The economy and the cost of living, along with crime, remain Cayman’s biggest issues, according to respondents to last week’s caymancompass.com online poll.
Of the 580 respondents to the one-week poll, the largest segment – 251 people or 43.3 percent – said the economy and the cost of living were the biggest issues facing the Cayman Islands.
“Let me borrow a famous quote: ‘It’s the economy stupid’,” said one person.
Several people commented on the cost of living.
“It’s absurd what we are paying on everything,” noted one respondent.
“The food prices are outrageous,” said someone else. “$6.50 for the cheapest gallon of milk in Kirk’s – we had to switch to Foster’s!”
“Solve the cost of living, that will help solve the crime,” said another person.
The second largest segment of respondents – 124 people or 21.4 percent – said crime and punishment are the biggest issues facing Cayman.
“Crime is out of control here,” said one person.
“If something isn’t done to deal with the crime situation, none of the rest of the options in this poll matter,” said someone else.
“The Compass runs this poll every year and every year I have answered the same thing: crime,” commented another person. “The scary part is that every year, the crime gets worse and nothing seems to be done about it.”
“When we travel to the island, no jewelry or cash is with us,” noted an apparently overseas respondent.
“The negative tentacles of crime affect and compound all the other listed issues,” said someone else.
Immigration policies and Caymanian-expat relations were the biggest issues facing Cayman for 107 people, or 18.4 percent of the total number of respondents.
“This is a large contributor to the economic issues,” said one person. “Without people who are committed to the country, we do not have the revenue. Cost to recruit also drives up cost of doing business.”
Another 53 people – 9.1 percent – said politics and politicians are the biggest issues facing Cayman, and 18 respondents – 3.1 percent – cited U.K./International pressures as the biggest issues. None left comments.
Twenty-seven people – 4.7 percent – responded “other” to the question, with the George Town landfill/dump problem being listed by 10 as the biggest issue facing the Cayman Islands.
“Mount Trashmore and waste management is right now the biggest issue Cayman is facing,” said one person. “Not a penny should be spent anywhere else until this shameful situation in resolved. It is sickening that this is the biggest sight in Cayman.”
Other issues that respondents thought were the biggest included the need for a cruise ship berthing dock, chikungunya, the large size and inordinate power of the civil service, the lack of education, over-population and the failure to implement one man, one vote.
“The lack of urgency in the regard of Caymanians being properly integrated at various job levels after receiving government money to obtain higher education,” commented someone else. “Cayman is not for Caymanians, and the preconceived notions of Caymanians not being educated or simply lazy cannot apply to one and all.”
Several people responded “all of the above.”
“All of the possible answers are inter-related,” said one respondent. “We need to go back to a simpler model for doing business such as centralizing government, moving beyond traditional models and truly embracing free enterprise without an us-versus-them attitude, and we need to hold people liable for their actions regardless of nationality.”
The results of the poll were very similar to one that appeared in April 2013. In that poll, 63.5 percent of the respondents said the biggest issue facing Cayman was either the economy or crime, compared to the 64.7 percent who said one of those two issues were the biggest facing Cayman now. Although the segment of people who thought the economic issue was the biggest was the largest single segment of respondents in both polls, it increased – from 38.1 to 43.3 percent – in this year’s results, possibly because the cost of living aspect was added to the economy element.
Next week’s poll question
This week marks one year since the PPM-led government’s 99-day message. What grade would you give the administration so far?
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Terrible
To participate in this poll, visit caymancompass.com.
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