Column: ‘Town That PLP Government Forgot’

July 14, 2022

Tia Smith Bermuda Jan 23 2022[Opinion column written by Tia Smith]

I’m a St. George’s parish girl at heart. I was born in St David’s, have spent most of my life living in St George’s town and have family and countless friends from this area. And, I mean, who doesn’t love the many [okay, two] shades of blue? So versatile with the colour yellow as well, if you find yourself at Lord’s. It’s a richly historical and fervently close-knit town.

It is also somewhat the town that PLP government forgot…

I firmly believe that all politics is local first and I count all of us on both sides of the aisle as the proudest cheerleaders for our parish. Unfortunately, in the past couple of years, that local support has not been backed up by the central government. It was one of their platform promises to “enhance the community of St. George’s”, but promises made and not kept are no better than ones never spoken.

They promised the construction of a marina in St. George’s. Whilst this has been announced, the construction and finished dates have continuously been pushed back and recent announcements noted a 48% increase in the cost from what was previously noted. This is a promise long in the making and I’ve yet to see anything come from it. Words alone cannot and should not be counted as progress.

They promised us a waste treatment facility. Again, there have been announcements made and promises made yet no discernable movement and/or no updates provided. This has supposedly been on the schedule for several years as well and it all seems more of a politically expedient throwaway comment as opposed to the priority it should be.

They promised to ensure that St George’s continues to have a voice by ensuring our right to “sole legislation”. This may be one of the more waffly of their promises but given the Government’s plan to reform the Corporation, it also becomes one of the most two-faced.

The current hybrid nature of the Corporation of St. George’s means that those closest to the town’s issues are also the ones making most of the decisions. It translates to confirmed buy-in and equates to a more thoughtful and balanced direction. Changing that to a more quango template loses the localness of the politics.

There have been so many examples in recent years showing that St. George’s has been put on the backburner. We deserve better. They promised many things and delivered on few. That doesn’t surprise me, but it does sadden me.

The PLP platform rightly made mention of St. George’s as a world heritage site, but this seems to be nothing more than a talking point for those at the echelon of the currently reigning PLP government. The skeleton of the support from this government for the revitalisation for our town might well exist but, unfortunately, we cannot support ourselves with bones and no meat.

- Tia Smith, OBA candidate for Constituency 1 [St. George's North]

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Comments (15)

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  1. wondering says:

    Some truism here but the OBA needs to get some more credible candidates.

    • PBanks says:

      Who is the other OBA candidate – Ms Smith is clearly one – and what lack of credibility do they have that the incumbent MPs for the area don’t?

  2. Ringmaster says:

    A very good expose of the PLP’s failings, but it goes deeper than that. The headline should read “The Island the PLP Government forgot”. The list of failures is so great it is not even worth trying to list them. Try and get a response to a reasonable request is met with silence and disdain. The PLP know their voters won’t rebel or demonstrate in the same way they did when the OBA was Government, even though what the PLP are doing is proven to be destructive and anti Bermudian.

    • Unbelievable says:

      Very true. How’s that 2017 and 2020 election platform looking now? The platforms where they’ve done virtually NONE of what they said they were going to do. You have to be drinking some deep green kool aid and still believe they’re doing the work.

      • watching says:

        DOnt let the truth get in the way of a good narrative. Everyone knows that the pandemic obviously negatively impacted the ability to execute the 2017 platform in totality and actually prior to the pandemic the country was on a positive path. The current platform (2020) is being worked on methodically and as it is only 2022, clearly a platform cannot be expected to be completed. The platform is for the entire term in office, not necessarily the first year or two.
        But, carry on.

      • Joe Bloggs says:

        “How’s that 2017 and 2020 election platform looking now?”

        30 seats to 6. I would say it is still working.

  3. Triangle Drifter says:

    The people of St Georges need to put up & shut up. They are getting exactly what they voted for. They are getting exactly what they deserve.

    They threw the best, the most pro St Georges MP that they ever had out.

    They threw the party that actually delivered a hotel for the Holiday Inn property out.

    You deserve no sympathy. Get rid of the two numpties that you voted for yourselves. Only then you might get the support that you think that you deserve.

    • Hmm says:

      The people will never vote for a racist past party that changed it’s name to win back black votes. That’s the truth so yes the voters are getting what they voted for. Even if they don’t vote PLP because of dissatisfaction in the future they will never ever vote oba aka UBP. A third party needs to form because right now it’s a white party vs a black party and that’s the real truth!!

      • sandgrownan says:

        People are stupid. More news at 11.

      • saud says:

        “The people will never vote for a racist past part…”

        But, they will vote for the current Racist, homophobic and xenophobic party….which is what the majority of voting Bermudians are.

        The only detriment to this is how embarrassing Bermuda looks to the rest of the world…but, who cares?

      • Joe Bloggs says:

        “The people will never vote for a racist past party that changed it’s name to win back black votes.”

        Keep up the big lie. Never give up on the big lie!

        “A third party needs to form because right now it’s a white party vs a black party and that’s the real truth!!”

        It did. It was called the Bermuda Democratic Alliance or BDA. But that cannot be right because you believe that the UBP changed its name to OBA therefore the BDA can never have existed.

      • White Wash says:

        They hate it when you tell them the truth. Their having a hard time right now trying find people of color to help. They asked a VIP friend of mine and he was honest enough to explain that under the OBA banner you will never win. Now they don’t even want to speak to him. They never change.

        • saud says:

          They? you never change. You’re homophobic, racist and xenophobic…and proud of it.
          You’re a hypocrite.

          • Come Correct says:

            The ubp aka oba created the homophobic, racist and xenophobic which is why they change the party name so fast.

  4. Rig says:

    My issue with St George’s is nothing is ever open. You may love church on a Sunday, or your public holiday off, or closing for lunch on a Saturday (!!) but that won’t pay the bills. Neither will opening on a Tuesday in November, but you do. The town needs to get into the 21st century, or go to the wall.