Comments on: Petition: Botanical Gardens Maintenance Yard

By: Pequat1609

Pequat1609 — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 19:41:57 +0000

Because it’s been there for over thirty years or didn’t you know that?

By: ONEBOTANICFGARDEN

ONEBOTANICFGARDEN — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 20:40:14 +0000

unacceptable

By: ashamed

ashamed — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 20:39:40 +0000

Why spend millions on tourism to bring them here and you have this disgusting sight???????????????????

By: going on too lONG!!

going on too lONG!! — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 20:38:08 +0000

We need accountability of the OBA and planning dept for this ugliness!

By: oniontoo

oniontoo — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 20:37:05 +0000

who are these ppl behind this hideous monstrosities….COME ON OBA THIS IS RECKLESS PLANNING AND BLATANT DISREGARD FOR THE GARDEN..BTW i voted for you all..so hear the ppl..

By: JUNK YARD DOG

JUNK YARD DOG — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 22:33:58 +0000

Do not judge my book by its cover.

Come to think of it, the Botanical Gardens have not changed that much in the last 50 years. Same old thing, one annual Agg show after another when it could be a year round festivity.

Many people live in apartments and condominiums with out the luxury of an an atractive garden and would enjoy the peace and tranquility of a beautiful garden with out the asphalt.

In the semi tropics we can hardly expect to see any thing comparable to Europe’s great gardens or the tranquility of the oriental gardens of Japan.

We do not even have the serenity of a water feature or a even a pond for little boys to sail their model boats.

The city hall got rid of their water feature . Big big mistake. !
All it takes is imagination.

There are people here who I am sure would gladly fund the transformation.

Some of those ugly buildings need to go and get the trucks out of there.

All it takes is imagination, a design competition would work.

By: another day in .........

another day in ......... — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 18:34:00 +0000

TD if indeed this is the case, the OBA have no alternative than to follow through with it,, after being in office 2 and a half years, they havent found an alternative?????

By: Mockingjay

Mockingjay — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 16:17:02 +0000

No problem, just like the commercial goes, you can learn from a dummy.

By: Legacy

Legacy — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:43:26 +0000

Having a maintenance yard in the middle of our biggest park makes no sense no matter what. Who cares what was there before (other than Gov.) this issue is why are we putting one back in there now? Why isn’t the maintenance yard at the quarry with the other Public works maintenance yards?

By: Legacy

Legacy — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:23:17 +0000

Great post. I completely agree that the money would be much better spent fixing up all the building that are falling down in the Botanical Gardens, such as the roof on the Outerbridge Building rather than building this huge industrial site right in the middle. We all know how that’s going to end up looking. At this point, why not put a gate around the whole park and say “closed for business, we didn’t deserve this park”

By: Greeny

Greeny — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:14:50 +0000

I thought it was interesting that someone referred to the Botanical Gardens as Bermuda’s national park. I never though about it like that before, but it’s true. I know that tourists leaving the island get polled about “our product” and one of the questions is about the Botanical Gardens.

By: Common Sense

Common Sense — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 13:58:48 +0000

@ Binky – many thanks for pointing out that different names have different “avatars” I never realized the significance before, that is, that the same person may be using multiple names but maybe it’s just one person trying to give a false impression that his or her opinion is shared by others.

Madam Editor, can you please confirm if these avatars come from one person, or one computer, and if you have a policy rearding how many aliases a person can use?

By: JUNK YARD DOG

JUNK YARD DOG — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 13:21:56 +0000

Why do we not have any thing to show for the millions spent other than the lighthouse and the Aquarium.

Our Beaches are the jewel in our crown there is where we need to invest our capital there with proper facilities for our visitors.

I do not think that the Botanical gardens and overgrown parks are that great compared to other national parks , We need to hire competent management.

By: Greeny

Greeny — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:51:55 +0000

Honestly not sure how this avatar thing works

By: Cardine Alice

Cardine Alice — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 11:40:15 +0000

A real shame we don’t have a proper Botanical Gardens. Volunteers would be willing to help and Bot Soc has offered. The place is an embarrassing ruin and needs to be protected…off all.

Tourism do somehting about it.

By: Greeny

Greeny — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 05:06:15 +0000

Heck yeah I’m mad at this type of stupidy. All those building in the BG that are falling apart from neglect and now Gov. wants to borrow more money to put a large mainteance yard back into the center ot the Botanical Gardens? What???

By: chip

chip — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 03:07:25 +0000

Bermudians of this island if this goes as planned then its time for re election real talk ? One has wonder enough ! What about the lighting in the roads after the storms and the roads there self that have to be attended to that’s being neglected and both are high visibility that are being so overlooked that white elephants are starting to pop up around the island that not a good sign! Who’s joking around with money u serious

By: Triangle Drifter

Triangle Drifter — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 01:59:27 +0000

Maybe he/she wants those who don’t want to listen to hear a little better. Understandable. There are those who simply cannot face unpleasant reality.

