Archive for March 6th, 2009
Campaign to preserve historic sand road in LC
(CNS): UPDATED: More than 200 people have so far signed a petition to ask government not to pave the picturesque sand road that runs through Blossom Village in Little Cayman. The signatures include Jack Ebanks (aged 91), who has lived along the road all his life, and his wife Reilly (aged 92), as well as Sister Islands MLA Moses Kirkconnell. A blog with an online poll to gauge public opinion on the issue has also been created, and the results as of Thursday are 2 votes in favour of paving the road and 105 against.
Department of Environment Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie has said that after she emailed the Ministry with responsibility for District Administration expressing the DoE’s views on the project and outlining the public’s concerns, the ministry responded to her saying that given the concerns expressed by the DoE and the public, the project has been postponed pending a more detailed review.
“The DoE’s position is that we would not wish to see this road paved for the same reason we chose not to pave the parking lot of the recently constructed DoE building on Little Cayman (which is also in Blossom Village), which is that the road, like our parking lot, is within the extended beach ridge system and should therefore not be covered over with an impervious surface which has the potential to significantly alter the drainage characteristics of such areas," Ebanks-Petrie said. "We also believe that the public’s concerns over the potential speed limit increase and the aesthetic impact on Blossom Village are legitimate.”
Ebanks’ niece, Elsie Kynes, and her husband, the artist known as “Foots”, launched the campaign on Monday, 23 February, when they found out that Public Works Department on Little Cayman was set to start work on paving the road.
Kynes grew up on Little Cayman and owns property in Blossom Village that has been in her family for more than half a century. In fact, her father Baroot Ebanks, was born on Little Cayman in 1919 and is buried in Blossom Village Cemetery alongside his mother, Isadora Ebanks. She told CNS that the road would lose its charm if it was paved. “It would be totally different,” she said. “It should be left alone and preserved for tourism.”
Local photographer David Wolfe, who started the Blossom Village Road blog, said he thought it was an important enough issue to fight for. “I believe the Blossom Village Road is a unique place in the Cayman Islands, the only place that remains where people can go and see what all of the Cayman Islands looked like at one time,” he said. Furthermore, he believes that traffic through the village would speed up considerably once the road was paved.
Wolfe, who has a part-time residence in the village, said he and his wife and children can go barefoot from their property to the park along Blossom Village Road and can walk all the way to the airport along the sand. He said he started the blog because he felt it was worth at least finding out howpeople felt about it. The poll will not accept more than one vote from any computer and is therefore a reasonable reflection of public opinion, he believes.
Foots said that the ultimate goal of the campaign is not just to halt current plans to pave the road, but to have the preservation of the road enshrined in law.
CNS was unable to contact Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts, who is also Minister for District Administration, to get the ministry’s current position on paving the road in light of the campaign aginst it since he is in Washington, DC, on official business. However, a spokesperson from the ministry said they would be able to provide a comment from him once he returns.
Little Cayman has a population of only a few hundred, and the majority of its residents are either second-home owners or work in the tourism industry, which is heavily geared towards diving and eco-tourism.
Anyone wishing to sign the petition or to collect signatures can call Foots at 925-0904 or email bettyboo@candw.ky or footscaymanbrac@yahoo.com