More discussion needed with city residents about Hyatt, says Bostic
Member of the Parliament for The City, Lieutenant Colonel, Jeffrey Bostic says there is a need for further discussion with city residents about the construction of the Hyatt hotel in Lower Bay Street area.
To this end, he has suggested that a Town Meeting should be conducted where individuals could be provided with information and be allowed ask their questions and have them answered by the project’s developers. He told this to the press while speaking on the side-lines of Saturday’s press briefing and information session at the site for the Hyatt Centric Carlisle Bay hotel. During this event, Director of Vision Development Inc., Mark Maloney and fellow Director, James Edghill as well as other members of their team interacted one- on-one with attendees about the project.
“I say that because we are peculiar persons and we like to feel comfortable within our own setting and I believe that a meeting of this nature or a meeting that is designed to impart information to the residents of the surrounding communities ought to be held in the community so that they would be comfortable in their own setting and I believe that it should be something that is specifically geared towards the residents of the surrounding communities. I think that would make a significant difference and not a setting like this, which is good, but this is not a setting that I believe that the average resident of the community would be comfortable in.”
Bostic, who said he welcomed the development, stated he not only attended Saturday’s interactive session as a representative of his constituency but to obtain more information about the project. He also said he had some concerns that he wanted clarity on.
“I came here really this morning to see and to hear exactly what was going to be occurring on this site and to have some questions answered, some concerns that I have held for a while now. Such as the impact that it would have on the traffic system around here, the sewage system and also, if there would have been some collateral development going on as well in areas of Wellington Street and London Bourne Towers to beautify those areas, to bring those areas up to a level that would be consistent with having a hotel of this brand right here at their doorsteps.”
He continued, “Those concerns were addressed satisfactorily to my mind but there are others that I still have... concerns about which I would have to pursue going forward. Like, in terms of employment opportunities for locals, meaning Barbadians, and then for members of the surrounding communities what is in it for them and you know that there are some projects where obviously [persons] have to suffer some level of discomfort during the construct phase and I would like to know certainly what is in it for them and some of the other things really are in relation to those points that were announced by the Chief Town Planner. There was a list of about 52 conditionalities [sic] that were supposed to have been met and I have an interest in ensuring that those conditionalities [sic] have been met.”