OBA: Government Has Got To ‘Come Clean’
The Government “has got to come clean about what is going on” with the Park Hyatt project, Shadow Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell said.
The construction was supposed to have started some time ago, with initial press statements on the matter stating the resort was scheduled to open in 2012.
Last week Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert told ZBM the agreement with Park Haytt was “terminated,” later saying he “misspoke” and what he meant to say was that the “time period for the agreement has expired and that the agreement has lapsed.”
A few days after that, the developer Carl Bazarian told The Royal Gazette that construction on the new Park Hyatt resort could begin by the end of the year, and the hotel could be open by early 2015.
Mr Crockwell said: “Bermudians, especially the people of St. George’s, can be forgiven for being confused about the status of the Park Hyatt project. First it’s on, then it’s off, then it’s on, then Minister Furbert says it’s off, then he says it’s on.
“This week, we hear the developer announce a scaled down plan for the hotel that could start construction before the year’s end, depending on what was reported as a ‘renewed commitment’ to the project – all this without any comment from the Government and with a Tourism Minister nowhere to be seen.
“What is going on? The Government, when asked for comment, says ‘No comment.’ The Government has got to come clean about what is going on. Does it support the project in light of its failure to start construction on time?
Is its agreement with the developer still in force? Is it prepared to extend deadlines? Does it support the scaled down project as indicated by the developer? Where is the Minister to answer these basic questions?
“The last thing Bermuda needs on this project is more questions and doubts and more rounds of promises, this time about a hotel ‘open and running by early 2015,” concluded Mr Crockwell.
When asked to comment the Tourism Ministry declined, however a PLP spokesperson said: “While the OBA is busy playing politics and trying to grab headlines, the Minister of Business Development and Tourism is in Toronto working to bring new investment and new jobs to Bermuda, making the most of the new tax agreement negotiated by the PLP Government.
“Whether the Minister is on island or not, he and the PLP Government remain fully committed to a hotel in St. George, as has been stated many times before.
“Instead of seeking ink on a page by sending releases to the press, the party of no ideas and no solutions should answer the one question our party will continue to ask: What cuts will the OBA’s austerity plan bring to Bermuda?
“We’ve already found out that they want to eliminate grants to businesses in the EEZ. What else will they cut? We in the PLP believe that Bermudians should know what programs the OBA would cut, what services the OBA would eliminate, and what benefits the OBA would reduce.”
You’re looking for a straight answer from a politician who just last election was canvassing his constituency talking about how bad the plp are, but has to now canvass the same area to say the plp are doing a great job.
It’s so funny that he gave a speech on being himself when he crossed the floor. Who exactly is he, and how can anyone trust anything he says with his track record of total inconsistencies?
the only answer to your question is that minister doesn’t even know who he is. The only thing certain about that minister is that he is akin to a jellyfish that can change shape according to the conditions he’s facing
Interesting pointing at Minister Furbert, but I’ll tell you what Furbs is working hard, so stop being a Hater and stop listening to Shawn Crockwell the Minister of Cocaine.
A politician who stole heroin and cocaine from the Supreme Court safe to sell back on the streets of Bermuda for his own selfish greed. This man wasn’t hard up for money or struggling, Crockwell didn’t give it up by choice, he got caught red handed. If it was weed I could understand, a little MJ never hurt anybody 60% Bda or more smoke it. Then you call Dr. Brown bad! Crockwell has the title when it comes to be pure feces.
Now you talking about people crossing the floor. Well last I checked the whole OBA team cross over from the UBP in 2 hours or 2 days!
1) A clear distraction from the issue. People are become much more aware of this tactic compared to last election.
2) You can work as hard as you want but still be untrustworthy.
3) Rolfe Commisiong…wasn’t he convicted of a crime? Or do you feel differently about him? What would you think of Charles Richardson if he was to run? (For the record, I would really like to see Mr Richardson run for office one day. I think he could bring a lot to the table). Point being, you can change.
