Close the GT dump
Posted on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 16:35 in Viewpoint
The ecologically detrimental, aesthetically offensive, air and water contaminating George Town landfill is not just a George Town or Dart issue but it is a major threat to the quality of life to the entire Cayman Islands. The site is not lined and the drain-offs are harmful to our health and the eco system and will have a long-term negative impact on our tourism product.
A sensible and sustainable solution is urgently needed in the interest of the future attractiveness of this country as a place to live, work and visit. The decades long debate, research and political rhetoric has to date failed to advance us any closer towards a solution. MLA for East End, Arden McLean, has repeatedly indicted the People Progressive Movement (of which he was the Minister with responsibility for the landfill) for its failure to deliver to the people of this country a workable solution to the George Town Landfill crisis.
With a national consensus and mandate on the urgency for a remedy to the dump, the United Democratic Party (UDP) has proposed closing the George Town landfill, remedial development of the existing site, and the development of a state-of-art refuse disposal site in the district of Bodden Town with no direct cost to the Cayman Islands coffers. The new site would be properly lined and embrace best practices of waste management and would not resemble the current site that was not afforded the conventional wisdom of current practices.
As a resident of George Town who drives past the landfill every day and witnesses the stench and unsightliness first hand, I welcome this proposal. However, I am amazed that the long awaited solution is being resisted by a segment of the society, including Mr Arden Mclean and the PPM. This resistance is obviously politically charged because there is no obvious intellectual rationale against having the commonly accepted threat of the George Town Landfill being remediated and the processing of the national refuse being moved to a less travelled and less densely inhabited area of the island. In the absence of logic in an argument, politics is normally endemic.
While all people should have a right to object and state their opinions on matters of national importance, it is wrong for the objectors of the new waste management facility to embark on a campaign of misinformation and scare-mongering in order to make their case. At a public meeting in Savannah, on Monday May 8, several preposterous statements were made by the PPM representative for Bodden Town and the leader of the Coalition to Keep Bodden Town Dump Free, where they claimed that people as far as 10 miles away from the new facility would get cancer and a litany of diseases that even they could not pronounce.
If their claims had any validity, the hospital would be packed with the hundreds of George Towners who have lived all of their lives within a three (3) mile radius of the current dump - and clearly it is not! Furthermore, by implication, these objectors are saying that it is perfectly acceptable for the residents of George Town and the entire western end of the Island to be adversely affected by the mismanaged waste for the entire island, if its effect (as they say) is felt as far as 10 miles away.
No individual is desirous of having the landfill in his or her “backyard” but it must be placed somewhere. George Town, the country’s capital, has hosted the garbage dump and its residents have suffered for decades. It is foolhardy to perpetually compound the problem by adding more garbage to it. It must be relocated, with all modern waste management expertise employed at the new site.
Accordingly, the residents of Bodden Town will not have a similar experience as those of George Town who suffered from aesthetic, air, water and noise pollution.
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Lorna, While I respect your
Lorna,
While I respect your right to an opinion, I would like to encourage you to stop drinking the Swanky. I fear the brownish color is not from the brown sugar.
Seriously, this is where your opinion derails. There is intellectual rationale to oppose the dump being moved to Bodden Town, which you have chosen to ignore. Those groups that you appear to distrust/dislike have listed numerous scientific and legal concerns, which you have not addressed, nor discredited.
Lorna, I was unaware you had a medical degree and/or had conduct valid research on this matter. Please advise us of the outcome of those findings.
If the new waste management plans are going to be so effective, will not cause illness and will not be unattractive or smelly, I can only say it is a gem! Then let’s leave it in GT as an example of how modern and effective we are, here in Cayman. Hiding that kind of modern and highly effective waste management plant in the bushes of BT would be a mistake. Don’t you think?
Move the dump to West Bay.
Move the dump to West Bay. Its where it belongs.
Speaking of land. WHY DID THE
Speaking of land.
WHY DID THE PPM NOT PAY OUR POOR CAYMANIAN PEOPLE WHOSE LAND THEY CONFISCATED?
YOU GUYS HAVE A VERY SHORT MEMORY.
AKA: "Stuck on Stupid"
I agree with the two former mInisters letters on today:-
It is wrong for the PPM Minister or any other Minister to take peoples’ private land and not pay them for several years. Saying that the roads are needed is not good enough. Governments must respect private rights and pay its debts promptly.
