Alden admits deal not done on Red Bay road
(CNS): Alden McLaughlin claims he had “simply reported what I understood from the briefing I received from the ministry responsible” when he said government had struck a deal with the relevant landowners to complete what appears to be a controversial road linking Red Bay with the Grand Harbour area. After Davenport Development issued a release on Tuesday accusing McLaughlin of lying during his appearance at the Chamber of Commerce Candidates Forum on Monday, he issued a statement, saying, “I was not in any of the meetings. If I was mistaken in naming Davenport, then I apologise.”
But the outgoing premier has doubled-down on his claim that the Grand Harbour developer would be entering into a deal at some point. He said he had “rechecked and have again been advised that the Grand Harbour developer is as keen as government is to find a solution to the traffic congestion in the Red Bay area for which we are all grateful”. He added that the “ministry staff is working on finalising the terms of the agreement before the roadway is gazetted”.
However, Davenport Development, which is behind the condo project currently under construction in the area, said the announcement about the agreement was “a lie”. In the statement released Tuesday evening Davenport said it was not involved in the talks and accused the premier of misleading the public by implying it was, stressing that they do not own the land where the road would go. But the owners of the company are worried about the effect of McLaughlin’s words on their business.
“Davenport has not had discussions on this matter prior to 2020, when the matter was decided, and we were told quite clearly that the access road was off the table,” Paul Pearson and Ken Thompson said. They added that the clients who have purchased condos at this new development now feel misled in light of the Unity Government’s previous claims that there would be no access road, which they passed on to the buyers.
“Sadly, the voters in Davenport’s newest development Arvia must now make a decision if they will invest or withdraw. These words have sabotaged our business and our reputation,” Pearson and Thompson stated, adding that they had been “blindsided by this announcement” and “taken by complete surprise” by “the false words”.
McLaughlin has not addressed claims that the government had previously said the road was “off the table”. In the statement from the premier’s office, he said the road does not require the developer’s approval.
“Despite their objections, which are disappointing, I do believe that this local access road will only enhance Davenport’s ability to sell their units,” McLaughlin said. “Their development will disgorge dozens more vehicles onto an already severely overtaxed Red Bay road system. When they started the development they would have been aware of the issue and that the development would make traffic matters worse.”
After making what now appear to be premature announcements regarding the road deals, which were made on Monday as part of his campaign for re-election in Red Bay, he said it was still government’s responsibility to find solutions to the traffic congestion.
“Government has been patiently working to resolve this issue for some years now,” he added. “As the representative of Red Bay and Premier I am out of patience. We must resolve this issue now.”
Category: 2021 General Elections, development, Elections, Local News, Politics
If you have dedicated bus lanes, they would not slow down traffic when stopping to pick up/drop off passengers. Those lanes would also mean that the buses would zip by the stopped traffic, which in turn might encourage more people to use them.
The problem may be the space required for the lanes, and there would need to be hefty fines for people in cars trying to use them.
And finally, there would need to be secure parking lots at the end of residential areas to encourage people who live too far to walk to the main roads to Park and Ride.
These strategies work in many other countries, so why not try here?
Such a simple solution would be to have a proper bus system with buses that run on a schedule with official bus stops. Proper sized, air conditioned buses that are not driven by lunatics.
If it could be guaranteed that a bus will arrive at a certain place, at a certain time to take people somewhere, more people would leave their car at home.
4:31 Wish full thinking but Caymanians are car People.
When you stop ten times or more behind buses picking up and dropping off you will sing the other song!
Car people or not, it should not matter…..
Buses need proper, correctly situated bus stops and bus stopping rules.
Passengers should not expect to be picked-up at their doorsteps – they should walk (on properly built sidewalks) to the designated bus stops.
These are some of the things that civilised countries require.
Much of what happens on the road today has to do with the behaviour of both drivers and passengers on these same buses (both school and public).
The same should also be said of the abysmal driving of some car drivers.
this all sounds good when read here, however, when put in practice how would a person from Selkirk get to the bus stop across the 6 lane highway in order to get to town?
