Activist: Biggest problem we have is the MPs
(CNS): Long-time advocate and champion of the natural world, Billy Adam, had the residents of West Bay all in agreement Tuesday evening at the first public meeting on Grand Cayman about the Climate Change Policy. Adam said that Cayman’s biggest problem in protecting its environment was all of the elected officials, a sentiment that appeared to be widely supported.
Speaking at the meeting hosted by the Ministry of Sustainability and Climate Resilience as part of the public consultation on the long-awaited and comprehensive policy, Adam was one of several people who voiced their concern about runaway development and resulting threats to the environment, as well as the changing face of the district.
Contributors young and old raised concerns about the government’s failings over the environment and the lack of any apparent restrictions on development. But it was Adam who focused on the elected officials for their multiple failings, especially their refusal to plan, follow the laws or address the proper priorities.
“Our biggest problem is the members of parliament,” Adam said.
Issues discussed at the meeting included failures to address breaches of the law by developers due to insufficient staffing at the Department of Environment and the Department of Planning. The perception that there are no limitations for developers was also brought up.
The constant ignoring of high watermark setbacks was a particular concern raised at the meeting. One young Caymanian in her mid-twenties said she was part of the last generation that was able to walk the length of Seven Mile Beach, an experience her children will never have.
Some residents thought that moving the building limit for waterfront properties from the vegetation line to the high watermark was a significant mistake.
DoE Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie pointed out that developers can opt to mitigate the threat to their waterfront properties by building further back, but said, “We never see that.” Instead, more often than not, the developers are seeking waivers to get even closer to the sea.
The constant approval of planning applications in wetlands was also a concern for those at the meeting, as the law clearly states that removing mangroves for development should only happen in exceptional circumstances. “It seems as though they must all be exceptional,” said Ezmie Smith, a member of the Concerned Citizen Group.
While attendees welcomed the policy, many felt that it would make little difference, as even now, the government is ploughing ahead with developments and projects without giving any consideration to any parameters in the draft document.
Chief Officer Jennifer Ahearn said that some projects lined up to go ahead would need to be revisited if the policy is adopted since it will require all government agencies to consider the issues relating to climate change before they do anything.
As she opened the meeting, Ahearn explained that the policy is mainly about mitigation, though curbing Cayman’s own emissions remains important. But as vulnerable small islands, the focus for the ministry is protecting lives here because the impact of changing climate continues to present more and more challenges to residents.
“People are at the heart of this policy as it is designed to save lives from the impact of climate change,” Ahearn said. “It’s not just an environmental issue; it’s a human issue.”
The meetings provide an opportunity for people to comment on the policy and how Cayman can successfully navigate rising sea levels, a warmer climate with more droughts and less frequent but more intense rain, flooding from storm surge and more frequent king tides, and stronger hurricanes.
The town hall meetings continue this evening at the Bodden Town Primary School. Next week meetings are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday in East End and North Side at the civic centres.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Climate Change, Policy, Politics, Science & Nature
Biggest problem we have is uneducated voters, lots of them.
I attended the GT meeting and was shocked at how few members of the public were in attendance.
Not to mention the complete lack of any senior government officials. in attendance.
This island is fucked.
I have always known Billy to be a straight up guy. I have also known the government to be useless. So, ya. This all seems to be acurte. Problem is they still won’t care.
MPs and donor cronies enjoy the continuity of their accounting treasure boxes. Nothing has been filed to shift the status quo. Where is the prescribed democratic inter-election corrective action from this outraged electorate? 🦗
Is it true that Dolphin point condo was hit by 20 ft. seas during hurricane Ivan? 2 stories of that building was destroyed. Didn’t Joe Imperato buy the property and is building a new condominium that will be 20 feet higher?
When a low pressure system was raining for 5 days and finally went north to Cuba. Do we remember that we had 12 feet of sea for over 24 hours. We made a decision to move the turtle centre to across the street. The 12 feet of sea did not cross the street. Maybe you all remember Tortuga rum next door to Turtle Farm. It went over the sea wall and through the glass door and sent everything outside to the middle of the street. Liquor was rolling on the street as the crowd was waiting for Robert Hamaty. Then he said if you want a couple of bottles go ahead.