Mr. Bodden and Mr. McLean you are absolutely right and can't be wrong.However Alden is a Festival celebrity and people are more interested in symbol over substance. It would shock me if they responded to this most important letter of caution in yeserday's compassand a slew of information you just provided. Lets see how smart they are.
We can not leave the country up to the younger wannabe legislators who have no experience. Some older heads need to get into the race and set things straight.
We have no choices but Mr. Truman Bodden and Mr. McKeeva Bush. Mr. Bodden is a conservative that is an asset to our country being a financial center of the world placing high. However we must realize that just because he's not charismatic does not mean that he does not have supporters because he does.
Mr. Truman Bodden should make a come back and we shall see if the people will chose the PPM big wasters and spenders or will we chose Mr. Truman Bodden - AKA as the Bill Clinton of the UK territories! the man who kept our public purse balanced and with millions of dollars in surplus. Its something to be proud of!
Are Caymaninas that smart to bring this man back or do they want to keep on fighting between the UDP and the PPM getting no where!
I can't remember any unemployment when Mr. Truman Bodden was leader of Govenment business it was unheard of! there was no such thing as over spending.
There was no such thing as borrowing!
Where has all our money gone?
Ask the PPM. Ask Alden and Kurt.
Is that what people want more of these two?
Or will be vote smart and put Mr. Truman Bodden back where he belongs?
LEADING THIS COUNTRY INTO financial victory once again!
Truman Bodden was a Minister
Truman Bodden was a Minister of Education, ask the question? How many scholarships were given to the less fortunate during his tenure????? Let him stay in moth balls and let the progress continue.
Anon it is obvious that you
Anon it is obvious that you are UDP.
On one hand we have the UDP who gave away all those statuses in such an unprofessional manner. Lets get it straight I have no problem with statuses being given away but they opened the gate and everyone game in. The people of this country held them accountable for it. They voted them out. Now before you go and ask PPM followers to remember please do the same.
Now do I believe that the PPM is the answer. Lets just say we all better hope that they learnt their lesson the first time around. The premeir has made them look like amteurs in politics. Gentlemen if you have not figured it out yet, you are playing in his yard now.
Let me get this straight now
Let me get this straight now Mr. Anon[sense] Wed, 05/16/2012 - 11:13.
You are telling me that we have just two choices! And those are either Mr. Truman Bodden or Mr. Bush. And you go on to say that when Mr. Bodden was leader of Govt. and that he kept our public purse balanced, and that we had a surplus of millions of dollars. This I will agree with, but it had a lot more to do with the then financial secretary and people like Mr. Benson Ebanks & others being people of frugality,not just Mr. Bodden. The financial position we now find ourselves started with the Boswain Beach project in the late 1990s prior to that we were still in good financial standing.
We were then under the leadership of one and the same Mr. Bush you mentioned in your naming of those whom you would prefer to see lead us today. For your information mr. Bush is the LEADER and it is thru him and those hangers-on, that he surrounded himself with, that started us on this financial suicidal plunge, then along came Mr. Alden McLaughlin with the most expensive schools in this hemisphere.
Let's give you a simple chronology of the wastage of funds during the construction of and even to the present-day operation of the Turtle Farm [Boswain Beach].
1. Initial cost estimate $24,000,000.00 final cost $68,000,000.00 a cost over run of approximately 180% and it has been subsidized since it's opening to the tune of some $10,000,000.00 per annum. I guess you'll call that frugality. I call it waste. "See former auditor Dan Duget's report on this blog for more wastage under the present leader Mr. Bush"
Now in fairness we'll talk about Mr. Alden McLaughlins screw up with the school project. This too like Boswains Beach was going to be done no matter how much the people protested about the cost. Which was estimated at $50,000,000.00 per each of the three schools proposed! Again an outrageous amount for school buildings but when leaders become arrogant in their determination to do it their way, no matter who may try to point out the folly of such wasteful spending, they do it because it's their idea and NO ONE is going to change their mind.
Now back to the present Govt. and their Money Management Skills! I will not get into details of our present financial situation but will just mention some of the projects that are continuing to cost this Island and it's People outrageous amounts that we will never recoup in any way shape or form:
1- Schools another $300,000,000.00 [$600,000,000.00 total based on estimated cost of changes and pay-outs and pending law-suits etc.
