Population, infrastructure and disappointment
Michelle Clark writes: Sometime over the last year, our population hit 85,000, and it seemed to come without much effort. Only a few years ago, we were disgusted that the government of the time was considering actively pursuing a population of 100,000 people. At the end of October, the Prospect Playhouse put tickets on sale for the annual Christmas show. Within the day, all shows had sold out, and within another day, the waitlist had been maxed out. But the thing that struck me was the amount of disappointed posts on Facebook.
I know this pageant is popular, and for good reason, but I was still baffled by how fast it had sold out and how many people were upset for missing out. Everyone said it’s because of the population growth. This got me to think: if we can have so many dismayed about this Christmas pageant, how are we setting ourselves up for disappointment in our society in general with the swift growth of the population?
We need to think about infrastructure, and I know this gets thrown around a lot, but it is for good reason. Let’s be clear about what I mean here by infrastructure, as it does not just mean roads. It means parking lots; it means sewerage and drains; it means policing (and not just to prevent burglaries, but traffic offences as well); it means actual public transport (with appropriate bus stops); it means grocery stores and bulk stores; it means schools; and perhaps most importantly, it means having a plan.
We need to spread things out, but we also need to provide these basics in each district. Of course, roads and traffic are a huge part of that, too.
We currently have a large development going up in George Town onto a small road that, if you have too many pedestrians crossing at RBC, gets backed up. How will this small road support the new residents entering and exiting without further contributing to the traffic?
At the Marriott, the traffic backs up at midday and 1pm, when all of the construction workers are crossing for their lunch break. These are things that are not discussed as part of infrastructure but should be. How will the new development be used during construction and after? With and without residents/workers, etc? What traffic will be created as a result?
We give concessions to developers unconditionally instead of requiring that in exchange for the concession, they should contribute to our society in meaningful ways. This means providing parks, native trees for shade and proper parking lots — in essence, contributing to the infrastructure. These are very basic, and yet, in more developed places, these are part and parcel of development. Here, they are an afterthought, if they are thought of at all.
We need to remember how quickly chaos can arrive here. After a natural disaster, we are in mayhem. We’ve been crippled by rumours that toilet paper was in short supply during COVID, and traffic is at a standstill for any major festival or event in town and the occasional out-of-control dump fire.
Think now that since those incidents, we have added approximately 15,000 people. What, then, are we setting ourselves up for? Will the next rumour of a delayed shipment of essential goods (or an actual delay) paralyse us completely, and for how long?
This discussion isn’t about just saving trees, corals or indigenous wildlife. This isn’t even about saving our heritage, although I would argue these should all be preserved. This is about salvaging our day-to-day life, how we get to work, how long we spend in traffic, and how we live, ensuring that we are not left behind in the development of our island.
Because the space we have is not the issue — Manhattan has a population of 1.63 million people on 22.82 square miles. We can become the next major city, but what does that mean? And we have to figure this out before we bulldoze every last speck of green and history. And importantly, we need to figure this out before we end up in traffic as bad as a city.
While I’m sure there is much more to add to this discussion, I do think one of the best options is to form a steering committee for development and have equal representation from planning, NRA, police, water authorities, CUC, telecom providers, historical and heritage groups, environmental groups, the Department of Environment, mosquito research and probably representatives from each district. This list is not exhaustive either as I’m sure there will be others that should be involved that I have missed.
This committee should make recommendations for a national development plan to be put in place for a period of time, ten years perhaps, and that plan will be the standard for all development while in place. The committee can then spend those ten years taking feedback, noting any issues and refining a new plan that will be ready to replace the old one at the end of its life cycle.
All developers will know what is acceptable and required, and we, as a country, can contribute and make recommendations as our needs change or fix problematic areas of the development plan. At present, the planning department disregards the latest development and planning law as it is so old and nothing applies anymore.
Again, I do not propose to have all solutions, nor do I suggest that this is the perfect answer, but we need to have this conversation. We need to participate in this discussion and ensure we are planning for our future. The next 15,000 people could be here much sooner than we think. This is our country, our home, and if we are not careful, we will soon no longer recognise it.
Perhaps more importantly, let’s not allow disappointment to spread any further. We want to see our annual favourite cat and mouse friendship at Christmas.
