I’d like to add my voice and support to the desperate need to address the problem with the landfill.
Sadly, governments for the last 20-plus years have ignored it despite pleas from many people, including schoolchildren who wrote essays, poems, and stories and drew pictures to highlight what was happening. All of that fell on deaf ears. The blame lies squarely on our governments of the past. This government doesn’t have a choice but to address the issue and bring a resolution to this problem, and we are all relieved to know they are taking the problem seriously.
The dump should be moved. Any person who gives this any amount of thought and who cares for the Cayman Islands as a whole, rather than the protection of a district or the promises made to voters, will see that the dump should be moved. There are two compelling reasons why the dump should be moved.
First, the dump was put in the wrong location in the first place. When our forefathers decided that we should put a dump in the present location, they could not have foreseen what Seven Mile Beach would become. After all, ”You can’t plant cassava on that,” was the wisdom given to my father when as a young man he wanted to buy a piece of land on the Seven Mile Beach. We have to forgive them; they didn’t know what they were saying or doing. Our forefathers could not have foreseen that George Town would develop into the fifth-largest financial center in the world. We have to forgive them for the genesis of Mount Trashmore; they couldn’t see the future. The North Sound, as far as they were concerned, had an endless supply of fish, lobster and conch. It didn’t need protection.
We have to forgive them; they didn’t understand that in a few decades the North Sound would be ravaged and would need laws to protect what seemed to them to be in unlimited supply. So the dump site was chosen — now sandwiched between the delicate North Sound, the prime commercial property of our business and financial district, and Seven Mile Beach, the tourist haven of the Caribbean.
This location was a mistake. We can forgive them; they didn’t know what they were doing, but we know exactly what we are doing now, and to keep the dump in prime real estate, (and I am not just referring to Camana Bay, but the million-dollar condos that are just a stone’s throw from the monstrosity we have created), in the breadbasket of the Cayman Islands, in the second smallest district in Cayman (in square miles), in the tourist mecca of the Caribbean is not forgivable. How could we in good conscience leave it where it is?
Secondly, it is also unconscionable to locate or retain the dump in the second-smallest district. Grand Cayman is only 75 square miles. It is made up of a narrow neck of land, 18 square miles which comprises the two small districts of West Bay (6 square miles) and George Town (12 square miles). Right next to this narrow neck ofland is a large (by comparison) swath of land which comprises three large districts. The largest and most central of the districts is Bodden Town with an area of 22 square miles. This is followed by East End, which is 20 square miles, and North Side, which is 15 square miles. George Town may generate a lot of garbage, but that is because hundreds of people commute from all of the outer districts to George Town to earn a living and leave their garbage behind.
How can we in good conscience leave a landfill on precious acreage on the narrow neck of land surrounded by our pristine beach, our business district, and our delicate North Sound when we have 57 square miles of land elsewhere?
Politicians can certainly say what they will or will not support, but the only promise that a politician can make and keep is to be a person of integrity. His character is the only thing over which he has singular control. Everything else falls into the realm of a national decision.
Politicians may be elected BY the people of their district, but they were elected FOR the people of the Cayman Islands. There is far too much parochial thinking. The guiding principle should be, “Do the right thing for the Cayman Islands.”
You may lose an election by doing the right thing, but you won’t lose your integrity. Which is more important? We have seen too many times that the Government will give in to interest groups, developers, their own pet projects, the voters, and other influences, rather than doing what is best for Cayman. Let’s make it Cayman first!!
DO THE RIGHT THING!! It always pays off. Some may not be pleased, but your conscience will be clear that you have done the right thing for Grand Cayman and ALL the people, NOT for a select few.
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