2. Docking facilities If we count all the stops and starts the funds payed out to settle broken contracts etc. let's say another $3,000,000.00 forget about Chinese deal that if consummated will [not counting the add-ons and the change orders etc.] say another $400,000,000.00. "Here I'm being VERY generous". And on top of every- thing we may never own it for [50] fifty years.
3. Then there are the miniscule amounts like the $6,000,000.00 owing by one Mr. Ryan.
4. Remember we are already carrying a deficit of some $500,000,000.00. if all of these new proposals come to fruition within the next year combined with our present indebted- ness we are looking at somewhere in the vicinity of "READY" $2,000,000,000,.00
That's right "A TWO BILLION DOLLARS" deficit!
I could go on and on, but here I will think of the readers of this blog, not wanting to depress them. So I will end by saying this:
Forget about party politics and vote for people who you believe will look after the interests of all the people and not just the big "CAMPAIGN DONORS" or "HIM or HER-SELF
""Signup for the "ONE MAN ONE ONE VOTE" before leaving on vacation"
I think you mean debt is
I think you mean debt is $500,000,000, not the deficit which is far lower, probably in the $20,000,000 range.
You may be right but who can
You may be right but who can say? Annual government revenue is $500,000,000. Somehow that's not enough.
"It is wrong for the PPM
"It is wrong for the PPM Minister or any other Minister to take peoples’ private land and not pay them for several years".
It might have escaped your attention but the PPM has not been in power since 20 May, 2009 - three years ago. If compulsorily acquired land has still not been paid for and you wish to blame the politicians for it then it seems that the UDP has 3 years of blame.
Truman simply road the wave of these Islands economic prosperity. His last period in government (1992-2000) fell exactly between the recessions of 1991 and 2001. It was Cayman's heyday. Low unemployment was not due to him. Budget surpluses reflected increasing govt. revenues and a complete failure to invest in needed infrastructure that led to the overspending in 2006-2008. He failed to address the pressing social problems declaring that we did not have any gangs in schools. Today we have murderous adult gangs destroying the fabric of this country as a result. He was also very backward with his thinking vis-a-vis the UK. We do not need any recycled politicians looking to reclaim their place at the trough. We need young, bright thinkers with fresh ideas and a new approach.
If Truman wants to be returned to govt. he should not be wasting his time criticising a former govt. which has been out of power for 3 years and instead comment on the performance of this govt. and its scandals and tell us why he would do a better job. But we understand that political favours have to be repaid and so we won't hear that any time soon.
Truman Bodden is responsible
Truman Bodden is responsible for the current state of education in the Cayman Islands. Now ask yourself if that is a good thing.
Ship it to the Brac where
Ship it to the Brac where they dig big holes and send the aggreagte to Grand Caymen.
The Dump is a threat to one
The Dump is a threat to one of the biggest sectors to our whole economy i.e. Tourism
So go figure the risks to the whole country if it is not dealt with.
there is a reason why Mt.
there is a reason why Mt. trasmore is the biggest thing on Cayman.
there is a reason why it is right in the center of veiw as the cruise liners come in.
there is a reason why it just gets bigger every day without ANY real try at fixing it.
there is a reason that the Caymanian people are O-Tay with this.
there is a reason why Caymanians can not even let someone fix it for them.
Yeah - its all a conspiracy
Yeah - its all a conspiracy by the British Governement, the Chief of Police, dem Bloggers and dem pesky devil workshippers to stop things from going ahead...
blinking nuisance they are!
Just close it down and open
Just close it down and open in BT. BT has to make some contribution to the nation other than professional whingeing and self-pity.
"Professional whingeing"?? In
"Professional whingeing"?? In Bodden Town? Hmmm...? Sounds kinda kinky. Ya know...I don't think I have had a good whinge in a long time. Maybe a trip to Bodden Town is in order. So you're saying there is lots of pretty intense whingeing going on there?
But, is it legal to go around whingeing in public in Cayman?
How about maundering?
Gee. If this catches on, Cayman will probably try to enact anti-whingeing and anti-maundering laws to ensure people don't go about whingeing and maundering among each other around polite company. Especially in Bodden Town, where apparently there are "professional" whingers. Wow! Sounds like a party to me! How much does one pay for a good whinge these days?
I resent your disrespect of
I resent your disrespect of Boddentown the historic capital of the Cayman Islands that have been disrespected for years with the marl trucks being allowed to drive through the district creating noise confusion and dust. Each marl truck should be forced to pay a fee to drive through the district. Ezzard could man a road block.
