I agree with your editorial of 28 April.
However, I am afraid that asking the inhabitants of Grand Cayman to behave in a reasonable manner is an exercise in futility.
There is no point in harking back to the old Caymanian ways of quiet dignity and patience.
Those values are being eroded daily and replaced by a culture of aggression. ‘My interests and time are far more valuable than yours, so you’d better get out of my way’ is clearly the way of the new Cayman.
This attitude extends all the way from West Bay to Gun Bay and crosses all national boundaries. The trend has been developing over the past 15 years and, with the blatant lawlessness that has followed in Ivan’s wake, is fully out in the open.
And, as recent violent crimes have shown, the traffic situation is merely the thin end of the wedge.
We need to examine the underlying causes and implement a long-term strategy to correct them.
If we do not, Cayman will simply cease to exist and a former paradise will be relegated to the ranks of so many other dirty and violent third world island states.
The starting point for any recovery programme will be to examine Government’s revenue sources.
We cannot simply continue to wander down this road of unbridled development and population growth without providing the necessary infrastructure to accommodate it.
And as we think about how to pay for this, we should consider that, over the longer term, the social cost of chaos is a far bigger burden to bear than any new revenue measure.
Andrew Reid
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