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Category: development, Local News, Viewpoint
Need to put a limit on how many people can be here on work permit at on time. Say 20 % of Cayman population. When it’s too many people of one nation here they take over.
I came to Cayman a little over 20 years ago. I absolutely fell in love with the Island. The solitude and the beauty of the country reminded me of bygone days in my native Jamaica. The writer posits the view that while there is nothing wrong with development, the issue is infrastructure and I agree. In Manhattan that she has described, she is correct, however, what happens in Manhattan is that there is a public transport system that moves workers around Manhattan. There is literally no parking and where there is parking the fees are so high that you are better off walking. The apartment complex that is going up across from Bayshore Mall will be a monumental disaster for traffic and the writer is correct, developers should be made to provide adequate parking for patrons when they are putting up facilities, but again no enforcement so everyone just does as they like.
I don’t know what the answer is, and I don’t think it is unique to Cayman to be honest. People are moving all over the world, where they feel as if they can get a better way of life for themselves and their families. It is a hard thing to reconcile that because one has left your own country, you are now depriving a native person of their birthright. What is the solution? I suspect this is the question that keeps our politicians awake most nights
Limit work pemits to 20 % (max) of Cayman population from one country at any time. If it’s more than that now, stop work permits from that country, and roll over time they have to go until it’s no more than the 20 % here.
Another committee to write another report that ends up in the trash bin because there are no politicians with a backbone to implement necessary changes.
You know there’s a dusty room somewhere filled with reports that are brimming with good ideas but the politicians in Cayman are too lazy and self-centered to bother to act on them.
My family and I have been here for 5 years and we have made the decision to sadly leave, It is not the Cayman from 2018.
I can completely understand and sympathize with Caymanians, my heart would be broken if my home country was going this way. I know the world is going through unsettled times but there is a very clear lack of forward planning & thinking with this government, the greed is at an all-time high, at the sacrifice of the middle- and lower-class population.
Every service worker I speak with, from supermarkets to restaurants are saying the same thing “Prices cannot keep jumping” , Peoples salaries are not increasing, I am in fact earning LESS than I was in 2018/2019, but basics are up huge percentages… yet the government and recruitment agencies are encouraging people to come here…. as an Expat you need at least 200k KYD a year (family of 4) to sustain, I am not making this figure up, I am living it! NO frills, just rent, school fees, utilities, medical, food… no debt.
My heart is sore to leave but I 100% know it is the right decision.
I am just heart sore for the Caymanians that have seen their country change so much and for them to be pushed out of every financial avenue…. Sad times.
From 2006. Feel same. Left last year.
2015. Very close to pushing the button
I’m a born Caymanian I want to leave, but NO other Country will give me the opportunity to live and work so easily, however while our government makes it so easy for people from other countries to come here. The recruitment agencies are backed by our government to encourage people to come here.
Not Britain?
This is all the reasons why Bermuda is ahead of Cayman.I will bet that Bermuda doesn’t have a population explosion like Cayman. I am a Paper Caymanian. When I arrived in Cayman in 1983 to live the population was just over 10,000. Caymanian heritage and traditions have been totally decimated. You need to bring in a consultant from Bermuda to determine why they have a grip and control of their population. Get Real Cayman it won’t get better, it will only get worse. Look on the statistics of crime that is happening in Cayman. I can’t believe my peaceful, crime free Cayman has been denigrate to this. I know older prominent Caymanians the likes of Annie Huldah Bodden ,Haig Bodden, Jim Bodden, Thomas Jefferson and more must be turning in their graves. My beautiful paradise beloved Cayman what went wrong?
Don’t wish to be like Bermuda. They are declining and their finances a disaster (billions of debt). Population leaving to return to their homeland, or for Bermudians to the U.K. if they have U.K. passports.
8:48, Though Bermuda has a 3.6% GNP growth rate this year. Not bad.
They also have a superb public bus system with controlled population growth.
Bermuda does not allow foreign ownership of property, and beneath its pastel pretty is a churning cauldron of hate and social unrest between the Brits, Portuguese and as always , Jamaicans.
im not joining any comittee unless there’s food
Public bus service in the future should be done by bus passes. People will always have an excuse that they can’t pay for a ride in cash or pull out a large 50-100 dollar bill. They should be able to sell one week passes or tickets. The busses should be owned by Government and staffed by government . They should have available parts if they are second hand cause they going to breakdown. Fuel costs would be cheaper by buying hybrid models.
