by Larry Smith
A mini-controversy erupted recently over the prime minister's remarks about responsibility of the press.
Hubert Ingraham called the Tribune to task for its lurid crime headlines. And that criticism drew the ire of publisher Eileen Carron, news editor Paco Nunez and former news editor Athena Damianos (who now works for a realty firm).
They all said roughly the same thing - that the press only reflects what Bahamians are most concerned about - and the best way to change the headlines is to fix the problems of our rapidly deteriorating society. This is true as far as it goes.
But one of Tough Call's correspondents (who asked to remain anonymous) said the press should not be ultra sensitive to criticism from politicians, since to criticize does not necessarily imply that press freedom is being threatened. And he added that while the press has a duty to hold up a mirror to society, warts and all; it should not be all warts.
"The press informs and records history as well as moulds," he wrote, "and editors should always be conscious of that. Front pages designed to attract readers by constantly playing up crime and scandal will give the society a false impression of itself. This is especially important in a developing country."
This is the venerable argument about good news versus bad. And although we might agree with such sentiments in theory, the media also has to face reality. And the reality is that the market rules. The press has nothing to sell but content, and it's already pretty clear that much of the content is not what readers want.
How many of us give a rat's tail about spelling bees or telemedicine advances or people receiving awards. And how many papers would those stories sell on the front page in one of the few markets anywhere that still sells a majority of papers on the street?
It's the same in politics - where every decision or non-decision is based on what the special interests might say or do.
Dowdeswell Street Parking Lot
Another de facto disaster like the intersection at the Montagu ramp is developing at the Eastern Parade, one of Nassau's most scenic and historic districts.
An unregulated parking lot now extends along Dowdeswell Street from Scotiabank east to St Matthew's Church - and it is getting more crowded by the week. A school recently set up shop near the rectory along with other businesses, and the only parking in the area is on public land.
So cars now line both sides of the narrow road, and they are expanding onto the parade next to the 18th century cholera burial ground, as well as onto the little park in front of St Matthew's cemetery that was rehabilitated at great expense by Kerzner International after the last hurricanes. All this has developed unnoticed over the past few months and is gradually getting worse.
Soon, a goodly portion of this historic public space will be turned into a parking dustbowl, and then street vendors will no doubt move in. Access to Bay Street from Dowdeswell Street will become more and more difficult - and eventually, we will have another chaotic and unresolvable mess like Montagu.
If the government and the private sector do not collaborate on regulating vehicle imports, building parking garages and fixing public transport, there will soon be little point in getting out of bed in the morning. And on top of that we are throwing more and more money away to burn gasoline, pollute our air and damage our health.
When Will the Madness Stop?
Well, for the first time a developed country has decided to put an end to the madness - or at least some of it.
The State of Israel has partnered with Renault-Nissan and Project Better Place (www.projectbetterplace.com) to replace its automotive infrastructure within a decade or so. The initiative is endorsed at the highest levels - by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres - and will include the Palestinians too.
Renault-Nissan will mass produce an electric car that will cost the same as, or less than, comparable gasoline-engine autos and carry a lifetime warranty. California-based Project Better Place (headed by Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi) will invest $200 million to set up a recharging grid using electricity from renewable sources. And the Israeli government will provide incentives to make the project work.
The cars will will be available in three years. They will have a top speed of about 68 mph and a range of more than 100 miles, enough to satisfy most Israelis, who drive less than 45 miles a day. Green cars are particularly attractive to Israel, which hopes to weaken the political clout of its oil-rich enemies.
According to President Peres, the plan would cut Israel’s oil imports by half within a few years, and the remainder could be cut by building solar energy generating plants: “In one decade, we will not need oil.”
The project's business model will be similar to that of mobile phone operators - a network of charging spots and battery exchange stations will provide convenient access to electricity. Consumers who subscribe to the network can get subsidized vehicles which are cheaper to buy and operate than today’s fuel-based cars.
Project Better Place has calculated that if Israel’s fleet of two million cars were all electric, they would require 2,000 megawatts of electricity per year, which could be provided by a one-off investment of $5 billion in solar plants.
Replacing our 200,000 vehicles - and setting up utility-scale renewable power generation - would cost substantially less, and could be the catalyst for a major social and economic advance. It would free us from oil dependence and provide a better quality of life, as well as all the advantages related to developing and supporting a powerful new business infrastructure.
The Silver Volt - Just for the Record
Many might not recall that almost 30 years ago there was a similar attempt at an electric car project in the Bahamas.
A Michigan company called Electric Auto proposed a pilot assembly plant in Freeport to produce the Silver Volt on a modified GM chassis. Like the Israeli car, the Volt was to have a top speed of 70 mph, a range of up to 100 miles and could recharge its batteries in just 90 minutes.
Reports claimed that the cars would sell for $15,000. About 300 prototypes were to be built in Freeport for road-testing in Florida. But unfortunately, the project never materialised.
Back to the Future at Tourism
Cruise ships are getting bigger and bigger, taking thousands of passengers and crew to island destinations thoughout the Caribbean. But at the National Tourism Conference last week Director-General Vernice Walkine said officials were seeking to get small cruise lines to offer services to family island destinations with ships carrying only one or two hundred passengers. This is a recycled initiative.