One has to wonder WHY 12 feet of sea did not cross the street ?? In my humble opinion it’s because of the land sloping back to the sea like the beach.
Old people will remember that there was a berm over 8 feet high, you had to climb to get to the beach. It was scraped off by thieves and landowners who use it to build their new houses. I am not worried about sea level rise because we have enough Quarries to build berms all around the 3 islands. What I would propose is that Government build drainage for hurricane storm surges in the future. They can use the engineers , whoever they were that built Grand Harbour. We could benefit greatly in the next hurricane 5 storm
Hate to break it to you but Dolphin Point was destroyed a couple of times before Ivan came along.
So, the biggest problem is democracy?
LoL
You guys elect them. who’s fault is it really?
Exactly! so really and truly does it make sense to register and vote if it’s the same foolishness every 4yrs?
Who else are we supposed to vote for if new people do not run for election?
New blood needs to come out and run. Why they keep getting “voted in” is because we have to decide between who may be the lesser of 2 evils at the time. Not because we are happy to do so.
Who else are we supposed to elect dumb ass? Why don’t you run?
You guys? Clearly a foreigner.
Every time new, younger people try to run for election, the smearing by the older ‘more experienced’, career politicians starts. “Oh, they dont have any experience, green behind the ears, dont know how anything works”. But to be honest, sometimes its the fact that these repeat offenders know too well ‘how it ALL works’ (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) that is the problem! In that regard, they do indeed have a lot of ‘experience’
What they mean by ‘they don’t know how anything works’ is they don’t know who to kick up to and how to do corruption properly.
Name any credible honest new candidates and let’s get them prepared now to win.
We need term limits in parliament. Our representatives have become stagnant and corrupt beyond the point where they can ever regain the public trust. PPM, PACT, UDP, Independents its all the same incestuse group hopping from one color to the next in a vain attempt to hide the fact that its just the same failed ideas. How many times have we heard “We have a plan to fix the dump”, “We have a plan to address public transport and traffic”, “We have a plan to lower the cost of living”? How many times have we been told Vote for me and my party and we can fix what the other party cant?
At this point we have a set political class in the country, they are an aristocracy is all but name. They all need to go, we dont need a change in party we need a change in blood.
Nothing will change as long as these failures are allowed to hold onto their respective fiefdoms.
All too true, my friend!
#incestuse trending
You forgot to mention the ignorant poorly educated voters
Funny thing is…if the people run for office, we can take out the developers and all the rest in one night… it who will run? Who will organize? The beauty of the nonsense election rules is that you only need 10 kids to run!! Go and run!!!
I have to wonder if Lands + Survey have been collecting updated high water marks (through planning applications) for 30+ years, have they been plugging that information into an island wide map or some sort? Aren’t they able to tell if we’ve seen land loss due to sea rise (not erosion that may come and go but persistent or permanent loss). And if they did, would they raise the red flag as a virtue signal to climate change or be demanded to stand down quiet lest they scare away wealthy investors? Its a tough gamble when you pitch new money making initiatives against the reliable money income tradition.
The Cayman Islands lay in the same ocean being monitored by thousands of scientists, satellites and agencies. Lands and Survey doesn’t need to sign off on that science for it to be credible.
They don’t even update the database yearly. It is like every 5 years and they are over that time now.. so many new developments have not even been added, it still reflects “raw land” where they now reside. One would think they would do updates, including high water mark lines to keep track.
The fault needs to be shared with useless government boards and even more useless senior civil servants.
Ahearn, the Civil Service is also responsible. Perhaps not as much as the politicians, but complicit nevertheless.
but we wanted a change in government and we got it. now we complain.
OK let’s rephrase that for clarity then…
Biggest problem we have is all MPs past and present.
Better?
There has been the odd decent, competent, honest MP, but they never last very long.
Anyone remember Marco Archer?
Yup. And Winston Connolly.
The greatest risk and where the most corruption have been identified has been on our statutory boards. MP’s in successive governments have appointed their cronies who are unqualified to operate a coconut stand to sit on some of the most important boards in the islands.
Until politicians follow the Governor and Deputy Governor lead and advertise for board members and put them through a selection process. Corruption and poor performance of the Authorities will remain.