Busses should be running from GT to frank sound into Rum point for route 1. 2 busses is all that is needed for startup. one coming to Gt and another from rumpling to GT. Route 2 Gt to East end should have 4 busses leaving every 5 minutes. East End to GT should have 4 busses.
This is all we need to star. 4 busses on standby in case of heavy load for special events for the Eastern Districts. If people start complaining, we could offer smaller busses to areas like South Sound, Prospect, Newlands, etc.
We will also need them to accommodate wheelchairs. If handicapped people need to go to hospital we could offer smaller suv style cars to individually take to the hospital (wheel chaired). Miller
No reason it couldn’t be free. At least for the first few years. Easily paid for by a surcharge on vehicle licensing.
The official figures now show Caymanians as a minority. The government now represents a minority. How is this democracy? You could make more Caymanians, but it is obvious the government do not want to do that at all. Keep you off the voter list and stop you running for office!
No we don’t need any more fake Caymanians thanks. Other countries exist, people should go make their money there. It’s a myth that we still need expats for top jobs. Caymanians are throwing themselves at them and not getting them because there is too much competition and no protection. You have no right to a living in your own country – but any generic Australian with a law degree does have a right to your living. It’s absurd. Stop it all. Let’s see what really happens. As soon as we introduced a points system we allowed ourselves to be gamed. All these people need to be is rich and that’s easy for them because their countrymen do the promoting and paying and it’s not their money they’re spending.
I really hate this place. It’s not my Cayman. There were 20k people here when I was born and the future was for us. Now…it’s up for anyone to grab, and we know how many arms we have and how many arms they have. Game over unless we do something NOW.
I am the OP and my point was that even if government made more Caymanians they would not be able to represent Caymanian because of the grandparent clause.
I am a Caymanian and have seen with my own eyes how my educated wife was turned down job after job because she took a few years off looking after our children. She was so desperate she took a low paid health billing apprentice position to gain experience, but it turned out to be a scam. The Doctors office that employed her only did it to make it easier to get permits having hired ‘Caymanians’ with the promise of training that never occurred. All the apprentices left when they realised it was a scam.
Like other Caymanians we are now looking at leaving since the prospect of our kids owning property here is bleak and the pension will not be enough.
So the unqualified Caymanian should get the lawyer job. You’re living on a different planet.
No I’m living in the Cayman Islands, the place where lawyers from all over the world are flown in with no prior knowledge of the jurisdiction, read the laws once and start copy-pasting out of practice notes for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars a year while being fed while they work, kept fit with sports teams, etc. basically provided an entire life of luxury – only price – sit at your $5,000 desk in your $2,000 chair and write. Actually it’s not even necessary to do that, in the minds of these firms – just have someone overseas download the laws and read them. And yet it’s too hard for Caymanians who have been making a life on this rock for over 300 years? We are made of tougher stuff than a lot of the people who live among us who keep us out, and they know it. That’s just the truth. I know hundreds of expat lawyers and very few of them I would say have the raw intellect I do. What they are very good at is being B students who worked really hard and have massive chips on their shoulders. And hence they’ve chased anyone with actual personality traits or a desire to live a real life out of the industry. But hey, you’re on the clock: back to it! That fat wedge they advertised in Counsel doesn’t grow on trees.
We need (1) to expand the public hospital (2) increase building density west of Hurley’s (3) build a new prison, which should include a women’s section (4) build a new court house (5) modern police facilities in George town. For (3) (4) and (5) Northward, Fairbanks, the glass house and the existing courthouse and Scotia should be sold to help finance it.
New prison at a $100 million dollars plus millions for consultants now working on it…? Yeah right we can just print more money.
Let’s feed and house criminals in such comfort, to completely remove ANY fear of being caught and imprisoned. Hell we’ll have half of Jamaica coming over to commit crimes knowing..
1..IF they do get caught, the sentence is laughable.
2..They’ll only have to serve one third of their sentence.
3..Whilst at the resort they’ll have excellent board, lodging and medical care.
This Caymanian for one, is not willing to spend that sort of money to speed the destruction of Cayman.
hate to say but too many ppl having kids that they can’t afford and born in an island with insufficent infrastructure.
