Montagu Beach and the Ramp on East Bay Street, Nassau, Bahamas

Rick Lowe

One of the front page stories in yesterday's Nassau Guardian informs us that "A consensus that the Montagu Beach area should be preserved as a recreational area, and that conditions experienced by vendors at the site are unfair to the vendors..."

This of course is at the site where Bahamians buy seafood and fruit and vegetables from the fishermen and other vendors opposite the worlds largest outdoor toilet, the intersection of East Bay Street and the Village Road extension.

The real question is, how can people who squat on the land around the boat ramp feel they are being treated unfairly? Shouldn't it be the rest of us that are inconvenienced daily by this site be complaining?

Granted the powers that be have allowed this eye sore and traffic bottleneck to continue unabated for years, but what gives anyone the idea that they can use public land at their whim and when they might have to be held accountable, they object to doing the right thing?

To top it all off they'll probably end up with stalls et al built with taxpayer money and not have to pay rent for it.

Seems that wrong doers get away with whatever they choose these days.

Don't think you should pay your property tax? No problem. Let the balance mount up and then get a huge discount and pay no interest.

Don't want to pay the NIB taxes for you and your staff? So what. Let the balance mount up and then get a huge discount and pay no interest.

Don't think you should honour the Justice System? Who cares. Say what you want and get off scott free.

What have we become?