lol...
K4C 6 years, 8 months ago
Thanks for proving once and for all, Bahamians never want to see the days of a vibrant Bay Street and downtown Nassau I was kinda under the impression all or most of the old UBP players were diseased
John 6 years, 8 months ago
How did some of the most valuable property on New Providence become so useless
OldFort2012 6 years, 8 months ago
Yes, because the owners of those properties have been waiting for decades and foregoing income generation from them all this time, because they are "not on the same page". I have never heard anything more stupid in my life. The reason they are derelict is because there is NO DEMAND for retail/office or any other kind of space. That is because the cruise boat tourists spend an average of $60. Who is going to invest millions in their properties if they can't then rent them out at a profit? No one. Mrs Jibrilu should know that the owners of those properties could buy the Government of the Bahamas 10 times over. It is not money they lack. It is a reason to spend it.
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 8 months ago
An excellent argument for the progressive (wealth) taxation system that we so desperately need.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
Lol
OldFort2012 6 years, 8 months ago
Yes, because the Government of the Bahamas has proven at every turn how well it looks after taxpayer funds and how everything it touches turns to gold. Your solution is about as sensible as increasing the dosage to a heroin junkie. Come to think of it, it might work. They might OD, die and get off our backs.
Reality_Check 6 years, 8 months ago
Let's just all hope we find a new sheriff (Minnis) has come to town notwithstanding some of the missteps made to date by the new FNM government.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 8 months ago
They could rent it out at reasonable rates, if they wanted to, they clearly don't need the money. There are many persons who'd make minor repairs themselves if the rent was reasonable.
OldFort2012 6 years, 8 months ago
No. They don't want cheap competition. They either run the business for themselves or they want rents so high that the net profit potential is almost zero. They don't want YOU to compete with THEM.
TalRussell 6 years, 8 months ago
Comrades! Just shows what can happen to Bay Street's prosperity when you allow the UBP Landlords to turn Bay Street into "SLUMLORDS DOWNTOWN?" It has be intentional....right?
Isn't this not the same old UBP mentality that when left alone is working to turn Freeport into our second city's next "SLUMLORDS DOWNTOWN?."
MonkeeDoo 6 years, 8 months ago
Tal, you ain't got any sense anyway but try this. Between Parliament and Charlotte Street south side of Bay Street, a whole row of formerley high end luxury shops owned by the Solomon Family are all closed now and out of business. Who is the owner of these properties. The new PLP slumlord. You can't change the stripes of a Tiger.
MonkeeDoo 6 years, 8 months ago
Tal mussy off today.
John 6 years, 8 months ago
While it is the responsibility for property owners to maintain their properties, they would be at a loss to invest monies into these properties with no clear plan as to what is being done with the Bay Street area. Some properties in the area of john bull were able to renovate and upgrade their properties and attract high end tenants, while persons who own properties further East have pumped millions into properties with no returns, at least not substantial. Maybe the Bay street area can be divided into three zones. Bay Street proper will be from East Street going West to the Sheraton Hotel. This area will be formal shopping with the high end shopping - jewelery and perfumery stores. East of East Street will be more mixed use with living spaces, restaurants, night life , food stores etc., West Bay Street will cater mostly to the beach- going tourist, beach wear, t-shirts, shell craft and souviners. Also the Bahamian restaurants and beach bars, tiki huts, sea sports etc. Just an idea. But having Bay street and one long strip mall will not work anymore.
juju 6 years, 8 months ago
What does it matter who owns the blighted property! The fact is that every tourist who drives to Atlantis sees the embarrassing condition of our downtown, easpecially east of East Street. Ingraham with Mosko's hard work, moved the shipping from Rawson Square east, to Arawak Cay, and the nice little "mom and pop" shops that supported the wharf workers closed due to lack of business. Then the homeless and criminals moved into the area, rents fell or became non existent,and rats run rampant through barbed wire fences on poorly maintained buildings now. I warned Sir Hubert years ago about this and he would hear nothing of it. Today, we need to take politics and race out of the revitalization process. Current property owners I'm sure are anxious and willing to collaborate and move forward with a plan. However, I doubt that they will do so if it isn't a profitable or viable investment. This is where Government needs to cooperate. The ball is in the Government's court now to work together.... and at the same time,keep the Chinese OUT.