The critical infrastructure most urgently missing is an expanded HM Northward to accommodate the early-paroled prisoners and recidivist bailees that are known to be armed and dangerous to the community and/or serial flight risks. Too many felons are on the loose, with headlines to match.
Deportation and revocation of status, without caring how many baby mamas they’ve abandoned around the Island.
Over population is the main problem not just on Cayman but all over the developed and undeveloped world but no one is ready to discuss much less do something about it. We as humans have never been here before so there is no lesson learned to fall back on as we have not yet solved it. All we can do is do our part and watch it all unfold around us. We are starting to realize that the world was a much better place when there was less of us and slowly we are seeing ourselves as the enemy of our future happiness and now we are beginning to treat each other as such. We used to count on humanity to solve all problems and now we are our problem. There is a great lesson for us coming up soon. I hope we learn how to survive it and make the world a better place for all in my lifetime or at least my Sons.
Government needs to put a stop to this madness and Caymanian need to wake up/stand up and quit putting fools in charge.
1) moratorium on work permits until we fix this mess.
2) moratorium on PR/Status grants until we fix this mess.
3) development plan in place where all stakeholders are a part of determining.
4) reintegrate schools
5) create economical/reliable public transit and figure out the traffic issue.
6) incentivize development of lower cost homes/apartments for Caymanians to buy/rent
The list goes on and on. But what we all know is development at this pace can not be sustained.
Even our legislators know this is a backwards list of suggestions. No wp, pr or status… So how you going to replace all the doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, nurses etc… who reach the end of their wp, retire or leave island with no prospect of pr? Jeez. You’ve taken the time to post, why not spend an extra 30 seconds to think about it first?
You do realize there are people here who are quite comfortable working and paying WP fees? This PR program was implemented for the wealthy WP holders to inject more money in the economy which negatively impacts the natives by increasing property values.
LOL. Speak for yourself. As for people “injecting more money in the economy” being bad for “natives”, just wow. Talk about financial illiteracy. I bought my land off a Caymanian, who had dredged a swamp to create its value, I paid stamp duty to CIG, I paid a Caymanian realtor commission, I hired a Caymanian architect, a Caymanian General contractor. The electrical, plumbing and ac contractors were all Caymanian, ALT, Kirks, Cox all got hundreds of thousands of $, and CIG more in duty and fees, the guy who did my garden caymanian, pool caymanian.. the list is endless, all with money that came from abroad. and you’re telling me this is bad for Caymanians. House prices are driven by supply and demand; how do you imagine buying a property for PR affects that? You think these people lived under a palm tree before they put their pr application in?
By training the Caymanians who qualify as attorneys. This is the Cayman Islands, no one who is not from here should be here any longer than necessary to train one of our own. They can take their tax-free money with them when they leave, that’s plenty.
Better start with the schools and then in maybe 20 years we will have some who have the potential to take these jobs.
There are simply not enough Caymanians to fill the roles of teachers, doctors, nurses, etc. Hopefully this changes with the increase in Caymanians completing tertiary education, but the fact is that we need these positions filled and people can’t simply be trained for them without the proper educational qualifications.
Don’t believe the hype – that is exactly how long lawyers do stay here. Your criteria means that is forever. Every single Caymanian that wants to be a lawyer and goes through law school gets a job at one of the top firms. The issue is that is nowhere near enough to fill the roles this island requires.
Lol. How big do you imagine the pool of competent, hard working, qualified Caymanian UNEMPLOYED lawyers is? I hate to break it to you but they are all already employed!
If a firm has 10 work permits then if someone retires or leaves they can replace that work permit. No one will want to come here if this mess isn’t fixed. It will become harder and harder to recruit people. And Train the Caymanians you can. No one is saying a moratorium should be forever but the population growth needs to slow down so infrastructure can catch up
its bad when traffic on saturday resembles ‘last sat before christmas’ all year round.
some supermarkets are actually dangerously overcrowded on saturdays…(easy simple solution is to allow sunday trading)
cayman has plenty of land but no planning.
the solution is go east.
free money making solutions:
Sell goab and build new goab east of frank sound.
The traffic in this island is a disaster in Bodden town is nightmare but nobody seen care about it the people from the easter district suffer every single day ….the MLA from north side to busy and the one from east end …where are day ….lord save this island the population is crazy ……not future for the new generation….
