The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

GOVERNMENT crews tore into the Montgomery shanty town off Cowpen Road yesterday, demolishing 64 of 67 structures as residents stacked furniture along the roadside, scrambled to salvage their belongings and questioned where they would sleep next.

One resident even assaulted Superintendent Stephen Carey, the chairman of the Unregulated Communities Action Task Force, leaving him needing three stitches.

The demolition marked the latest phase of the Davis administration’s crackdown on unregulated communities, coming nearly a year after officials said about 200 residents in the area were served eviction notices and given 28 days to vacate the area.

Mr Carey said a resident tripped him and struggled with him during the demolition exercise, with the confrontation beginning after the resident allegedly threatened a Defence Force officer at the site. The man was arrested on suspicion of threats of harm and disorderly behaviour and was being escorted to a bus when he allegedly attacked Carey.

The resident was taken to a police station and is expected to face charges at a later date.

After the incident, officials moved residents farther away from the demolition area to secure the site.

Earlier, Mr Carey said residents had been repeatedly warned that the demolition would proceed after notices were served in February last year.

“We’ve been making several checks in the area, giving the persons in the area warnings to move, and yesterday was the final day of warning,” he said. “This morning we’re here doing our due diligence.”

Mr Carey said three structures remain under investigation because they have permits. He said the demolition is expected to take less than a week.

“Everybody has been calm and peaceful,” he said. “Everybody is now moving their items. Up to 7pm yesterday, we had a team inside here and we were asking them, begging, and pleading with them to move. We told them that as of 7am this morning, they will not be permitted back on the premises. They continued to think that we were joking, so now they see that we are serious.”

He warned residents in other unregulated communities to leave before enforcement teams arrive.

“As you can see, we are going to continue doing our due diligence,” he said. “The shanty towns or unregulated communities, they will be demolished. Starting next week, again, we have another area that we are going into. Once those 28-day notices expire, we will be demolishing those structures.”

“Start evacuating now, because once we reach there, there’s going to be no extension and no extra time given.”

Mr Carey confirmed that one person was apprehended in connection with dangerous drugs.

For residents, the demolition meant more than the destruction of wooden and concrete structures. Some said it stripped them of stability after years of living in the community.

Tanisla Mitus, who said he has lived in The Bahamas for 28 years, said he has struggled to find affordable housing.

Asked whether high rental costs were the main challenge, he said: “Expensive, all about I looking for can’t find no money, pay it.”

“What happens now? People don’t know where to go.”

Mr Mitus said the demolition overwhelmed him.

“That’s bad,” he said. “I feelin bad. My heart can’t take it because I don’t go nowhere. When I come to The Bahamas, I’m living there.”

Doxene Cepoudy, speaking through a translator, claimed families faced a double hardship yesterday morning because immigration officers also carried out operations in the area.

Ms Cepoudy alleged many residents were distressed because some relatives were taken into custody while families were trying to remove belongings before demolition crews moved in. However, Mr Carey told The Tribune there was only one apprehension.

Nearby, a mother of one who has lived in the community for ten years said she was uncertain about the future. She said her child’s father was taken into custody and she did not know where to go.

Another woman, who has lived in The Bahamas for 13 years and in the Montgomery community since 2016, said she and her two children are now homeless.

Speaking through a translator, she said she does not feel right about the demolition because she has nowhere to stay.

She acknowledged that residents had been given ample notice, but said the woman had searched unsuccessfully for housing.

She said the language barrier made the search harder because the woman could not speak English fluently or read housing advertisements.

As excavators continued their work, residents packed up furniture, clothing and personal items. Some loaded possessions into vehicles while others stood by and watched homes disappear piece by piece.

The demolition followed a claim in Parliament last week by Long Island MP Dr Andre Rollins that a scheduled shanty town demolition off Cowpen Road had been cancelled. The reason he gave for the alleged cancellation was struck from the House record after protests from government members. He did not name the shanty town.

Works Minister Clay Sweeting, a member of the Unregulated Communities Action Task Force, did not rise in the House of Assembly to dispute the claim that the demolition had been cancelled.

Mr Carey denied yesterday that any Cabinet minister intervened to stop the demolition, saying the process had been delayed while officials verified who lived in the area and who had received assistance.