DISPUTES AND SUSPICION over matters of urban renewal in cities such as our capital Bridgetown are not new. Wherever it occurs, especially if it involves gentrification, or anything that can be construed as or likened to such, the fallout tends to be increasingly turbulent.
The current disquiet over the planned construction of the Hyatt Hotel on Lower Bay Street appears to be infused with more than a spattering of such concerns, compounded by fears in some quarters that the hard-fought victory to have Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison designated a World Heritage Site could be reversed as a result.
We may also add to this what appears now to be an almost immediate objection to, or suspicion surrounding, anything in which businessman Mark Maloney is involved.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with any Barbadian questioning any project that is being undertaken here, either by Government or the private sector, especially if that project has the potential for major negative consequences for Barbadians, particularly those at the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder. What we admonish from all involved, however, is the maintenance of fairness and thinking that represents the national interest and not personal or narrow parochial or political motives.
The land on Bay Street on which it is proposed that the hotel be sited is not virgin land. It has been in commercial use for generations and for all that time has been surrounded by other commercial activity. Whether or not it is used for Hyatt or some other hotel, there is little chance it would not have been upgraded at some point in the future.
In fact, much of Bridgetown is in need of significant upgrading and it certainly can’t be in the best interest of the country to insist that land be only developed in keeping with its historic use, or that because an area had been used for a warehouse or two-storey office accommodation it should continue so for the next century.
By all means those concerned should insist on the undertaking of relevant environmental impact studies, that any permissions given guarantee unhindered access to and use of all beach land (perhaps even beyond the traditional high-water mark) and that issues of traffic flow be addressed.
But in an environment of increasingly scarce beachfront land for such development, it is time for regulators to advance a sensible argument for why a building can’t be more than six or seven storeys tall – other than “we say so” and “that’s how it has always been”.
And while we, like most Barbadians, cherish the World Heritage Site designation and believe the country should do everything reasonable to maintain it, we cannot surrender our future to the dictates of any foreign entity or country.
If it is in the national interest of Barbados to promote developments such as Hyatt then we should offer to sit with the relevant parties and determine how the two can co-exist, but we can’t raise an economic white flag based on emotion and sentimentality.
There is a significant portion of Bridgetown that is begging for nothing short of bulldozing and if we are not prepared to be bold and creative in our thinking and action yet another generation of citizens will sit and watch the City become increasingly uninviting.
And as long as Bridgetown performs below its economic potential many of the same poor city dwellers we now seek to protect will go to their graves never having seen the improvement in their lives they so desperately seek.