Very well written article.
IMHO we have several HUGE issues to deal with, including, but not limited to:
– Population Growth/Overcrowding/Infrastructure
– Crime & Personal Safety
– Road Safety (way too many accidents)
– Traffic Gridlock (loss of productivity)
– Cost of Living, Affordable Housing, etc.
– Environmental & Climate Change Concerns
– Make PR harder. It’s far too easy by simply having a baby with a Caymanian with no way to support themselves in retirement, let alone fund a family. 1 PR grant, with status then inevitable, and that’s how much more population further down the line. – Public transportation; no brainer to make better use of existing infrastructure; properly scheduled, island wide bus service, GPS tracked, not crappy 3rd world vans, we EASILY have the budget for this to be free to use.
– Overhaul RCIPS. Bring in UK and Canadian cops on 12m rotation to fill out the rank and file rather than import police permanently with all their families and associated costs
– Stop accepting 3rd world driving licenses that can be easily bought off island and change to a UK standard test.
– Traffic gridlock – No brainer; see public transportation. + rush hour traffic lights on certain roundabouts
– Cost of living – see free public transport but also one major often overlooked factor in the cost of living is unacceptable government delays which add up to 10% to the cost of things like construction due to financing overruns. Get rid of CI$ or simply make it fixed at 0.83 not 82/84. Local banks make tens of millions on this scam every year and that all comes out of our pockets
– the biggest single thing we could do for climate change and emissions BY FAR is move our tourist model away from mass cruise tourism; those big boats burn 80,000 gallons of filthy heavy fuel oil A DAY, EACH. And again public transport.
It’s notable that a modern public transport system AKA proper busses, driven by competent drivers solves or helps most of the problems on your list! What’s more it’s CHEAP and EASY to do!
Taken from the 2009 Constitution:
“Advisory District Councils
119. Subject to this Constitution, a law enacted by the Legislature shall provide for the
establishment, functions and jurisdiction of Councils for each electoral district to operate as
advisory bodies to the elected members of the Legislative Assembly.”
This has never been put in place. What are they scared of?
They never agreed on how to do it. Ezzard went ahead and did it for North Side anyway, and look how he was rewarded.
They’re scared of alternative power centres forming. Creating formal structures that allow their political enemies, whoever they may be at the time, to organise and claim support, etc.
Same reason George Town when it gets incorporated I guarantee you will not have an elected Mayor. It’ll be a government-owned company with an appointed Manager probably.
Wash-Rinse-&Repeat..
Pure Lunacy expanding this population which will absolutely destroy our brand and Environment and quaintness which was the main attraction to Cayman which our very sick political Ba$tards and their third world muck advisors seem bent on destroying so they can be rich.
will destroy? has destroyed!
Not lunacy when you’re the very wealthy owners of a supermarket chain, gas station, development company or car dealership for example who can ‘influence’ numbskull MLAs. To hell with the other 90% of the population as long as those political donors are happy.
Witthout the population naturally increasing the economy will suffer and stagnate. We cannot standstill – these are not the Islands that time forgot anymore. Build sustainably yes, but why are so many willing turn back the clock?
We’ll be known as the people who forgot their island..
How about in exchange for that concession given to developers is a requirement that they have to include a percentage of affordable housing in their developments before being given approval.
That has been the norm in the UK for some time. Any new development must include something beneficial to the growing community before approval is granted, eg affordable housing, assisted living, school, a new medical facility and pharmacy…But what hope is there when the govt policy remains “what’s in it for me ?”
and trees/park land and PROPER drainage, i.e. stop raising the ground levels to divert water onto roads and neighbouring yards.
Steady on! That will impact their profit! How dare you!
It’s worth noting that most developers do not get concessions of any kind. Yes the very big ones on SMB (who really should need it the least) get them. 90% or more don’t even ask. This idea that there’s some giant developer conspiracy lurking in the dark is blown out of proportion.
That said, Dart is 100% in a league of its own and plays by a different set of rules.
Go and enjoy the Singing Christmas Tree at the Lions Center on Novemeber 18 or 19. It is free to all.
I’d rather gouge my own eyes out with a rusty spoon.
I agree there needs to be planning. Unfortunately, quite a few good plans from the past have been put on the shelf and ignored (Miller-Shaw, EY, Lufthansa).
