Falmouth not ready; neither is the mayor
Published:Saturday | January 1, 2011 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
I am very disappointed with the article 'Trelawny ready for first cruise ship', published by The Gleaner on December 29. I am even more disappointed with the journalist, Richard Morais, someone I grew up with in Falmouth, for allowing such an article to reach The Gleaner.
When I read the article, I asked myself, "Is this Falmouth in Cornwall, England, or Falmouth in Barnstable Country, Massachusetts, USA, or Falmouth in Cornwall County, Jamaica?" I can't believe the mayor is talking about run-down Falmouth, the capital of Trelawny, Jamaica. The mayor is getting ready to blame business people for what, only God knows. The only time this country of ours will ever get better is when we start to put our people first instead of doing things for tourists only.
What 'busy week'?
"This week will be a busy week. We will have to turn nights into days as the cleaning of the town will be done." Isn't it clear this mayor takes black people for idiots? It is very clear to us that the mayor was at ease seeing black people 'walla, walla inna muck' in Falmouth. He is planning to turn water into wine because white people are coming to our shores. Who voted this guy in?
"With all the meetings that we are having and with all the information we are putting out, the response is not good and then you are going to hear that they didn't hear or didn't know," he lamented. We must encourage our business people to be polite, keep their premises clean, serve the customers with a smile and provide the goods for all customers all year round. They shouldn't only get excited when tourists come to our shores. The earlier he is voted out of office the faster the town will rise.
Falmouth is not ready to entertain visitors, and only a fool would believe the codswallop the mayor is talking. Tourists are not afraid to let their feelings known, and Falmouth will soon find that out. We have the sea beating against the wall and the mayor is not talking about building a promenade, affordable apartments for other visitors coming to Falmouth, tea rooms, cafes, two other small piers on either side of the larger pier for people to have their romantic walks, and plant a statue of Usain Bolt along the promenade. The problem with these people in office is that they cannot think, and if some brilliant ideas were to be put to them, they would ignore it because it wasn't theirs.
Great potential
Falmouth is not yet ready, but it has the potential to be great. Any town, village or city with the water beating against its walls has the potential to be great. You can ask people in Stockholm, Helsinki, Nice, Oslo, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Paris, Sopot and many more towns, cities and villages. Only the mayor of Falmouth is playing a fool with the crystal water at his disposal. But what can you say about a mayor who hasn't the slightest idea about paid parking? The whole idea of charging people to park is to get them to take public transportation and to keep cars out of the town area. The mayor thinks it is to make money, for crying out loud.
I am, etc.,
HERO CARLITO
Berkenlaan, Belgium