Better planning is needed overpasses or light controlled pedestrian crossings required. Don’t get me started about the lack of bike lanes in that area, for a district whose representative is supposed to be an avid biker it is quite surprising the lack of these lanes
It’s not difficult to change a mindset, it just takes time.
If you were sat in traffic everyday not moving for 45 minutes and buses came past you regularly, I’m guessing you might start to consider it.
nope
The typical way of doing things here. Always has been. Lots of people think they know what to do but no one ever does that or ever will. All that talk never changed anything. Nothing will change. Just get used to it. Never going to get better just more crowded.
It’s all Aldens fault!
Doesn’t the latest Davenport development already have access to grand harbor shops? The roads issue is simple but we will never get a monorail (that would cost that of what we had for the port), or finish widening the existing unfinished roads in gt, or get a proper public transport system that you won’t get mugged on or dropped at work an hour late.
once the developments around grand harbour open….the traffic will be grind to a standstill morning and evening…10 times worse than it is now.
no amount of new roads will solve this.
cpa need to be held account for approving these developments and they should release all traffic plans associated with their approval.
We are headed towards massive gridlock at Grand Harbour in 3 years and when the 50 storey building is built in the Seven Mile Beach Corridor gridlock on that side too.
Geez, the quality of life is going down fast here.
There is a limit to how many new roads one can build here. Bermuda learned that 2 decades ago. Wonder when we will learn that simple fact.
unsurprisingly…alden’s response creates more questions than his first comments….more wonderland stuff from no-plan-alden
fair play on davenport for calling alden out. chamber of commerce should take note as they continue to sit on their hands while government after government does nothing to address the real issues facing cayman’s business community.
Agreed with your comment minus the Chamber’s input. Their role is to promote entrepreneurship, sustained business growth and development. We the people need to hold our elected officials to task period. Stop hoping others will address the problems created in our own backyard.
Over pass time. Sorry
and a tunnel!…i love tunnels…
That you Bruce Springsteen or is it Marc Knopfler
How can this person who has:
– freely given away jobs and Caymanian futures and allowed companies and slimy requiters to return to obvious and blatant abuses of the system
– fought the people for an unnecessary and potentially corrupt port deal
– refused politicians pay reductions during other pandemic austerity measures but instead established a selfish/greedy severance for politicals,
still think even lying is going to save him. All Caymanians make sure your children know who has destroyed their future…Alden the Destroyer.
It looks like everyone knows about our Premier now! So long… Adios…
Bye bye now… Hope you have a nice l-o-n-g trip Mr. Premier!
Don’t forget supported in silence and action the physical abuse of a young woman by a fellow politician. You sir are disgusting…once you get to Honduras get on the other side of the fence on your farm…you worse than an animal.
All hot air and false promises for election time. You just know he plans to do nothing to alleviate the traffic issue. Like he has done his entire tenure.
Is anyone still considering not voting for Independents? The PPM and McBeater have got to go. Let’s VOTE THEM ALL OUT.
So you want to go back to the ups days of backroom deals and vindictive rule …?
If you don’t vote progressive or Panton, you will have McKeewa for another 4 years of God forbid who knows what.
McKeeva and the PPM are the same thing now. Alden/PPM supporters need to realize that it isn’t 2009 anymore and that these two are NOT enemies.
If they build the road it will funnel more cars onto the Hurleys roundabout. Traffic on the bypass will be stopped from entering the roundabout as they yield to the increased traffic coming from Red Bay via Hurleys. This has got to be the worst decision yet.
Devil’s advocate here, but when unloading a plane the people furthest ahead get priority, no?
I do agree that it would be fair to allow further East to get by first since they have to leave earlier, though.
The moral of this is that IF the CPA was the Central PLANNING Authority rather than the Central PERMITTING Authority, the impacts of these 6 developments now underway around the Grand Harbour area would have been considered and plans put in place to deal with them when the planning applications were made. But the CPA is about anything but PLANNING.
