Having travelled to Grand Cayman since the mid ‘90s, like most, I’ve been drawn to the food, culture, and the golden Caymanian sunset. When I arrived last week on vacation, I ignorantly expected many other things to be the same – I was wrong.
During the week, I read about the issues I was also hearing from local citizens around rising fuel prices, traffic, gun violence, dwindling capacity for landfill operations, and land clearing/flooding associated with future commercial developments.
In parallel, I witnessed increased construction activity catering toward the travel and tourism industry in the form of high-end residential communities and hotels which will lead toward further population growth, further stressing critical infrastructure and an ecosystem already struggling to keep pace with economic goals.
To be clear, these issues are not unique to Grand Cayman. However, the island is at a critical point in its history where it eventually will be too late to turn back. Economic growth is a worthy goal but not at the cost of negative externalities which will be borne by the Caymanian citizens who made the island great.
Policymakers should not hide behind the noble veneer of lofty rhetoric on ‘needing to do more’, but act and have accountability under the office to which they’ve been elected. Visitors are complicit in this if they do not recognise the impact of their footprint.
Regional comparisons to neighbouring jurisdictions in Jamaica and Honduras on things such as safety set a low bar and further excuse for inaction. Grand Cayman doesn’t have as much margin of error with a population density already higher than that of these same countries.
I challenge policymakers to get serious about protecting this special place – take care of your people. Visitors, step away from your social media selfie and think about what impact you want to leave – take care of the island.
Jim Madich
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I have the same concerns. Everybody who loves this island and its people should too.