Damage at Potter’s Cay yesterday in the wake of the fire on April 11.
By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
FRUSTRATED Potter’s Cay Dock vendors say they are still waiting to receive the promised assistance from the government more than a week after their stalls were completely destroyed in a fire.
Owner of the “Tall Boy” stall, Dwain Bastian said vendors are fed up and just want the government to stop “dragging their feet” on the matter.
He is one of several business owners who lost their stalls completely to the fire on April 11. Six were burnt to the ground while two other stalls were partially damaged in the incident.
Mr Bastian also lost a boat in the fire.
Since the blaze, there has been marked clean-up progress at the site – a situation vendors attributed to their hard work along with the help of others.
“I was amazed that we had doctors, lawyers and police out here helping us to clean Potter’s Cay Dock,” he said. “We also had people like Lincoln Bain who came by and brought two dumpsters and they did a good job.”
Following clean-up efforts, Mr Bastian claimed the government has pledged to have an assessment carried out of the area, which he was told would take some four to six weeks to complete.
However, he said no assessments have to been carried out so far, nor is it clear when will rebuilding work will begin in the area.
“We have waited and waited and waited and sometimes we come out here from six o’clock in the morning and be out here until six o’ clock in the night and nothing has happened so it’s just a bunch of talk,” he told The Tribune yesterday.
“The last time we sat down with Mr (Michael) Pintard, he told us that the assessment was going to take four to six weeks which I don’t think makes any sense. We had a licensed engineer out here yesterday and he said he could come out here and said that would take him not even four to six hours but the minister say it gone take him four to six weeks. I mean this space inside here ain’t even 200 feet long...I don’t see how this gone take any four to six weeks to do assessment work.”
The situation has left workers discouraged, Mr Bastian said.
The entrepreneur said it also doesn’t help that the country is still battling the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes finding work even more difficult during these hard times.
He said: “The people out here are hurting. You have one or two vendors who need counselling from this and we need the government’s help like yesterday. We don’t need them to be dragging their feet and doing things when they want to do it. Come on man.
“The people are the government. We put these governments in place, the MPs supposed to work for us and to serve us and that’s what their supposed to do. Come and make sure your people straight.
“The government need to reconstruct and rebuild the stalls on Potter’s Cay Dock and strop dragging their feet because when other countries have disasters, they jump on board and send this money out of this treasury so what happened to the vendors, your own people, and you say Bahamians first?”
Matthew Rolle, another vendor who lost his stall to the fire, also admitted that times are hard for workers.
“Ends are not meeting,” he said. “Right now, we are working each other to assist each other but that soon stop because ain’t nobody have no more money because if Tall Boy have something, he will assist me and that money running out so now we ain’t gone have nothing to assist each other with.
“We had some promises from the minister but….I want to see what’s going to happen this week.”
For his part, Gregory Bowles, secretary general of Bahama Docks and Allied Venues Association, pledged the association’s assistance to help vendors as best as they can during these extraordinary times.
“Right, now we are reaching out to some organisations to see how we could do some fundraisers to buy building material for them,” he said.
“(But) we have guys who can get the work done. Once we have the material and the assistance that we need, we can do it. We just need materials to work with… and as soon as we’re given the green light to do the building because the government said they have to do an assessment.”
Comments
tribanon 3 years ago
Many are still waiting for help in Grand Bahama and Abaco as a result of the devastating destruction caused by Hurricance Dorian back in early September 2019. And someone had better tell these Potter's Cay Dock Vendors that our tyrannical Minnis is now only 'taking care of' those who get jabbed and those who do not weigh more than 270 pounds.
Dawes 3 years ago
If the assessment will take between 4-6 weeks and its only been a week and a half, i think there maybe some more time to go before complaining.
Sickened 3 years ago
Teach these lazy, ignorant Bahamian beggars how to build a raft so that they can make their way to another country that can afford to take care of them. We don't need dead weight in this country. ROLL OUT!!!!
Sickened 3 years ago
My car just broke down; is there a government garage I can take my car to and get it fixed for free???
tribanon 3 years ago
Bingo! But you must first get jabbed at least a couple of times.
Sickened 3 years ago
I didn't go to school because I was too cool, now I'm 38 year's old and have no money, which branch of government takes care of people like me???
tribanon 3 years ago
You might need three jabs to get on Minnis's list of persons he has designated to be the winners in our society. In case you haven't heard, Minnis as PM now only represents the interests of those he has selected to be the winners in our society. And by the way, he has taken away from you as an individual all of your constitutionally guaranteed civil rights and liberties. Sorry to be the bearer of all this bad news for you.
bahamianson 3 years ago
wait, am I missing something? Why does the government or we have to assist them? Is the government in the business of giving assistance to everyone whom loses a business due to fire? This is not right. When the times are good, save your money for rainy days. If you fail to save , you fail to thrive. Why are they mad ?
tribanon 3 years ago
You mean to tell me you did not know that each of us has a premium-free fire insurance policy issued by the Bahamas government with no expiry date that fully covers not only our businesses but also our dwelling place. How could you not know that?! lol
bahamianson 3 years ago
When it comes to straw venders and fish mongers, the plp and fnm both pander to these groups. it is totally political.
tribanon 3 years ago
Think of Minnis as the Robin Hood PM. And more often than not, you don't even need to be truly needy to get so long as you promise to vote the right way. lol
One 3 years ago
Looks better like this. The Government shouldn't be responsible for this. There are bigger fish to fry.
Sickened 3 years ago
You see all them conch shells in the water just behind the stalls? Eventually these guys were going to expand out once those shells got out of the water. Then they would build a dwelling and rent that out to illegals and get even more money public using public land.
And who put those piles/docks in the public water way??? Government?? Or did those poor, starving stall owners pay to get those put in the water so that they would keep their boats? Struggling... my ass!!!
rosiepi 3 years ago
Seems like a good opportunity to start to clean up Potter's Cay, regulate the businesses and building structures by issuing permits upon suitable plans submitted. I do not understand these owners sitting around for 12 hours a day waiting for the gov't to fund the construction of new premises etc. To whom do these biz owners pay rent? In one article an owner said he needs the gov't to fund his rebuilding for at least t $120K in costs...that should be a joke.
themessenger 3 years ago
Same s...t, different day! The government, the government,the government. The folks in Ragged Island wants their homes rebuilt as do the folks dem in Grand Bahama and Abaco. The folks dem in Pinewood wants dey subdivision raised, da Potters Cay vendors wants new and improved stalls wid free fish and conch and the list goes on, the list goes on. Dependency on government for everything, even assistance to wipe dey behind. Been that way since Pindling time, after fifty years most of our people, especially Nassau people, still only gat one foot out da bush.
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