Not fair comment… The previous port board tried very hard to run the Port as a viable business… Joey and a couple of board members got kicked off by UDPact and now ….pay raises for everyone.
World over in history , a jurisdictions most corrupt agency has been their Port Authorities.
Singapore ,Hong Kong , Sydney , Hamburg ,New York.
Back door dealing and infiltration by politics, unions and mafia reigned supreme in the ‘Olden Days’.
I am certain today is a different story though .
The thing is we didn’t want a change in the elected Govt’s intended policy just after they were sworn in
The only policy I know of is, “Get all you can!”
There is no change here when it’s the same 20 people running every time. Change is by voting in new people who actually care about the environment and have proven so.
And who are these people? Because I can’t even remember 1 who ran with this platform at the last election (except for Wayne who doesn’t count because they were just empty words)
Emily DeCou.
DeWho?
Meme all you want, but they asked for a candidate that was running on that platform, and she fits. She is also actively working towards achieving some semblance of sustainability for our Islands even after she wasn’t elected. https://emdecou.com
People call for ambitious, intelligent young people to run the country and then disregard them when they try. That’s why we end up with these inept individuals in office (a problem that persists worldwide as young candidates are generally ridiculed for actually caring and wanting to make a difference.)
That is because the changes we got were lacking. And the problems are still going unsolved. It will continue as long as greed is in control.
I must be missing something…… What “change” did we get???
7:05, We wanted a change of government in West Bay and we still got McKeeva, the political God in West Bay.
You mean the “Political Demon” in West Bay!
The gene pool is just too low in Cayman.
A disastrous education system also not help.
Money Money Money Money…..Money
These meetings are all just for show, at the end of the day the government will do what they feel like. Bryant and his crew are giving the rich people a very expensive private terminal and will make all of us regular folks pay for it. The airport fiasco needs to go to a referendum as it is no different than the PPM port.
It damn well needs to go SOMEWHERE !
What a joke of a survey, there is no option to say no to the questions asked, only to say you agree and how much more you would like them to add to the proposal.
Typical!
Billy Adam is wise and stalwart enough to initiate the voter-led petition to amend the Elections Law to improve the quality of who can run for office and hold positions deciding policy, forming and debating law, and handling money. Should convicted criminals remain eligible, or should they be flipping burgers? Voters should decide the future of politics in Cayman, not the self-serving politicians that have been helping themselves and friends for years.
Hear, Hear!
Billy was amongst those who led the charge for one person one vote/single member constituencies in what has proven to be a misguided attempt to curtail McKeeva’s power.
If you listened to the arguments at the time you would swear we would get bette representatives and better representation and loads of accountability.
I would love for CNS to run a poll on whether people believe this system is better than the previous one.
Billy, the PPM, Ezzard and the advocates got it dead wrong and we are worse off as a result.
It was designed to break up the stranglehold of corrupt party politics. Unfortunately, the supervisor of elections are still insisting that candidates identify with a declared party allegiance to tilt voters back towards UDP and PPM party line hegemony. Even when they form coalition governments, they are icing-out the opposition benches, passing laws in private caucus, brokering secret consultation deals, and reimagining that their pre-election manifesto received a voter mandate. They install their own conflict-loaded kangaroo official as Speaker to prevent calls to order. More importantly, Cayman’s voters, with all the power, passively watch and accept this nonsense in 4 year cycles.
Couldn’t agree more. They truly are an awful bunch and these beautiful islands deserve much, much better. At this rate, there will be nothing left to enjoy. Just rows of condos and concrete. I can’t help but feel that this island has already lost it’s soul.
The MLA’s continual self-serving, corrupt or simply negligent practices are driving wedges in the community, creating a ‘them vs us’ attitude. None of them seem to do anything of any worth other than line their pockets or those of their friends. There is a chronic need for reform before it’s too late.
@2:26, to make matters worse, the new condos all appear the same – ugly white square blocks that look like a prison building. They have absolutely no Caribbean aspect in the design, and are tiny inside.
Many of my visiting friends and family have commented on how these minimalist style condos are taking over the landscape, and think it’s a real shame that Cayman is losing its charm.
Why are all the big banks financing these waterfront projects if the sea is going to take it back in 5 years? average Mortgage is 20 years.
