The Tribune

ON Wednesday of this week, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis used the occasion of the opening of Margaritaville at The Pointe to pledge attention to downtown Nassau, promising to take urgent action to rid the historic city of derelict buildings.

The attention to downtown was not new, but its renewal was welcome. How do we ensure, though, that this is not another run at the same movie we have been to before, the one with the marquee that shouts “Let’s all get on board and rescue historic Nassau” and a few planters get installed.

The reason that movie never rolls out is because it is based on a faulty plot line that begins with rewarding people for NOT keeping up their property. Here’s a true story.

In about 1994, following a stakeholder meeting of the Nassau Tourism & Development Board, a member of one of the most prominent Bahamian families approached me (no, probably not the family you are thinking of) and said, and I quote exactly because I wrote it down at the time and have kept it ever since: “It’s a great idea to restore historic Nassau to its potential and its glory, but you’re not going to make me fix up our building are you because if the property value goes up, I’ll have to pay property tax.”

And therein lies the rub. If it pays not to keep a building in good condition, why would you unless you are using for prime retail or dining?

The Bahamas Real Property Tax policy rewards those who hold on to property which sits unused and falls into disrepair by basing property tax valuation on condition, the poorer the condition, the lower the tax. A building with carefully maintained frontage and a new roof is literally going to pay through the roof while a building without a roof or with termite traces carving lines visible to the naked eye gets away with little to no tax.

Now government is faced with fixing what its own tax policy has caused – enabling demotion by neglect. No one government can claim credit for this upside down tax structure; it flows through all. But this government does have an opportunity to fix it and should because if you fix the tax policy and penalize those who deliberately neglect property, you will fix the eyesores. Eliminating eyesores should not be government’s responsibility, nor should it come at the taxpayer’s expense. These are not public buildings. They are owned by individuals, corporations or investors. It does not matter if they are held in trust or wrapped up in probate cases pending resolution, they are private property and because they are, the solution is and always has been right in front of our eyes. Fine them for neglect. It happens all over the world where intentional neglect of historic properties is a criminal act, not a rewarded behaviour.

It’s even more critical to get it right in a city that is the welcome centre, the first and last impression for more than five million visitors a year in a country whose dependency upon tourism for a healthy economy has never been more apparent.

In addition to a reversal of taxation policy that rewards neglect and punishes pride, we need to review what constitutes government’s rights to order repairs. If listed and published repairs are not carried out, a public authority should have every right to cause them to be made following a proper bidding process, billing the cost to the owner and placing a lien on the property if not reimbursed within a stated time. Time for true local government?

A life gone too soon

There are people who come into your life and carve a space no one else can fill. Clay Saunders was like that, not just in our little public relations office where he worked for awhile but in every place he was and every life he touched.

Clay was killed in a tragic auto accident this week, leaving behind his lovely, soft-spoken wife, Stella, and their two sons along with a slew of friends from tennis greats he met when he was at The Ocean Club and Atlantis to the Minister of Tourism who was shaken by the man who had become his right hand over the past few years. Royal Caribbean’s Russell Benford was speechless, Clay had assisted them daily with the repatriation of crew members following the lockdown, Benford saying he did not know how they would have gotten it done without Clay’s help.

Candia Dames saw him at an event on Saturday night and exchanged Instagram photos, Clay smiling and happy, loving life and people as he always did.

If there is a heaven, he is there now, organising a group hug and a bottle of fine wine.

Cheers for Dr Ian Strachan

The University of The Bahamas announced this week it has narrowed its search for a new president down to three candidates.

One of those candidates is Dr Ian Strachan, a thinker, doer and a proud son of the Bahamian soil.

We do not pretend to be in a position to say who would serve the university best going forward, but we can certainly cheer for Dr Strachan.

A Lyford Cay Foundation scholar, a critical thinker in an age when the discipline of Humanities is often lost in a veil of technology, a graduate of the College of The Bahamas, a capable campus administrator, a newspaper columnist and perhaps best of all in the long run, a role model that other Bahamians can look up to, especially Bahamian males saying if he can make it to the top, I can give it a try, too.

We’re cheering for you, Dr Strachan and whether you are the new president or one of the other two fine candidates is the final choice, we know UB will be in good hands with a promising future as its graduate and its small island sustainable development programmes grow along with its public policy and leadership initiatives.

UB is developing before our eyes, a refreshing positive in a pandemic-weary world.