I thought the whole idea of
I thought the whole idea of the BT Bypass road was so the trucks would drive that way. They don't and they race through the main street where the houses are all so close to the road. It's pretty frightening really. Many children walk those streets too.
I always wonder why they
I always wonder why they build thier houses so close to the road??
I absolutely agree with you
I absolutely agree with you about the dangers of these mad truck drivers on the main road, but then again, when you look at the state of the bypass - pitted with potholes and obviously neglected, perhaps this explains the truck drivers using the main road instead? Plus, as you have noted, they like to race through, so they prolly don't like the speed bumps on the bypass slowing them down either.
Your professional whingeing
Your professional whingeing and self pity is noted.
So, where is the logic in
So, where is the logic in having two contaminated sites on island? Why not just do what needs to be done to the existing landfill and impliment a recycling facility at the same site? It would cost less in the long run I'd figure...
Anon 12:30 The logic is
Anon 12:30
The logic is very simple The Government do not have the 100 million to spend on the existing dump. Mr. Dart is trying to negoaite a deal with you the people of the Grand Cayman to establish a new facility without the worry of us finding the 100 million dollars,
But all we worry about is what Mr. Dart's land will value after the deal is settled...how stupid is that? Mr. Dart will alway be a millionair, and people with your mentality will always be a dunse.
and how much is Dart going to
and how much is Dart going to spend? better do some research as Govt is still going to be responsible for it
Dear 09:58, Some spelling
Dear 09:58,
Some spelling lessons!!
1- The correct spelling is: MILLIONAIRE not Millionair.
2- The correct spelling is: DUNCE not Dunse.
Akording to my dictionarie
Akording to my dictionarie "dunse" is the way a dunse spells dunse when speeking of other dunses. So maybe 9:58 was rite in the way he rote it.
Why did you use two
Why did you use two exclamation marks? Why did you use those colons? Why did you capitalise those words? Is it because you are not all you think you are?
So why didn't the Government
So why didn't the Government take the equally "simple" options that beat Dart on the official tender process and also offered to fix the problem, in situe, which didn't involve the government spending the money? You can keep harping on with the same shit about government saving money but it doesn't alter the fact that other equally cheap and less inconvenient options were put on the table and accepted prior to Mr Bush deciding to dump the process and go with Dart, like he dumped GLF and went with CHEC and dumped two locally-operating banks in favour of the Cohen deal...
Wheelebrator was going to be
Wheelebrator was going to be paid..silly.
And there were other
And there were other solutions that were focused on what CIG claimed they wanted - the dump mined or remediated at the current location and a private company taking on the costs and the risk. But somehow they got thrown by the wayside for a Dart solution. I wonder why that may have been?
And for now the dunse
And for now the dunse outnumber the logical in the Cayman voters gallery. So for now the logical wait. For the inevitable.
Now, now. No need to insult
Now, now. No need to insult my intelligence and call me a 'dunse' as it were. Also, I never once said ANYTHING regarding the value of Dart's land as I could care less about the man and his money really. My issue was the environmental side. Where is the logic health and safety wise creating another hazardous site on the island that will probably end up looking like Mt. Trashmore version 2.0? Why are we instead creating another future problem and relying on someone else to 'solve' our problems for us? We live in a capitalist world and nothing is ever for free.
And I'm sorry. Whatever happened to 'you made your bed now lie in it'? The GOVERNMENT of Cayman created this mess and has wasted money over the past decades ignoring it when they should have fixed it. It should be up to the Government to organise the budget and finances of the country to allocate the necessary funds towards creating a solution. Pandering to your favourite rich millionaire who is giving us a 'deal' regardless of the health and safety risks as long as it doesn't affect him is a irresponsible and frankly stupid way of running a country.
The dump is a hazardous, disgusting eyesore and needs to be dealt with in a manner that takes into account the future effects not just the present tense.
Frankly, people with YOUR mentality disgust me with your easy way out and lazy options. So what if Dart is offering to establish the place. What good is it if the long term affects of having 2 contaminated areas greatly outweigh the very short term results. This Government is too used to doing patch work when they should concentrate on fixing things.
Lastly, if you're going to insult me and other Caymanians of whatever origin who share my same views, learn to use correct spelling and grammar as it really doesn't help get your point across.
(100 million on a new facility?! What is made of? Marble?!)
Dart is a billionaire because
Dart is a billionaire because he is a vulture capitalist. Please look up that term.