By: Triangle Drifter

Triangle Drifter — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 01:57:04 +0000

Amazing! You lay out the facts & people click away on the dislikes. I guess there are those who cannot accept the facts as they are & face who is responsible for them.

By: Triangle Drifter

Triangle Drifter — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 01:52:57 +0000

If it was approved in 2012, it was in the planning stage long before that. Now, who was Minister of W&E/Ag & Fish up to December 2012. If you want to blame a politician for this debacle, there you have it. This is another PLP leftover that should have never happened.

Yes, the yard has always been there however it has only been in the middle of the park since Bermuda aquired the Camden property from the Tucker family sometime during the 60′s.

Just cause that is where it has been does not mean that it should stay in that location.

By: edwin

edwin — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 01:40:39 +0000

We see applications like this all the time ,

Trust So & So, location So & So Road and now you are MAD.

By: Triangle Drifter

Triangle Drifter — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 01:38:18 +0000

So, you think that all of the lawnmowers & equipment needed to maintain the park, agree it is no longer a garden, should be kept who knows where off site & trucked in along with the staff to operate it everyday?

Just wondering.

By: Triangle Drifter

Triangle Drifter — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 01:32:44 +0000

Yes, as long as that dog was not busy running in areas like #33 & a number of others.

By: Triangle Drifter

Triangle Drifter — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 01:31:19 +0000

What part of ‘This job was put in motion during the PLP Administration’ do you not understand?

The PLP started this botch up. It is yet something else for the OBA to put right.

By: Binky

Binky — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 01:20:29 +0000

Why do commenters with different names have the same avatar/identicons? See SMH, Greeny, Stupidity at its best
Are they all the same person?

By: SMH

SMH — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 23:51:48 +0000

WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING? Is it because you’re ANGRY about this?

By: Yardie

Yardie — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 22:51:12 +0000

A maintenance yard is definitely not needed in this park at all. I call it a park because to call it a Garden would be a crime. It is in such bad shape and so neglected by the staff and management! Go there on any given day and you would be hard pressed to find someone working on the actual tree or gardens. However, please be quiet as you could disturb the workers while they rest in the benches placed conveniently in the trees or asleep i the old rose gardens.

In order to get to the Parks Department offices the staff and management must drive past the gardens every day, Somehow these parks staff don’t see or care about the state of the gardens themselves. 10 months out of the year the gardens and rock paths are filled with weeds, Usually there seems too be a bit of a push this time of year to spruce it up a bit for the AG show. Drive a little further up and you see the Parks Department sign that is busted in half, a lamp pole without a lamp, door to a pump room hanging off and many other small issues that any worker or manager with a little pride could rectify. The park is still littered with trees knocked over from the last hurricane. There are still many trees with large broken branches that hang dangerously above park visitors, They WILL fall down on someone. This park could be free of dangerous branches and fallen trees in two days if one worker or manager cared enough to grab a chainsaw and high lift or bucket truck and get to wok.

The AG and Fish department is DEFINITELY one example of an ineffectively run department that we do not get value for the dollar on which should be privatized.

I helped with the clean up of the railway trail, the bike trail in Somerset and in the park in my area. I infuriates me to see grown men sitting around and getting paid to do nothing while there is so much to be done.

By: cat3

cat3 — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 22:27:18 +0000

Don’t believe everything you read in the paper. I am not for this construction because I believe the space can be used for something much better. But the maintenance yard has been there for years! It has not even been 5 years since the guys were moved to marsh folly so construction can begin so I do not know where you get a decade from. Also the trucks will not be driving through the gardens like other people have been saying as there is a service gate to south road. I don’t see there being more traffic delays because parks staff make 7:30 am and finish at 4pm. This maintenance yard has been in the plans for years. All other options for a location were viewed but none feasible. I think the workers should be located at marsh folly but it is not being allowed.

By: SMH

SMH — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 22:09:30 +0000

God I would hope not. This project should be called Grand Atlantic 2

By: Greeny

Greeny — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 22:07:30 +0000

Seems someone in Gov. has been busy on the Dislike key unless, of course, they like the idea that we all borrow even more money and go with the more expensive option????

By: Triangle Drifter

Triangle Drifter — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 22:05:35 +0000

Sorry, but this has been going on since before December 2012. The planning & any Ministerial involment would have been in the works long before that.

What we have here is another example of some high office civil servant, or collection of them, not thinking something through. What should happen now is some folks being put at the top of the being made redundant list, or at the very least taking a huge cut in pay & position.

By: SMH

SMH — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 22:05:25 +0000

Cool, thanks, learned something new

By: Time Shall Tell

Time Shall Tell — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 22:03:36 +0000

@ Terry For the Pembroke dump idea to work the government would first have to address two of the three access roads that are currently damaged or blocked off. Considering the time span that Palmetto Road has been in it’s sad current state (over two years now) & the number of years that Barnards Park has had flooding issues, I would not hold out on those repairs anytime too soon.

