It would be amusing, if it were not so humiliating, to see the governor and perhaps the rest of the government spooked out of the Glass House with the sudden notion of a possible fire hazard, after occupying this building for some 30 years, which does after all have windows made to open in case of an emergency.
It should be noted that, at the Fire Chief’s request, plans for two external fire staircases were completed many years ago, but construction was mysteriously and repeatedly stalled by the Public Works Department.
To construct these staircases would have required three months at the most, and it would have seemed reasonable to assume that, after 30 years of occupying the building, the government could have waited three months to have these staircases installed, especially as the work would have been done externally without affecting the function of the government.
What change of circumstances has initiated this sudden panic to abandon the building? The building must have been in a state of neglect, like other PWD-maintained buildings, but this is nothing new.
The above scenario appears to be a repetition of the song and dance about the Tower Building being a sick building some years ago and the recent suggestion to demolish it.
The charge of being sick was immediately rejected by the then-Chief Surveyor, who stated nothing was wrong with the building structurally, but that it urgently needed remedial maintenance.
The Tower Building was in fact neglected by PWD for years. Repairs and timely replacements were delayed of the waterproofing for the roof, walls and windows, replacing the AC system, ceiling, carpets, etc., which should have been part of a routine and long-term maintenance programme.
As any contractor will tell you the Tower Building can be readily reinstated, even now, by an independent competent contractor and, if such a contractor is retained instead of the PWD for maintenance, kept in good order. It would serve the government perhaps another 30 years.
The building has been now left open to the elements for this rainy season, which is more than irresponsible.
Perhaps the answer to both scenarios could have been explained by someone at PWD, someone with a vision of moving the civil service into a monument for himself, the Twin Towers of Cayman, maybe Fawlty Towers or the Towers of Babble, as someone referred to this hare-brained proposal.
First, can you even begin to imagine burdening our budget with the cost of construction of these towers, which would amount to perhaps $50 million, and perhaps finding another $50 million in recurrent expenditure to pay those filling up these buildings;, which are about five times the floor area of the Glass House?
Secondly, planning-wise, how can you imagine disgorging additional masses of cars from the proposed Twin Towers into Elgin Avenue, which is already clogged solid most of the time, and which would result in a complete gridlock?
Our government has now, after the hurricane, a golden opportunity to pare down our civil service, which has grown to some 4,000, a ridiculous size for such a small island and which should be cut, to start with, by, say, 25 per cent privatization, saving the government perhaps $50 million annually in recurrent expenses..
Let our ambitious young men and women, instead of being reduced to proverbial pen pushers, gain both pride and satisfaction by moving into the real and competitive world of private enterprise.
Our government should look into the future, cutting our coat to fit the cloth by building small, purpose-designed blocs of offices, one at a time, when required. Meanwhile it should speed , speeding post-hurricane clearance and reconstruction, and above all, take care of essential services such as schools, roads, etc., promised as a priority at election time by members of the present government.
Name withheld by request
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