The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A GOODMAN’S Bay vendor is readying legal action against the Government over what she alleges are “improper motives, including jealousy of my business success”, to force her out and cut down her operating space.

Monique Taylor, managing director of Seaside Destination Services Company, told Tribune Business that the Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority had taken no further action against her following Wednesday’s uproar when officials came to check whether she had complied with demands to slash her operation’s space up to 20-fold - from 120 feet by 200 feet to just 10 by 10 feet.

She alleged that “everything was orchestrated to make me the villain”, adding that the Authority’s representatives presented her with a bill for unpaid rent alleging that she owed a total $6,700 for her space at Goodman’s Bay while also challenging whether she had a valid permit issued by it.

Ms Taylor, though, asserted that the true amount owed is around $2,800 - almost 60 percent less than what the Authority is demanding. She alleged that the outstanding rental sum represents payments that she wanted to make, but which the Authority refused to accept, because her permit had not been renewed.

And, stating that she has receipts to prove that most of the $6,700 claimed has already been paid, the Seaside managing director said renewal of her permit is being tied to her accepting restrictions that will “destroy the business”, thus leaving her and 15 employees in a classic ‘catch-22’ situation when it comes to compliance.

“I’m going to speak with my lawyer. I have to get some update from the lawyer as to when we will put the matter into court,” Ms Taylor told this newspaper, asserting that Royal Bahamas Police Force officers who accompanied the Authority’s officials during their contentious Goodman’s Bay inspection last week informed the latter that they needed a Supreme Court Order to either move Seaside from its current location or shut her down.

Referring to the demand for unpaid rent that was presented to her, Ms Taylor added: “They brought me a bill for $6,700. But when I went to pay then they refused to accept the money because of the permit. They billed me for the months where they refused to accept payment, and billed me for months that I have already paid. I have receipts to prove the months that I have already paid for….

“I took it to the attorney to show him the receipts. I only owe them approximately $2,800. They refused to accept payments, and my attorney had told them to provide the permit so that I can make payment. Now they want to accept the money, but the bill they gave me is incorrect. They have to correct that bill for me to make payment.”

Ms Taylor, though, alleged that the Authority is tying renewal of her permit to operate at Goodman’s Bay - which she said has been issued without difficulty for seven years prior to 2026 - to acceptance of terms and conditions, such as space restrictions, that will mean Seaside can no longer operate in its present form.

“When they did decide to ask me to pay, they brought me a permit with new restrictions. If I sign on to this permit and the restrictions, it’s going to devastate my operation,” she told Tribune Business. “They are trying to have me sign on to something that will destroy the business. I rejected it, I will not sign.”

Ms Taylor, who said she and Seaside are “operating business as usual right now”, added that she has receipts to prove monthly rental payments were made for the period June 2025 to December 2025. She added that her business is up-to-date with its National Insurance Board (NIB) contributions, and has a valid Business Licence and tax compliance certificate (TCC), with the only outstanding monies being the disputed sum claimed by the Authority.

“Everything was strategically orchestrated to me out to be a bad business person,” Ms Taylor added of Wednesday’s encounter. “They are trying to make me the villain.” She reiterated previous claims that the Authority is trying to squeeze her space, or force her out, to make room for vendors who support the Government politically, with the situation further inflamed by the relocation of Cabbage Beach vendors on Paradise Island to Goodman’s Bay.

Jamahl Strachan, executive chairman of the Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority, did not respond to calls or messages from Tribune Business requesting comment before press time. However, he last week said that existing Goodman’s Bay vendors - some of whom he accused of occupying spaces three times’ larger than their permitted areas - will have to make room for their Cabbage Beach counterparts.

Signalling that the Government plans to redesign the existing Goodman’s Bay layout, Mr Strachan also dismissed claims of political favouritism by Ms Taylor and others. “It hasn't come before my desk, but if it is in the media, you know we're all objective, we're all Bahamians, and we will continue to work with each and every vendor without any preference. So I would dismiss all of that,” he argued

The Cabbage Beach vendors have been moved to make way for construction of the $550m Four Seasons Ocean Club Residences development on Paradise Island. Ms Taylor renewed accusations that the Government is moving those and other vendors into her space where they are aggressively competing for her tourist customers - something she alleges is undermining the visitor experience.

“They are reorganising everything to move them from their first space to put them in the space belonging to Seaside; put them in the operating space assigned to Seaside,” she added. “They want them to benefit from Seaside’s guests and not have to look for their own clients. We have built a brand, and have a standard of doing business that’s different from their standard of business.

“They are interfering with our customers, and the customers are complaining about the service rendered to them. The truth of the matter is their business supporters want my space. They see my customers, the ones we have marketed to and built our brand with, and want my customers.”

