OBA: Govt Faces ‘Hard Sell’ To Convince Public
The public consultation resulted in four in favor of turning the Corporations into quangos with 164 against, while four were in favor of Government subsuming the Corporations with 172 against, so the Government is “going to have a hard sell on its hands in order to convince the public.”
This is from Shadow Home Affairs Minister Sylvan Richards following the close of the Government’s public consultation on the future of Bermuda’s municipalities, which provided two options: change the Corporations of Hamilton and St George’s into quangos or dissolve them entirely.
Mr. Richards said, “With the Government’s public consultation period for the proposed changes to the Corporations of Hamilton and St. George now closed, it is apparent that the Government is going to have a hard sell on its hands in order to convince the public that it is best positioned to maintain the infrastructure and to set the economic agenda of the two municipalities.
“According to the Bermuda Government’s online forum, the public consultation resulted in four being in favor of turning the Corporations into quangos with 164 against, while four were in favor of Government subsuming the Corporations with 172 against this proposal.
“These results are not surprising given that both municipalities are currently managed by people who have a vested interest in running the two municipalities and who have traditionally done a better job than the Government at maintaining infrastructure and serving their respective constituents.
“So once again, the question must be asked – why is this Government so dead set on tearing apart the municipalities? There is a prevalent thought that the Government has already made up its mind regarding this matter and that the Hamilton waterfront is the real prize to be had, with the corporation of St. George being mainly collateral damage in all of this.
“Have promises already been made by the Government to the Corporation of St. George to increase its funding for various capital projects in the Old Town if they remain mute regarding the changes being proposed by the Government?
“If Government decides to forge ahead and ignore the prevalent public sentiment against the two proposals and either turns the municipalities into quangos or takes full control of both municipalities, it will be interesting to see how quickly a bill will be tabled in parliament.
“Drafting complex legislation usually takes months to work its way through the drafting and legal vetting process, therefore if a bill is tabled soon after Government makes its final decision it will be quite apparent that it had made its decision prior to the just concluded 10 day public consultation period and that public consultation will have only been a sham.”
It is interesting that the gov are advertising their intentions on radio and saying that the corporations do not have any money…..Does government have money? I do not want government to take over the municipalities largely because they (plp) have NO track record of being able to run anything! In fact I would vote for the reverse where the corporations take over running government. NO, NO, and NOOOOOOOO!
Curtis wants the wharfage fees. IT’s as simple as that.
Given how utterly useless the PLP have been, a staggering track record of failure and cost overruns, this should scare the bejesus out of everyone.
advertising on radio? who is paying for that?!
You I think.
He’s right you know.
Why is there a town hall meeting in St George’s coming up?
The municipality already had one and the Government didn’t come.
Or, the ones who were there, didn’t speak.
Corporations to take over Government! YES ! I vote for that. It makes far better sense than the reverse. This Government, time and time and time again, shows its is not capable of running a lemonade stand, let alone a country.
OBA forced the airport on us
PLP forced the new hospital wing on us
Which was supposed to be a whole new hospital but we only got a wing. One that is not big enough and created a bed shortage!
Oh for Christ’s sake, are you really that dumb?
@ Sandgrownan
That’s an affirmitave, sadly there are many more. JS
I believe everyone agreed we needed a new airport, does everyone agree major changes are needed for Hamilton and St Georges? Methinks not. Wake up people!!! Hahahahaha!!!
Nope we did not need a Hollywood airport in exchange for 30 years of lost revenue!!
I take it you have no idea how building systems work and and what it takes to run a building. Don’t worry, you don’t have to answer because the fact you think the airport was “ok” proves you know nothing
How you feel about the hospital wing?
User name checks out.
Looks like your reading comprehension skills are lacking. I said everyone agreed we needed a new airport. The financing is something people debate about but NOT THE NEED FOR A NEW AIRPORT!
Nope. Most of us wanted the airport and liked the economic stimulus it provided.
What we don’t like is the secretive PLP and your austerity plans.
Which won an award for best PPP deal of the year
thank goodness! even the Government’s own stats department acknowledged its positive effect on GDP … and without it?
Actually the plp forced the airport on us by bankrupting the island.
Let’s rent a crowd and really stir the poop then we will close down parliament, get pepper sprayed and await some hefty payouts.
Won’t work, you got to be a ligit Pee L Pee’er for that.
Its a power thing for the PLP NOT FOR BERMUDIANS
Better start buying kerosene.
PLP just “going through the motions” to look like their “listening to the people”. OBA have better chance of winning seats in St. Georges at next Election if PLP take it over.
Doubt that. They’ll still lap up the Koolaid in St. G
Mark is correct!!!!
the plp must be playing smoke and mirrors it worked on the reversal on rent tax then made more on the land tax hike ….actually worked in their favour….now lets see wanting to take over the corporations what is the real plan….well maybe that one fell into their lap the only thing I keep coming up with is they want the Hamilton waterfront and corporation fueltax…they will absorb the staff as they always do making more people depended on Government…I am really struggling to work it out ,,they can’t operate anything or manage anything so why take on more …its mindblowing…st.Georgians they did their best to shut us down …closed golf course then knocked down a perfectly good clubhouse …shut the fire station ….shut the police station took back the wharfage duty from airport freight….the plp are trying again …DONT LET THEM
No need for a hard sell. They have made their decision and most voters don’t understand or care anyway.
Yep – just like Burch and his little ATV plan.
Gets your hands off the cookie jar..people have spoken..
If anyone has the ear of government please ask them to consider the two bodies separately. There are reasons why eg it makes sense to change the Corp of Hamilton but the same reasoning doesn’t hold for St. George’s. To consider them both and treat them the same is not the right answer.
most right thinking Bermudians, are leaving the isle of devils.
I shudder to think of the mess the Government will make it it gets to run two municipalities. Having power to demand governance by no means implies competence. The best thing Government can do is get out of the business of running anything altogether. It’s a train wreck in slow motion.
Their best argument is “25-11”. They seem to rely on that a lot.
To be fair, THIS lot beat the OBA 25-11…
It does say a lot about how well the OBA did their job…
Similar to the way Trump was elected, the people voted for what they wanted. Xenophobia, homophobia and racism.
Actual Trump lost the popular vote so the people didn’t get what they wanted in that case.
But looking back…it’s looking like the oba was doing a decent job in comparison
you have been watching too many British TV advertisements which is clear from your use of “to be fair” prefix.
Plus,I suspect your gig has been mentioned to you by certain people in low places.
Lol…the phrase came before the advert,,,,lmao…we do speak “English” not Bermudian
I have no idea what ANY of this means. This is just gibberish…
Wow it has taken all this time for us to finally admit that 25 – 11 is actually a reflection on the OBA and not the PLP and that’s why the PLP are always in election mode.
Now only if the OBA leaders were to accept that and get real on their election mode campaign. We need to represent the majority demographic and distance ourselves from Dunkley, JetGate and come clean on who took the money from JetGate. Then we can rise and get the votes back!
Wow! Who knew PLP always in election mode.
Let’s talk Uighur Gate, Hospital Gate, Port Royal Gate, Cement Gate, Lois Brown Evans Building Gate and every other gate associated with them.
This is why the corporations do not need to be taken over by this PLP government. They are a fiscal nightmare.
The phrase 25-11 is hate speech aimed at aggressively shutting down any reasoned debate.
The phrase is an example of targeted aggression, routinely thrown out to taunt a specific part of the population.
It will come back and bite you in the A$$.
Sylvan, your face is in the wrong place.
Also, did you put back the money you and Pamplin used from Government to go to Rio??
Your OBA has done treacherous activities.