Hotel owner Paul Doyle has two suggestions for Government which he believes will solve the problem with vendors who were conducting business on the Crane Resort’s property.
Doyle evicted two beach chair vendors from Crane Beach last week, claiming that the section on which they had been operating for many years was actually the beachfront property of the Crane.
And while his actions have met with much public outcry, he is stressing that he is in no way preventing members of the public from utilising the beach, but was strongly against vendors being given licences to compete with them on their own property.
The managing director of Crane Resort believes this contentious issue could be solved if Government proceeded with the rehabilitation of Crane Beach.
He explained that back in 2004 the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) began an improvement project of Crane Beach. He said the IDB spent millions of dollars importing sand and boulders to undertake the project, but it came to a halt when neighbouring resident Eugene Melnyk filed an injunction in the High Court.
“He had an injunction against the Government. He alleged that trucks going down the road, the vibrations, would undermine the foundation of his house and he stopped the Government from going forward,” Doyle charged, adding that he built the house which Melnyk occupies and “Melnyk has nothing to fear”.
“If he wants a public beach he should let the beach be public,” Doyle said in reference to comments from Melnyk, a fellow Canadian, that the hotel was trying to privatise the beach.
Doyle added that a year ago Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite tried to get the project restarted.
He said if the project was undertaken it would make the Crane Beach bigger and more accessible and the vendors would be able to ply their trade without encroaching on the hotel’s property.
Another solution put forward by Doyle was for the vendors to be given licences to operate at other beaches such as Bottom Bay, Long Bay, Foul Bay, Harrismith Beach or Sam Lord’s Castle when the hotel is completed in two years. (MB)