4) Politicians in Bermuda ] change floors all the time. The plp itself has UBP in it. The difference is Wayne Furbert changed his entire way of thinking with the switch of the floor. He criticised the plp publicly and privately and made them out to be fools. That was until he joined them of course. Sound like a politician who’s word can be trusted? Certainly much less than someone convicted of a drug crime who has since changed his life around.
@ C.B.A or the OBA MP
“Certainly much less than someone convicted of a drug crime who has since changed his life around” WHAT!!!
If I knew a man was a pedifier served time in jail, who has since changed his life around….. would you still let this man come out and be around your child Bermuda? What’s the difference?
You’re comparing apples and oranges now. Pedophilia is a recognised psychiatric disorder which one doesn’t “recover” from. People make mistakes with drugs. What matters is how you learn from your mistakes, like Mr Crockwell did. Plus, what makes you so righteous and judgmental? If you want to judge something, judge the plp and the harm they’re creating for Bermuda with the billion dollar debt.
I am not an OBA MP, nor do I have any affiliation with them, except being one of their voters in the coming election.
Why would you change your screen name from the cocaine minster?
Dam I forgot about that, Crockwell you a dumb a$$ if you think people are going start trusting you as a minister. I can’t listen to this guy anymore. minister of cocaine, hey that’s price less lol. I can see Sean now “oh don’t worry I’ll destroy the drugs” the whole time he’ll be selling it back on the streets. Then again that’s not even funny you fked up people lives man. I can’t listen to a man who lives in a glass house or was it the HOUSE OF COCAINE. You and the other rats running on both sides PLP and OBA need to get the hell out.
So. In among your unintelligible trash talk I take it you have no answer to the idea of coming clean on the Park Hyatt issue then.
I wish we could replay all the negative things Wayne said about the P.L.P !!!!!this man is all about himself…
You are right on the money! I could and will not ever understand that! Whiney Wayne has always been waaaaayyyy behind the eight ball anyway.
PLP is always so defensive. Why? Opposition is in their right to ask for answers on any situation.
The PLP must be guilty of something or else why would they need to always put their guard up on every discussion.
I agree. Stop being so defensive and answer a simple call for increased transparency. The ruling party has been stained by controversy and scandal. I believe it is fair for those of us who need more comfort than simply being of the same race as our government to express some level of skepticism with our current government.
Its not just he Park Hyatt where the story keeps changing.
On June 1st the Royal Gazette quoted Minister Weeks as saying five units at the Grand Atlantic had been sold and 15 more purchasers were being screened for approval.
http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20120601/NEWS/706019978
“Public Works Minister Michael Weeks has defended the Grand Atlantic housing project against critics, saying interest in the development remains high.
Five units have been sold and 15 people are being screened for approval, he stated.”
Then just this week, Bernews reports that only one unit has sold.
I think somebody’s trying to deceive us.
Family Man, didn’t you know? They had to deceive you!
Only person deceiving people is the press as they are making things up. Just as the RG reported it does not mean its right. Weeks never said that, check the video link left on the other post.
Call E. Michael Jones at the talk show. He suppose to be the spokesperson I thought. Oviously Jones and Minister Furbert give conflicting reports. The quuestion is, does anyone know anything or is all this just one spin after another. Has the plans been approved? If so a copy should be displayed in the electronic media.
The OBA needs to stop hating and start offering solutions and plans
Lame.
You are absolutely right. Hating is a very negative and destructive feeling. My wife and I forbid our children from saying hate. At a young age I don’t believe such an absolute is appropriate.
We however are not children. And the negative feelings many of us have towards the destructive actions of the present government can certainly be summed up in that forbidden word.
You want the OBA to come up with solutions?! Me too! Vote them in and lets see what they can do.
If they screw up like the existing government, we can just as easily vote them out as well.
Sticking with the PLP is like saying “Just because I quit smoking doesn’t mean I won’t die of lung cancer!”. No it doesn’t; but at least it will give you a better chance.
Thing with that is if they screw up, I think we’ll hear the same speech from the voters that was said when PLP got in, “its only been 4 years, give the more time to fix things!” If that happens then what? How do we know that they won’t follow in the same footsteps of the PLP? How do we know that they are honest?
