The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I am writing today as a concerned citizen and a resident of the Spring City domes. I was reading an online an article published on July 8th, which was speaking of the Minister trying to have the domes demolished by August!

It brings great concern to me and our residents here at the domes to understand this bold statement by the Minister of Housing of basically kicking us and our families on to the streets! I, myself, have spoken with the Minister, as I happen to pull up on them doing assessment on a vacant land that is now being used as the site to build the supposed 11 homes. At that time, I would have spoken briefly with the Minister and her team because I was concerned about a piece of Crown land that I would have applied for more than two years ago in that same area! At that time, I exchanged numbers with one of the ladies from Housing who was supposed to establish communication and spread the word on a meeting that they wanted to have, and to date, she still has not! About three weeks ago, the community of Spring City hosted a town hall meeting and, sad to say, we did not see our representative for South Abaco, we did not see a soul from housing, and we most definitely didn’t see the Minister because she doesn’t live on the island. And to top it all off, our Local Government department could not shed light on what was going with us, because they themselves said they had no idea of the houses being built at the entrance of Spring City.

To me and the families here in dome city, we feel neglected and as though no one cares. It seems as if they just want to kick us with no care as to where we will be going. We Abaconians knew of the housing crisis before the storm and since it is worse for the Government knows firsthand of this problem because they can’t find housing for Teachers to move to Abaco! So, our concern and our blood pressure are going up!

To let it be known, the majority of the dome's residents were home owners before the storm and are still property owners now. However, the banks and the Mortgage Corporation have failed some of our people, leaving them to pick up the pieces - unable to rebuild their homes - with no help from the government besides these domes that they are now preparing to kick us out of.

So, we would like to know whether we who lost everything could get the same $10,000 for completely destroyed homes, the $7500 for partially destroyed homes, and/or the $5000 assistance that the DRA made sure all of their Government workers got and were first in the lineup for pay outs? We would also like to know what happened to the 49 homes that were supposed to be built just off Spring City that Baker’s Bay donated in return for having to put 300 Bahamian citizens out of work. And we would like to know what happened to all the other monies that were given and are still being given? What happened to the promise to build senior citizens and single mothers’homes?

I read where the minister said she has gotten two projects from former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. I would hope that she went and got advice from him as well and then asked him what he did for his people of Abaco after Floyd!

It has not been easy for us here in Abaco for the last three years. And as hard as it has been for us, there has been no counselling for the people who have lost everything in the storm, followed by all the trauma of going through this pandemic as well. I wonder if y’all have taken any of that into consideration before y’all come and destroy our so-called homes now!

We deserve more respect than is being given to us and all heads of power should at least come and address us in a respectable manner and hear from the people and know the state of our living before you come to destroy us, our homes, and our lives even more! All of these domes are occupied by seniors and tax paying Bahamian citizens. So, we respectfully demand to get that respect be given to us on the way forward.

We don’t have to buy one of the government houses if we have land where our houses once were. That is not making Bahamian’s independent! For what it is worth, Happy Independence Day Bahamas!

DENYS ROLLE

Nassau,

July 19, 2022.