And we can be sure that the impact of Ergon Beksoy’s development with a neighbourhood commercial lot, 5 apartment lots and 75 residential lots behind the Mary Miller School has been just as flimsy. That was on the CPA agenda today and I’m sure it was approved. After all, Alden got Beksoy Caymanian status and he is the buddy of Alden’s good friend and CPA Deputy Chair Fred Whittaker, who naturally does all of his planning applications and construction for him.
That’s how things run in Cayman nowadays. There’s a cabal that is reaping the benefits of this unrestricted development and they intend to ride it as long as they can. It has nothing to do with what is best for Cayman and Caymanians anymore.
We need to rid ourselves of this so-called Alliance and the shrewd conductor who stays low but is orchestrating it all.
No one has mentioned the Central Planning Authority’s role in this fiasco, how on earth did they approve all of this development in this area?. Where is the advice from NRA to the CPA showing the effect of all of this development on the narrowest part of the island?
At least 20yrs ago, the late Bo Miller being the visionary he was opined that work permit holders ability to have cars should have been restricted to avoid the gridlock we are now having.
Perhaps it is time to adopt the Bermuda model rather than just going after work permit holders and expats who generate so much revenue for these Islands.
In Bermuda, one car per family. It works in Bermuda and an excellent transportation system too.
We are headed for total gridlock soon. One does not have to be a visionary to see that simple fact.
No, sorry. Only expats! Many come from their country with no car, to begin with. They can’t take it back with them as they’ll pay more in tax than the car is worth. So they either sell them to someone else or leave the car here in a derelict state, while new persons come here and import more cars.
We need a functioning public transport system and a proper ride and share program to get rid of the taxi cartel.
9:06 Wish full thinking!
They are also extremely strict on development
If Bermuda is so great, why are all you pricks here?
10:34, We are a brilliant people. We cannot learn from anyone else.
Why denigrate people who have better ideas?
Please explain the difference between work permit holders and expats?
Alden and the aLIEance strike again! Vote them all out!!
Alden, THE DUMP. Whatever happened to you and moving THE DUMP?
We have not forgotten.
No dump in BTE!
Ossie and Jon Jon?
8:20 as long as it is not to your BACK YARD!
Wow. A developer Alden isn’t in bed with. Who says is is flat lying. I guess they contributed to the wrong election campaign.
On the contrary, alden was probably premature in this announcement. I guarantee once people have moved in that road will be built in no time. I have no patience as well Alden, this development was supposed to be done May 2020…
I love our level of WOKE in 2021!!!
There is hope for this place after all!
I’m a Red Bay voter and let me tell you, I was listening to that debate screaming “BULLxxxx” all night!!!!!!!!!!
Hurry up Apr 14. Let’s get this show going!
Did you see the old pro politician, Alden, do his thing there after getting caught in a lie?..twisted it to make Davenport look like the villains.
Is this the best Alden could come up with? Even if this was true, how would it help to dump more people in front of Hurleys to get back into the same bottleneck?
Alden, you need to start thinking outside the box. People are seeing right through your old antiquated promises and hearam-scarem schemes. You would been better to go back to the old promise of, “if I get elected, I will look into it.” It worked for you for years and the people believed you and now you come up with this fool fool plan which we all know is to help you get the Berksoy destruction plan approved.
Tings nah looking good Alden.
Poor Alden! He trying hard tho…nah ga help!
I doubt any voters will be living in their development and if there is some so be it regular people has to deal with traffic and roads thru their neighborhoods but because some developer told Potenial buyers this is a private area you don’t got that right to make that decision I’m sorry you think your money grants you that type of power
Actually, many Caymanians own within the development, myself included – voting member as well, thanks. Your comment is actually rather ignorant and you should do your research before making them. The issue is not with the traffic – there is much more to the story, which you would know if you bothered to read ALL of the articles properly.
Ah but your not a RED voter your a GTE so it doesnt matter to him
#noroadnovote
Who cares?
Build the road!
Bring on the gridlock. Love it. Gives me more time to listen to the car radio.