I think OBA are just as dishonest as the PLP. Their are lies on both sides and none are comforting. Who cares whether one lies more than the other or better, point is both sides are liars!! Come elction time, I still have no idea who to vote for!
Personally, there should be a debate between the Premeir and the Opposition leader of why their party should be voted in (that way, whichever side wins the person doing the debating would have to be the premier rather than the party switching the person out for another). We could even get the same type of debating going for each of the constituencies as well. Just thinking out loud.
Frankly, it will take more than four years to clean up the mess we’re in and should the OBA get in unless they pull off a major miracle (which would suggest a pact with the guy downunder) they’re going to get serious flack from a lot of people for not doing their job.
If I were going to choose who to vote for solely on parties alone, I’d go with the OBA simply because the odds of them being worse than the PLP are pretty slim. That and the PLP need to be reminded who they work for and a loss might just knock some sense in to them.
I kinda like that idea and you’ll be able to find out a lot more about them than just their ideas.
What are you saying? That the government should ask their political rivals for help formulating solutions and plans?
Thats actually not a bad idea. At least the country as a whole could move forward together. But then we would have to first trust our leaders! LOL
It’s not hating as you call it. It is asking a fair question and not getting a straight answer, just more deflection from the PLP. If you read their reply, instead of giving an answer they attempt to turn the whole discussion around to their now often used attack agenda. People are tired of it and it has grown old. The PLP are running from their record. They have no choice.
OBA suggestions on tourism (used to be an amazing industry for us. It’s not anymore.): http://bernews.com/2012/09/oba-one-empty-promise-after-another/
Suggestions on how to make sure Bermudians get local jobs: http://bernews.com/2012/09/oba-senator-fahy-on-solar-plant-proposal/
Suggestions on reducing the disgusting debt the plp has put us in (as well as calling Ms Cox out on her ridiculous statement that the Island is already recovering economically: http://bernews.com/2012/09/video-obas-review-of-bermudas-finances/
OBA suggestion on helping out struggling parents: http://bernews.com/2012/09/oba-suggests-temporarily-easing-requirements/
Anyways, the list goes on. The plp’s slogan that the OBA has no ideas is laughable. Even if the OBA had no ideas (which they do), that would still have to be better than the plp’s ideas that continue to fail this Island and put us in further debt. Vote smart on election day, not solid.
That’s a ridiculous retort from the ruling party. They are still in office and they are asking other how they should be doing their jobs????? Start managing the country’s affairs while it is your job to do so and stop asking others how they would do their jobs if they were in their place!
Come on!
The PLP needs to have some solutions and plans of its own, other than to make political elites rich.
When does the ruling government have to start offering solutions? Cause they spending and spending year after year more than they take in. When do THEY get held accountable for THEIR actions? Hm?
The PLP has no plan. That;s why they haven’t offered one yet. The OBA is keeping theirs close, so that the PLp can;t steal their ideas, which many of them which are used are from the UBP anyway!
Why would this Government come clean? They never have before and have always gotten away with it: coming clean would mean losing an already tight election and this Government simply lacks the integrity to put country first and before their own feeding trough.
When did brown say the “platinum period” was again? Is it waiting on these hotels or did we miss all 10 minutes of it?
The PLP is calling on the OBA’s austerity plan? Maybe it is similar to the measures called for by The Premier in an austerity memo to the Civil Service in January 2010, or the cuts to the Police budget caused, according to Minister Wayne Perinchief in the budget debate in 2011, by austerity measures? So clearly the PLP is already implementing austrity measures, but hoping no one remembers.
The PLP is the party of no plans or hope for the future, just continually asking the OBA for their ideas and solutions.
Some politicians are trying to use the austerity word to evoke an emotional response with the public. People the word austerity is not a bad thing!
Austerity:
1. the state or quality of being austere
2. ( often plural ) an austere habit, practice, or act
3. a. reduced availability of luxuries and consumer goods, esp when brought about by government policy
b. ( as modifier ): an austerity budget
So in other words stop accumulating debt and spending more than you take in and handing off the debt (and pension) burden off to future generations.