When Tough Call worked for the Bahamas News Bureau back in the day, the SS Sunward 11 (operated by NCL) was already running twice-weekly cruises to the Berry Islands and George Town, Exuma.
Windjammer Cruises operated a fleet of large schooners that sailed to out island destinations. And in 1976 I was a press visitor on board the 80-passenger, 130-foot M/V New Shoreham, whose 10-day itinerary included North and South Eleuthera, the Exuma Cays, Andros and the Berry Islands.
The New Shoreham was operated out of Nassau in the winter by the Rhode Island-based American-Canadian Line. The shallow-draft vessel featured a specially designed bow section that allowed it to nose up to a secluded beach and drop a gangway to disembark passengers directly onshore.
These cruises ran for at least five years but were discontinued as drug smuggling through the islands by the Colombian cartel and their Bahamian allies became our most important industry. In one celebrated 1981 incident, for example, two American boaters were murdered, their bloodstained sloop found adrift in the Exuma Cays. That kind of story doesn't make good ad copy.
But for the past year or so the Ministry of Tourism has tried to interest small high-end cruise lines like Crystal Cruises, Oceanus, Sea Dream and Sea Borne in various out island ports of call, operating from Miami or Nassau. The big obstacle is size. Unlike the New Shoreham today's mini cruise ships can have a draft of 15 feet, which makes it difficult to access ports like George Town without harbour dredging.
Polling for Privatisation
A reader responded to last week's article on ZNS by calling for a broad-based media poll to gauge Bahamian attitudes towards reforming the state sector and to bolster the courage of our politicos.
"I believe one would find strong support for privatisation, but the politicians aren't quite so convinced," wrote E. B. Christian. "We need to convince them to have a referendum that effectively cuts Bahamasair loose, opens up competition immediately on all aspects of telecommunications, and does away with ZNS as a government-run crony institution."
Of course, Hubert Ingraham was burned by a referendum on constitutional issues just before the last election, but if the government takes its time and supervises a relaxed bipartisan vote on big issues like privatisation of state corporations or the creation of a national lottery, it could build support for the kind of changes that are required in our antiquated economy.
"We need less money for government corporations like Bahamasair, but we need more money for education, the police and infrastructure," Mr Christian says. "The important thing is that the government stop funding these money losing operations, so that they can begin to reduce the level of taxation on the average Bahamian."
Good article. I would have added only one thing: a reminder to Bahamians that they do pay tax. So many Bahamians operate under the illusion that they don't pay taxes. Perhaps an estimate break down of how much an average Bahamian consumer (non-business owner, just consumer) spends on taxes to the government per annum may be something 'revealing'. That wouldn't even count stamp tax on legal documents and bank transactions, property tax, airport taxes etc. It would only count duty and stamp on consumable items: petrol, food, clothing etc. Perhaps, when the citizens understand better that they DIRECTLY pay and employ the massive government bureaucracy that we have for the management of the national affairs of only some 330,000 people, they will begin to ask more from their representatives and from the bureaucracy in general. Bahamians own the Bahamas, not their politicians!
It would be curious to note the ratio between citizens and government employees/bureaucrats/representatives in this country, as opposed to others. It would also be curious to note the comparative expenditure accounts of our representatives relative to the USA and then relative to other developing nations. These sorts of comparative figures would help locate this debate in some kind of factual perspective.
Posted by: EB Christen | February 06, 2008 at 12:18 PM
It's crazy idea time again!
The Montague ramp should be moved over by where the Fort is. There's more parking space over there and it doesn't interfere with traffic.
There should be water taxi terminals set up at montague, along the eastern road, on P.I., Cable Beach, under the new bridge, downtown, and by Fish Fry. There should be 4 story tall parking complexes next to each water taxi terminal. So, a person can wake up out east, fight traffic for 40 minutes to get to the terminal at Montague, park easily, get on a boat, get off by the new bridge and just walk over to Dowdeswell street and be at work On Time!
Every parking lot downtown should be turned into a 4-6 story tall parking complex and the Government can split the revenue with the original owners of the land until either the government or original owner has the cash to buy the other out.
Lets say a parking lot downtown holds 80 cars. No make it a 4 story tall parking complex. 80*4 = 320 cars in the same footprint of the original parking lot. That's 240 cars that don't have to be parked on the side of the road anymore. Now imagine doing that for every parking lot in the downtown area! And for the lazy people who can't stand the 5 minute walk to work people can rent a segway (they give segway tours of ft. charlotte and the botanical gardens) or someone could start a golf-cart "taxi" service from parking lots to offices.
Posted by: KrayZ | February 06, 2008 at 12:37 PM
A good,comprehensive article and I can quite see some of the dilemas.Even so,what goes around,goes around.I well remember the late Edward St.George either ignoring or simply not registering the trend and the levels of violent crime in the 80's...as he said,'I can leave my door open at night'Well,maybe he could...we couldn't but he finally got ex-SAS men to look after him and the family.This amount of 'denial'has not helped your stand against the progression of crime.He didn't read the Tribune enough!
As to the cruise question....'you' became complacent:it was 'always there for the picking' but the attitude thing has seen to that...poor service,overall, from start to finish...but Minister Grant has reacted strongly and good luck to him...need I go on?
Posted by: John Hinchliffe | February 09, 2008 at 04:12 AM