Also I have little to no faith in the people mentioned to actually come up with a decent plan:
“equal representation from planning, NRA, police, water authorities, CUC, telecom providers, historical and heritage groups, environmental groups, the Department of Environment, mosquito research and probably representatives from each district.” (assuming the reps are politicians…)
The Constitution that was voted on some years ago provides for District Councils, in fact, I believe it mandates them. Politicians are not permitted to be on them; I wonder why they have never been implemented…
Build a bigger theatre and more theatres for more shows. Is that the message?
An excellent overview of the mess this country is in. To add to the list, the hospital is at its max and will be for the foreseeable future and cemeteries are at their capacities.
I would have started with how much waste each and every person generates daily – both, visitors and locals.
It all goes to The Dump and stays there, polluting sea, air, soil, flora and fauna and every cell of a human body. This is the #1 problem for Grand Cayman.
I’d not compare Grand Cayman to Manhattan.
It is time to leave the so called paradise for some greener pastures. Or stay, get cancer from toxic substances, noise and light pollution, stress, and die.
There does seem to be a high incidence of cancer in Cayman.
Please try eating apricot seeds and see if that cuts down the cancer rate.
It is much worse than this. The wealthy Caymanians and government have created an attitude of ‘get as much as I can and screw the rest’. Remember what an infrastructure supports. A population of all ages and our elderly will increase and very much burden the inadequate social security we have. Pension funds under perform and we all know including the government that it will simply not sustain retired Caymanians and many residents. People serving in government (and I use that term loosely) simply don’t give a crap as long as they are okay with their gold plated pensions.
Some might not have a pension to draw on after spending it on a new Kia
CIG can’t manage getting a glass crusher and you want a decade of proactive solutions?
Too many people on Grand Cayman, there you go…fix that as a start.
Best way to get accurate data on number of persons in the Cayman Islands is to contact Cayman Islands Health Insurance Commission (HIC) at Govt Admin Building
In accordance with local law, all local residents are required to have Health Insurance. All insurance companies are also mandated by HIC to provide a monthly detailed report outlining (i) the lives covered by the insurer (for health insurance) and (ii) a list of those persons who have terminated health insurance. The HIC data is accordingly most accurate as it also includes data from CINICO.
Perhaps one of the media outlets could run a story based on HIC’s data relating to lives covered. You will get more accurate numbers from HIC than from WORC/immigration department
It maybe law to be insured but many are not. Lots of illegals not insured. Companies not paying for employees. Seniors that cannot afford it. Parents who haven’t added their children.
Agree…but at least population in Cayman Islands cannot be less than the figures produced by HIC.
Imagine, 2 cars for every family that arrives on our shores! Another 5000 people = another 5,000-10,000 vehicles on the already congested roads. It simply cannot work on an island 26 miles wide and 7 miles deep. And, I promise you, those in charge of infrastructure development have no idea what they’re doing. It’s a mess, and it WILL get worse.
You realize that you can only drive one vehicle at a time.
The traffic issue could be dealt with by better road mgmt and functioning public transit.
how do 5000 people = 10,000 cars?
Great article. How about for every development the developer must also build 10% of the units as affordable housing? This is the law in many civilized places.
I completely agree, well written, I would also add that the steering committee (which btw as suggested is a sensible collection and as much as possible avoids political cronies) needs to be set a realistic and prompt deadline to provide a plan. That plan then needs to be made public, and if it is not accepted by the Cabinet in full, then there needs to be clear and logical reasoning why it wasn’t.
Lovely thought but never going to happen when greed continues to be king on these shores and there are so many silent, wealthy vested interests in the background. We’re heading for a catastrophe.
Very insightful thoughts. How about a more direct option. Call a halt to all large development projects (hotels, condos, high rise office building, etc.) for the next 10 years. During that time we only allow homes and small apartment complexes to be built for residential purposes. During that time we allow the needed infrastructure to catch up. Maybe guided by a committee, but remember we did that with Vision 2008 and the results appear to have been largely ignored.
There was a moratorium on new hotels before. It’s a great idea. Dart the only one to benefit from all the new ones anyway.
Duty waivers/over running public beach once indigo opens/bringing in almost all expats. No gain for local population (6 month work permit income not worth the cost to infrastructure!).