Ms Taylor previously described Seaside as a “pioneer” who helped develop Goodman’s Bay into a tourism destination, and said that her business is responsible for bringing between 80-90 percent of the visitors who patronise that area to the destination thanks to its relationships with the likes of taxi drivers and tour operators.

Documents obtained by Tribune Business show the relationship between Seaside and the Authority have become increasingly tense since summer 2025, when the latter first tried to cut its space to ten feet by ten feet - a move that Ms Taylor said was reversed upon intervention from Prime Minister Philip Davis KC.

This newspaper has seen a July 9, 2025, message from Mr Davis to Tyrone ‘Rock’ Morris, the veteran union activist, acting as Seaside’s labour and regulatory adviser, stating that he was “copying my chief of staff to fix the meeting”. However, with the relocation of Cabbage Beach vendors, the Authority is now back with the same space-cutting plan while the licence renewal for Ms Taylor and Seaside became increasingly contentious.

Mr Morris, on August 14, 205, messaged Jeannie Scavella at the Authority after several efforts by Seaside to collect its permit were unsuccessful despite told to come in and collect it.

Then, on December 29, 2025, David Barry, the Authority’s managing director, told Mr Morris and Seaside that McKell Bonaby, the former Authority executive chairman prior to Mr Strachan, had “advised your group will be scheduled to make this application before the Board of the Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority either at January or February’s Board meeting”.

Mr Barry promised to follow-up with the date and time for the permit renewal meeting but, according to Seaside’s attorney, Sidney Dorsett, these were never communicated to his client. As a result, no meeting over the permit ever occurred and the renewal remains in limbo.

Mr Dorsett, in a September 21, 2026, e-mail to Barry Griffin, the Authority’s general counsel, wrote: “You have not stated why it was necessary to schedule the applicant to address the Board in January or February and then prevent it by never notifying the date the Board met in either month.”

This came at the end of a three-week exchange between Mr Dorsett and Mr Griffin, sparked when the latter complained on September 10, 2026, that the Authority had allegedly caused the removal of Seaside’s sign at Goodman’s Bay “harming long-standing operations”.

“This action has placed her livelihood in serious jeopardy,” Mr Dorsett wrote of Ms Taylor. “Our client has consistently paid the monthly fee and has reapplied for a permit….

“We further draw your attention to David Barry Il's correspondence from the Bahamas Public Parks & Public Beaches Authority confirming that chairman Bonaby advised that my client's group would be permitted to make application before the Board at its January or February meeting which never occurred. Our client believes she is being singled out for removal due to improper motives, including jealousy of her business success.”

Mr Griffin replied four days later, stating: “I can confirm that the Authority is now reviewing the circumstances concerning the removal of the advertising panel, together with the terms and current status of the company's permission to operate at Goodman's Bay. It would be premature to accept the assertions in your letter or to agree to restore the panel before that review is complete.

“The Authority recognises that a vendor should be able to identify its business at its authorised stall. There is, however, a material distinction between identification displayed on a mobile stall within its approved space and a large advertising panel placed separately within a public beach area. The Authority is establishing the panel's dimensions, its former location and the circumstances of its removal before reaching a final position on that issue.”

Mr Griffin also requested that Seaside produce the permit or authority for it to operate at Goodman’s Bay, plus the application mentioned in Mr Dorsett’s September 10 letter and the correspondence with Mr Barry, along with evidence to support Ms Taylor’s assertion that she was singled out and discriminated against.

“In parallel, the Authority is checking its own permit, payment and Board records, and the space presently occupied by your client's operation,” Mr Griffin said. “Any issue identified through that review wil be put to your client with an opportunity to respond before the Authority reaches a decision on it. This letter should not be taken as confirmation that any existing arrangement, structure, footprint or signage has been approved.”

Mr Dorsett replied one day later on September 15, 2026, challenging which permit his client was supposed to produce when it had failed to issue Seaside’s renewal and refused to accept its rental payments. “Our client's case is that, although it applied for renewal of the permission under which it previously operated, the Authority did not issue a renewal and has made it impossible for the rent to be paid in the absence of such renewal,” he wrote.

Mr Griffin, though, hit back on September 19, 2026, by asserting that Ms Taylor and Seaside had not shown they currently hold “a valid permit or other authorisation to operate at Goodman's Bay.

“Nor does it establish the permit, permission or other authorisation regarding the size/imprint of her operations, nor regarding the placement of a large sign/advertising panel that is not attached her mobile operation and placed at another location on the public beach,” he added of Mr Dorsett’s last letter.

“The Authority cannot confirm that a permit will be renewed ‘today’. Any application for renewal must be properly submitted, supported by the required documentation, and considered in accordance with the Authority's applicable procedures and operating requirements. The payment of fees, the submission of an application or a history of operating at the location does not, without more, constitute the grant or renewal of a permit.”