In the longterm, we will need above the ground, a train or metro-rail that runs from town to the outer districts. It would mean less cutting down of our trees and destroying our environment. Government has enough monies to start such a project. If we don’t start now, then we will always be talking about it.
May be starting with simple, tested by centuries by nearly all countries in the world- Public transportation system is a better idea?
Does CIG employ traffic and transportation engineers? Urban designers and planners? Isn’t it time to involve professionals?
Ohhhhhhhh!! I see. So we can believe everything else he says. Just not that one thing lil that he didn’t know… that he misunderstood.
But everything else is truthful…
So here’s the thing! As a LAWYER he should know that the excuse of not knowing the law does not prevent you from being charged with breaking it.
Kind of the same thing. Speaking of something he knows nothing of.
He is STILL accountable for what he says!
Oh. Wait. If Mackeewer isn’t then I guess he’s not either!
Not sure if you can follow what I’m trying to say but you do know what I’m trying to say, right?? lol (sorry, I worked the late shift and only got a few hours of sleep. I’m a bit punchy)
Alden has again proven himself to be untrustworthy. He should retire. He and his government have lost credibility with their lies and spin intended to fool the public. Vote them ALL out.
I will do my best, Mr. Signal.
Provide more buses, and do not issue driver licenses to people on work permits who don’t need it. The next government should look into this matter. I am seeing alot of people here on permits driving cars and this I believe adds about 50% to the traffic volumn.
How would you determine who “needs” a car and who doesn’t?
4th generation Caymanians and beyond.
I agree 4:21. But those expats will make the most noise about not being able to own a car.
Follow Bermuda…they make them use mopeds. And provide a moped/bike lane for them in addition to proper public transport.
We might as well call the bicycle lanes motorcycle lanes since maybe 1% of us would choose not to burn gas to get to work
your privilege is so obvious and obnoxious in your post. Think hard about what you just posted. SMH
4:21, yes!!!
So now I’m meant to carry my children on my back when getting them to school?
1 car per household means that you can drive them to school and the other adults take a bus or carpool. Any questions?
Alden. You seem to be told a number of mistruths by your ministries. Bit of a credibility problem, eh? I know you find it difficult to hold West Bay women beaters accountable. How about George Town civil servants?
Maybe Alden is just beginning to understand how lethal dem civil servants can be! That is if indeed he was fed incorrect information. He should have enough sense, and experience, to check and recheck before repeating any of it, especially on such an important platform as the Chamber Forum. I hope the full truth will soon be exposed.
Message to the thinking few. You would have noticed that these gated communities do not want you to use “their roads” thats why they install gates. However, they freely use “public roads” you see where this is going…to a dead end of course. Wake up Cayman the implications are far from subtle. Access Denied
Thank God so far 29 got the gist of this story. They do not want “others” driving by near to their precious development. They do not care about anyone being stuck in traffic. Who do they think they are?
The traffic coming into town from the Eastern Districts is terrible and I cannot see how we will have the extension buoy in 4-6 weeks when there hasn’t been work on Shamrock Road in months! This is another lie to hold us over until after Election Day.
It is quite possible that the premier leads our government in telling untruths. I would never trust him.
Davenport’s participation in a “deal” is frankly irrelevant, despite their vested interest in whatever outcome takes place. They do not own the road nor the land that will be utilized to connect to the road.
It is, which is why it is interesting that Alden would mention their name to begin with. Makes you wonder who has an issue with Davenport.
I do. I have an issue with a developer which claims to be a “good corporate citizen” and a responsible, mature business but which squeals like a furious child faced with its least favorite food. Its comments are surprisingly shrill and immature for a supposedly respected business.
Its gratuitous reference to the Unity government makes me think this is more a political spat than a traffic issue. Who is Ken Thompson supporting in this election?
Not just expats. In Bermuda it is one car per household. Families only are allowed one car – locals or expats. Apartment sharers one car between them.
However, the ferries & buses are great (tourists love them too).
I hope they know they cannot stop the government from building the road. It is called eminent domain.