The PLP’s concept of austerity, although they don’t use that word these days, is evident all around us. People complain daily about the condition of the roads, the buses, ferries the lighthouse, funding for Mirrors, the EEZ even and many other services! That is austerity. Cutbacks. The PLP must think the average person really is stupid not to make the connection. The PLP are using austerity, they just aren’t being smart with how they are doing it.
“We’ve already found out that they want to eliminate grants to businesses in the EEZ.”
I thought they were eliminating EEZ’s alltogether? So basically your flyer in the mail is nothing more than a steaming pile of horse sh!t, a waste of money(no surprise there) and a waste of paper(I bet smith didn’t mind). What killed me was at the bottom of the flyer it says oba the party of no ideas and no solutions or something, yet 2 inches above it they’re criticizing one of the oba’s “supposed” ideas…and their voter base gets upset when you call them stupid for voting for this party. Smh
Thats it, hold their feet to the fire. Hold them there every day till we get an honest verifiable answer. Confirmation from an independent source is necessary because the PLP has proven time after time that their word alone is worthless.
In regard to the agreement with Carl Bazarian, plain and simply, what I don’t understand is why, once again, Carl Bazarian is being given the ‘benefit of the doubt’. He has never delivered on his promises and now he has not delivered on the terms of an agreement that has now lapsed and should be terminated.
Show me credible evidence that Mr. Bazarian is a success in his field and I can then assess the level of risk we are being made, by our own Government, to undertake. I have tried unsuccessfully to find information on Mr. Bazarian so that I can BEGIN to understand who it is we are in bed with. Nothing points to his success as a developer, and so, it would be beneficial to this country if the Government, who would undoubtedly have checked him out, would share that information… and the sources.
knock on EB’s door and ask him who his bed fellow is or call Michael when he is on the air.
The answer is that at this time they have no other offers to consider. He is the one and only man who has shown a deep interest in building a hotel there. Bermuda is a prohibitively expensive place to build a hotel and then expect to make a profit – ever. Until the Government accepts that in order to get a deal done they are going to have to offer very big incentives, like allowing the construction to be done by outside workers living on ships on 12 hours shifts 24 hours a day, with no Bermudians involved. Like they do in Dubai. The advantage for Bermudians in the long term would be to have a new hotel and then potential jobs at the hotel. With the wages & costs so high here that is the only way it could possibly work.
I think this government needs a break, they seem exhausted having to answer so many questions, and The Minister of Tourism is probably away brushing up on his non -vocal skills; he couldn’t run his own business successfully, how is he going to handle investments of the magnitude that is needed right now in Bermuda.??!! As we continue to sink deeper and deeper there will be less answers to questions and more blaming the OBA for doing their job as opposition…can we get past the smoke and mirrors ??are there any intelligencia left in government that can actually answer a question?
It is remarkable that Government would give a 264 year lease of 1/10 of the country to an unknown entity, and that the terms of the lease would be kept secret. Who are the shareholders of Addax Holdings?
all r de same
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bIfPvli0DkU
time for de pepl;o to run de world ;;;;;;;;;;
Pigs wallow in and eat their own $#!+ and you former UBP racists have spewed so much Hog$#!+ that you are now eating it as though it’s a gourmet mall and you think that the rest of us forgot that you produced it. No one is falling for your garbage. We’re voting PLP again. No one buys your decade long spew of hatred, snobbery and jealousy. You think that the longer you speak trash that people will eventually believe it. Your former UBP lords want to effectively neutralize the EEZs by ‘extending them across the island’. That’s basically saying they’re going to dilute them into oblivion. It’s clear who they are looking out for! You people are so full of self exaltation, arrogance and snobbery it scares me to death to think of you getting back into power. The OBA is for the elitist racist snobs.
Ah, the race card. How original.
That comment is out of line.
Careful. Some Premier of a tin pot little Caribbean country will read this out and use it as evidence that Bermuda is full of racists pigs.
COME CLEAN !
You better get some Clorox and a good cleaning cloth and be satisfied with that.- an’t nobody going to come clean on nothing right now
unless it’s a pre election tactic—— please !
Could we be part of a GAME!