Dart is a billionaire because
Dart is a billionaire because he knows how to get things done efficiently and effectively.
Cayman is a third world banana republic wanna be where little is started and less is accomplished with an incredible amount of money spent(or something) because of incompetence. Please have someone look this up for you.
actually, he is a billionaire
actually, he is a billionaire because his dad invented foam cups
what are foam cups?
what are foam cups?
Its that thing that you drink
Its that thing that you drink your idiotizer from every morning.
FYI: I think they are used in
FYI: I think they are used in the new biodegradable Wonder Bra.
Switzerland is a third world
Switzerland is a third world country.
I am surprised that Dart
I am surprised that Dart would want to purchase the dump in George Town. Cayman, please be careful. If you lose this wealthy man who else would want to take on the dump issue and the garbage mountain? This could be your last chance to make things right with your waste management system, as recycling will be too costly, and excavating the mountain, very hazardous. I think UDP/Dart is doing the right thing. Cayman, the dump needs to be relocated.
Only the intelligent can
Only the intelligent can understand this...............Too bad.
If you are suprised it is
If you are suprised it is because you do not realise that Mr. Dart's development Camana Bay is located right next to it and removing the dump from there will greatly improve the value of his property and the enjoyment of visitors to Camana Bay. In other words he doesn't want it in his backyard either but he came and found it there.
Personally I don't have any strong feelings about the issue. Just pointing out the facts.
Caymana Bay was built with a
Caymana Bay was built with a view of the dump. Didn't Dart see that when he started developing. He put his city next to our garbage facility and then complains. Where is the logic in that, XXXX
Fact: Caymanians made the
Fact: Caymanians made the dump what it is.
Fact: Caymanians can not fix it by themselves.
Fact: Caymanians don't want anyone else to fix it.
Conclusion: figure it out..........or not.
the UK will end up takeing
the UK will end up takeing responsibility for it.
Along with everything else.
Anon 17: 39 You too are
Anon 17: 39
You too are swaying away from the issue..the dump needs to be shut down. You like the rest are only looking at the greatly improved value of Camana bay property...so what? many things have been moved for development to take place. whats the XXXX problem with Mr. Dart doing it?and improving his property.
This man is only trying to compromise, so both sides can win. Cayaman gets a new waste facility, Dart takes over the toxic dump and sore eye from our touirist area, and do what ever he wants to do with it. Give it a break...my friend... stop the bull shit!
The problem is that the dump
The problem is that the dump is in all of our back yards... There are very few worse places on the island it could be situated in face
The present situation with
The present situation with the dump is what happens when a purposeful ignoring of foresight is the result of greed induced over development at a pace which the needed infrastructure to accomadate this is only an afterthought to the gold rush mentality which is Cayman's recent history and the consequences of which can be seen in every single quadrant of our country, society and economy. That being said, we have to find and execute a viable solution to this problem for the good of this country.
To allow Dart or anyone else to simply move it because it now affects his "Dartville" is no solution at all and it proves the unsustainability of allowing one such as Kenneth Dart to buy such a monopoly of everything Caymanian. The dump as it sits needs to be properly remediated where it is first and foremost. Moving the dump, in the best of circumstances, to Bodden Town makes no sense logistically, environmentally, socially and it defies common sense.
Kenneth Dart now owns far too much of Cayman, wether it be land, business establishments or political influence. Those who have thrown in their lot with him have done no favours for this country, despite the well funded PR campaign which tries to say otherwise. The slice of Cayman's "economic pie" which Dart Inc. has bought out is far too large and it is a most unhealthy monopoly. That this correlates to a lack of Caymanian owned businesses is no great leap XXXX.
XXXXX If Kenneth Dart wants to move the dump because it is now an affront to his olfactory and visual senses then he can damn well pay for shipping it all offshore himself, including the biggest and most bilious amalgamation of gargabe in Cayman which is William McKeeva Bush.
The real and lasting solutions so direly needed in this country will not be found unless and until the manipulators, profiteers, monopolizers and political pimps are dealt with as they should be and permanently disallowed from doing further damage.
too much hatred in your blog
too much hatred in your blog to be considered worthy of reading.
Caymanians all. Look to the
Caymanians all. Look to the truth. Nothing will ever get done again in Grand Cayman other than the depleation of funds. No dump moved or fixed. No schools finished and used. No more problems solved until you solve your leadership problem. Which you can't solve. Complaining is your only weapon. Your shield is pride. Good luck.
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