3 inches in 10 years, maybe 3 feet in 100. Of more realistic concern: a mortgage has to be secured with insurance. How many regional catastrophe claims are we away from no more insurance for the entire hurricane belt? Don’t need to be Cayman Islands claims. With State Farm deciding to walk away from California wildfire areas, it’s no longer an environmental risk hypothetical. Those mortgage risks would be called by the banks before term, and mortgagees would either have to settle the account or firesale with everyone else trying to get a bid, staring at foreclosure. That could be 5 years away. It would also be the beginning of the end of the Financial Services sector without employer home equity loans or government intervention to provide a floor. Dart can’t wait.
“… no longer an environmental risk hypothetical..”?.. really? Interesting 🤨
❓If you build in the forested area, but forget about forest management as fire prevention why should State Farm reimburse your losses?
❓If you build on a beach and the next storm washes your house out to sea, why should an insurance company reimburse you?
❓If you build your house of straws and sticks in a hurricane area and it is damaged or destroyed, why should an insurance company reimburse your loss?
❓If your “system” of Waste Management is an open air dump that periodically catches on fire, why should any insurance pay for your cancer, birth defects, etc. treatments?
❓If you choose to live in a highly toxic, unsafe, risky for health and properly environment, who is to blame for the your choice?
❓If you allow your shameless government to lead you to the edge of a cliff, who is to blame?
🅰️ look in the mirror and see who is responsible.
$$$$$$$$ now, someone else’s worry later.
Take the money and run!
Yes, Mr. Billy, elect the MPs to do certain things. But when they get in, you have to fight them to do what you elected them to do. They start throwing D
arts at you so that you get away from them….while we keep singing in futility to each MP “Pass Me Not Oh Gentle Saviour!”
Right now Mr Adams is the only one deserving of the title ‘honourable’.
“DoE Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie pointed out that developers can opt to mitigate the threat to their waterfront properties by building further back, but said, “We never see that.” Instead, more often than not, the developers are seeking waivers to get even closer to the sea.”
Developers are not in it for the long haul. They make their money and then move on.
Not just MP’s but corrupt MP’s and senior govt officials and political minions who are taking money and gifts under the table laundering it through political donors businesses.
1:07 don’t forget private sector board members.
Welome to third world. If you want to change then you must stop hireing third world family to lead. Will you trust non third world leadership? If not ask yourself why. That’s why it will not change.
well said. but the bigger problem is cayman refuses to let it’s most educated and most successful to run for office.
welcome to wonderland.
The most intelligent are shunned and do not attract significant votes and they also do not offer any favours in return for votes. Besides the intelligence level of the majority in any one constituency is reflected by the one voted in. The culture of patronage politics is destroying the integrity of elections. And until this is completely wiped out Cayman’s people, environment and future will suffer.
Yes. Nor does CIG promote these empty hall policy consultation meetings before they happen. That might help.
The idea is not to have any contentious inquiring minds participate otherwise some blunt embarrassing questions might be asked. However the Queen of swivel and waffle is quite experienced at deflecting and revisiting ad infinitum.
Welcome home to third world. If only third world qualifies then that’s what you get. There are many educated and smart Caymanians but they do not want the job of representing third world voters and vice versa. What can you do?
Punt?
Move to a better place!
Probably reading too much into it, but maybe noteworthy not a sniff of this in the Dart rag 🤔
Hardly surprising though, particularly given that the meeting was this week, Camana Bay Times is published monthly and Dart doesn’t own any other “rags”.
Didn’t get the latest Compass update?
Sure I did. It said “subject to the necessary regulatory approval”. Could you point me to the update which confirms that has been granted? I must have missed that one.
‘Regulatory Approval’, also means staying on the safe side of the fence through the process
Don’t pretend to be so naive 2:30, do you honestly think if Dart walked into the Compass building and said ‘jump’ that all the journalists would remain in their seats ? 🙄
Dart bought the Compass, so it should be in the Friday paper. We shall see.
Except for the Compass…
Compost is dump fodder and has been for some time.
To be fair, it’s on their front page, so not sure what more you want…
https://www.caymancompass.com/2023/06/08/climate-change-policy-expected-to-be-passed-in-july/