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 8 months ago
You mean we poor taxpayers have to guarantee these fat cats hefty profits before they will do anything about their derelict down trodden dilapidated properties, like Ingraham did with the Arawak Cay Port Development?!!!!. My answer to that is quite simple: Introduce some kind of an "eye-sore tax" and watch how quickly these fat cats will spring into action and try spruce up their properties, or sell them.
OldFort2012 6 years, 8 months ago
They will simply wrap the buildings in advertising wrap which costs next to nothing and that will be that. No more eyesore. But no progress either. Taxation is almost never the answer. Because civil servants who make laws are far stupider than businessmen who need to get round them.
by OldFort2012
Reality_Check 6 years, 8 months ago
Shrink-wrapping the derelict properties is certainly not an option. This would only invite government to sooner (rather than later) declare the property abandoned, confiscate it for the public good (eminent domain) and then arrange for its eventual development in the public interest by either a private developer or the government itself.
John 6 years, 8 months ago
If you look at the even bigger picture, the Over The Hill area that supported bay Street and hand-in-hand got its support from Bay Street has also fallen to its worst state of disrepair. Persons who could afford to have moved out of the area to the east and South Western parts of the island. This left an area with high unemployment, high crime and a large number of vacant and dilapidated buildings. A hub for crime. The revitalisation of Bay Street may also mean a comeback for these areas as well.
juju 6 years, 8 months ago
You start paying eye sore tax on your property first well mudda, and let "dem Bay Street" folks know how it feels.... or perhaps you don't own any property to tax?
Reality_Check 6 years, 8 months ago
With the exception of my home, I sold back in 2005/6 all of the real property I once owned in the Bahamas. Now own properties in U.S. and Canada. Bahamian government should update our existing laws on abandoned properties.....I'm sure Minnis has this on his radar screen as a means of dealing with those wealthy property owners who are quite content to hold on to their derelict abandoned properties that handicap our tourism product. These wealthy irresponsible property owners should not be given the privilege of extorting handouts from hard working taxpayers as a means of incentivizing them to do the right thing, i.e. either sell or develop their deplorable properties. What Ingraham allowed to happen in the creation of the shipping port at Arawak Cay (ADP) was an unconscionable perpetuation of the port ownership by a privileged few with guaranteed profits at great expense to the Bahamian people. We, the people, certainly don't need anymore of that type of nonsense....and hopefully Minnis and our new FNM government concurs.
MonkeeDoo 6 years, 8 months ago
This lady should speak with the Konaris Brothers who put several million of their own family savings into "Elizabeth on Bay". Total dead loss now. We need old Mr. Carroll the street sweeper to come back and clean the place up. And the employees, in what shops are there, are too stupid to realize that when they park their car in front of where they work, there is nowhere for a potential customer to park. Governmnet HAVE to set the rules, once they figure out what has to be done. AND they have to find another location for Junkanoo, the way it is managed now. Chain link fencing surrounding the shops for two weeks every Christmas is an insult to any shopper. Bahamian or Foreign.
screwedbahamian 6 years, 8 months ago
The Ministry of Tourism need to take the lead and assemble a pool of Business people, Cultural people, Local Architects and based on the current real statistics and desired improvements results present a plan with drawings and projections of the increase in Tourist guest and improved economic benefits to the Bahamas and Bahamian people. Once formulated, it should be presented to the public for comments and enhancing suggestions so that every Bahamian will be able to feel a part of it. The forgotten Bahamian asset is always the friendly people, so it should include the interaction of the people ( Tourist Ambassadors ).
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