By: Greeny

Greeny — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 21:55:18 +0000

I just went to http://www.planning.gov.bm and the application for this refers to the site as: 169 South Road and there’s nothing about Botanical Gardens? Now I’m just mad

By: Greeny

Greeny — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 21:52:44 +0000

Thanks for that information. Did the planning application actual say Botanical Gardens? I for one would like to know that.

By: Smiths

Smiths — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 21:09:07 +0000

PLANNING DEPT RECEIVED THE DOCUMENTS AUG 16TH, 2012, THEY WERE APPROVED SEPTEMBER 2012. OBA WAS ELECTED TO THE GOVERNMENT ON DEC 17, 2012.

THE FAULT FOR DEVELOPMENT LAYS SQUARELY ON THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION, NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT. FIND OUT WHO THE MINISTERS WERE FOR PARKS AND PLANNING BETWEEN AUG AND SEPT 2012 AND START ASKING THEM QUESTIONS.

THE PLANNING DOCUMENTS AS ADVERTISED WERE CLEAR…WWW.PLANNING.GOV.BM – SEARCH PANNING AND BUILDING APPLICATION, BUILDING PERMITS..SELECT PARISH AND ROAD..SCROLL TILL YOU FIND THE APPLICATION.

By: Mockingjay

Mockingjay — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 21:01:06 +0000

Animism (from Latin animus “soul, life”) is the worldwide view that non-human entities (animals, plants and inanimate objects or phenomena) possess a spiritual essence.

By: Greeny

Greeny — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:53:14 +0000

Anyone that goes to the farmer’s market on Saturday has to walk by that site. It’s hard not to miss that type of scar on the landscape. Again, why there?

By: edwin

edwin — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:50:00 +0000

Since there are so many of you objecting , why don’t you MARCH On PARLIAMENT.

By: Stupidity at it's best

Stupidity at it's best — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:40:31 +0000

Do you happen to work for Government because that the only way your comments make sense.

By: Greeny

Greeny — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:37:34 +0000

And that area is beside the dump where all the trucks have to go at the end of the day anyway.

By: Greeny

Greeny — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:36:21 +0000

Errr…how is having a maintenance yard in the middle of our most important park a smart thing no matter how you look at it? If you read the article this is a completely new yard (old one hasn’t been there for over a decade)so why build it there again? Tourists and visitors shouldn’t have to see what will be a truck depot there on weekends and holidays and listen to 100-120 parks staff congregating there every day and clogging up our roads. Also, what happens if that dept ends up getting outsourced?

By: Dee

Dee — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:11:15 +0000

@ Another day in….. How do you know that the residents are staying silent? How do you know that residents have not signed the Petition or posted on social media sites?

By: Well....

Well.... — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:05:54 +0000

I am neither for or against this construction, but I do have a couple of points of “interest”

1. This construction was approved by Government in 2012… Cant remember if it was before or after the election
2. The work began in Mid 2013… So a considerable portion of the funding has already been spent on this site. Stopping and starting somewhere else will be the waste of money.
3. This site has been the home of the Parks Dept. for going on 70 years… Why NOW is it an issue, there is no reason to move their depot away from their main work environment!!

By: Jennifer Flood

Jennifer Flood — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:02:52 +0000

Unfortunately, when the plans were published, they did not mention Botanical Gardens. The plans are only advertised once, so if you happen to miss them – too bad. The advertised plans include very sparse details which may not alert a lay person to the extent of the work to be undertaken. The plans are also only available for 10 days only 9 am -5 pm (excluding weekends BUT I believe I am correct when I say that includes any public holidays that happen to fall within the 10 days) so it is difficult for anyone who does not work in Hamilton to get to Planning to view said plans.

In a number of other jurisdictions those planning changes have to inform their neighbours. Seems like a good idea to me:)

By: Greeny

Greeny — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:02:27 +0000

So if Grand Atlantic blows down, Government should rebuilt it because it was already ugly and there before?

By: A Better Bermuda

A Better Bermuda — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:57:33 +0000

Don’t you care about the legacy we’re going to leave our children? Hey kids, we let Bermuda borrow more debt to put a large ugly maintenance yard in the middle of our biggest Park, for a dept that was gone a year later. Sorry that’s not the legacy I want to leave my grandkids.

By: david smith

david smith — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:43:15 +0000

are you serious? – if they ran a dog in that area, they would vote for it

By: A Better Bermuda

A Better Bermuda — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 19:35:03 +0000

Simply that the last budget listed Parks Maintenance as one of the departments being considered for mutualization and doesn’t say that this would be a good or bad idea.

By: another day in .........

another day in ......... — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 18:45:22 +0000

Terry,, its really hard for you to admit that the OBA can do anything wrong isnt it??? smh.. This may have been in the works during the past government?? really, because you object to it, it must not be your team who decided this.. smh..