Black Mayors Convention Moved To Next Year
The Atlanta-based Conference of Black Mayors, together with Bermuda’s Corporation of Hamilton, have decided to move the Black Mayors Convention from November 2014 to the first available date of next year, saying that representatives of several African nations had their travel plans altered by the Ebola crisis.
In making the announcement today, the CBM Chief Executive, Vanessa Williams, said that several African nations – including Nigeria, Uganda, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya – were among countries sending major delegations to the event which was originally planned to be held on November 12 – 16, 2014.
“Their travel plans had been dramatically altered by the Ebola crisis and they are simply unable to join us. Their participation was to be a highlight of our convention and they would have been sorely missed,” she said adding that a number of U.S., Caribbean and Latin American Mayors had suggested that the conference be moved to a later date so as to enable the African delegates to take part.
“There is now enormous solidarity among delegates for the government and the people of these nations affected by this deadly disease. Many feel, I am sure, that but for the grace of God, it could be their cities and they know that they would have the support of their African brethren,” she said.
The Deputy Mayor of the City of Hamilton Donal Smith, who is Chairman of the local organizing committee, said that the event’s move to next year would enable delegates to regroup and stage an even better event.
Mr. Smith said, “We shall hopefully have celebrated the end of the Ebola crisis which has prevented our African brethren to be able to travel freely to join us in Bermuda.”
Mayor Graeme Outerbridge said several of the African government leaders who had attended President Obama’s initiative – the U.S./African Conference in Washington in July – were anxious to come to Bermuda to join their peers from the U.S., Latin American and Caribbean.
“They were coming to discuss ways to generate investment in much needed infrastructure. They were to join us to exchange views on the many problems that confront all Mayors in the U.S. and around the world. The need to grow jobs, to increase national security and to deal with the vexing issues surrounding immigration and a thousand other things,” he said.
Hmmm!
IFF this event was even going to take place…this is a good decision.
But please, just take the $50,000 Deposit to avoid any chance of ebola in Bermuda!
Exactly, not a peep out of what was happening for this conference that was supposed to be so close… and now it is postponed. An organization in crisis, being hosted by city officials who don’t communicate or coordinate with each other… all the ingredients for a event flop.
Isn’t our Mayor white?
They must have a crystal ball to know that ebola will be eradicated by ‘the next available date next year’.
I thought they were going to blame it on the hurricane.
We should lick our paws and call it off
Take the damn loss of x amount of dollars to avoid any chance of the Ebola virus getting to Bermuda shores. “An oz. of prevention is worth a lb. of cure”.
What are we going to do next, stop the Americans from coming. they just reported another case in the U.S in New York and this man has been out and about and exposed himself several places before actually becoming to sick were he had to go to the hospital,now how close in Bermuda to New York and if it keeps on popping up it’s head I guess we would be told that we wont be able to travel to the U.S for the fear of bringing it back to Bda. we are labeling Africa like it is the whole continent, it is west Africa
Don’t misunderstand what is happening. We didn’t ‘call it off’ to ‘prevent ebola reaching our shores’.
THEY called it off, using ebola as an excuse. The whole thing is a work of pure fiction. It will never happen.
Sounds like noone signed up.
People signed up…they were coming.
Will they come next year??? Who knows!!
I’d like to see a list AND I’d to hear from the Southampton Princess about what possible cancellation fees for all the rooms and facilities, that they must have booked well in advance, will be charged?
The black mayors conference, was a joke to begin with !!!! you can bet that this so called conference will never happen …. someone has got caught out….
So are they sending the money back they were given…lol
If anyone believes a word of this stuff about this conference, I have a nice bridge to sell you.
if it’s due to the Ebola scare than fair enough
What does Ebola have to do with South Africa, Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal etc. Other than being on the same large continent there is NO connection.
It’s all BS folks.
Family man hit it on the head.
None of the countries listed has a current Ebola case. Only Nigeria and Senegal have had cases and they both haven’t seen a documented case since early September.
Think of it this way. Are we stopping people from Spain or the U.S. from coming to Bermuda? Nope.
Are they not traveling overseas because of this? Nope.
Those are both affected countries with recent cases. This is a convenient ‘untruth’. Uganda, Rhwanda and South Africa are thousands of miles from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Just Google map it. The CBM is depending on the general ignorance of African geography, which can easily be fixed with one Google maps search.
Exactly what Donal & Co. want you to think. They want you to believe the hype without question. Congrats.
make sure you host it before you get voted out in the Spring!
“and a thousand other things”
Please enlighten us on the thousand other things, or was that an exageration.
I think it was $150,000 other things.
Bovine excrement abounds.
So how does the mayor of a city “increase national security and deal with immigration”?
Utter BS isn’t it.
Can we hold the white mayors’ convention this year instead, then the black one next year … that’s fair right??
Your already have a white mayors convention, just look at the OBA oh and take out the puppets.
Oh Hi Jamahl.
Mr. Smith said, “We shall hopefully have celebrated the end of the Ebola crisis which has prevented our African brethren to be able to travel freely to join us in Bermuda.”
Really?
That’s odd because there are no current travel restrictions in place and certainly weren’t when these delegates booked their flights and hotel rooms. The Conference was supposed to be in three weeks afterall.
This Conference will never happen. The money has been received by those in the know and taxpayers will be left with another example of “Faith Based Tourism”.
that money was gone right after it was sent…bogus from the start….suddenly a US based organization event is dependent of mayors from a few African countries…right…..charlatans all around…when can the Hamilton team be booted out? sooner the better …
What a load of BS.
Who gets to vote in the next municipal election?
It’s becoming obvious / urgent to others that vote in the Municipal Election to have them that are housed at the Salvation Army Shelter to be relocated sooner rather than later
I’d like to propose that anybody who actually believed that this convention would ever happen should be barred from voting in elections on the grounds that they’re as dumb as a bag of spanners. Just a thought.
Oddly enough, the website that used to be the one for this organisation no longer exists. http://www.ncbm.org – look for yourself. Enough said.
Anything with a colour restriction including a Black Mayor’s Conference in this day and age is at least an embarrassment, and legally speaking should not be allowed at all.
I thought we had a law against this sort of discrimination? We have a monument dedicated to it not a stones throw from City Hall.
The things men will do to get the attention of a woman.
LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE! UTTER BS!!
For those of you that have contact with the black mayors that are not coming from africa why not suggest they donate the large amount of monies they were to spend here to the red cross of their own countries!The lady and local corporation have done a great job in naming the countries that one should avoid giving hand outs too!jett setting Black Mayors People are dying!!! Ebola is a global !
Now that this infamous mayor conference is not taking place…thanks Ebola for being the face-saving patsy, the one question that baffles me is – When are we going to STOP having events based on race/ethnicity – The Black Mayors conference is just as unpalatable as having a White Mayors conference. I’d find an Asian or Indian etc.only Mayors conference equally offensive. Let’s stop with this outdated labelling. Let’s just have a Mayor’s conference, period.