HMCI wants new emergency building
(CNS): The local Hazard Management team is still hoping that the money can be found to build what they say is a much needed emergency services building in the area by Jose Esso off Crewe Road. During a presentation yesterday to the Governor and the Leader of Government Business about preparations for this year’s hurricane season and the development of the unit Deputy Director McCleary Frederick stressed how much the HCMI and other related agencies needed the building and that he would be making a request again in this year’s budget.
At the National Emergency Operations Centre, (NEOC) the unit used in the event of any catastrophe, man made or natural and most usually hurricanes he brought Stuart Jack, McKeeva Bush and Cline Glidden up to date with the issues relating to the agency. His main concern was funding for the new building as he said the NEOC where they were at was no longer fit for purpose as it was too small and the HCMI was encroaching on the Fire Services much needed turf as well.
As far as preparations for the immediate season were concerned however Frederick said that while the predicted forecast had been downgraded to a below average season he noted that it only takes one bad storm. He said there were now 16 fully functioning shelters on Grand Cayman but five of them still needed to be upgraded and he needed funding for that and there was now just one on Cayman Brac.
He told the audience that the unit was still developing the district emergency response teams which were coming along more slowly thanhe had hoped but that some teams would be functioning this season. He also said that the unit had been working on new legislation that would allow the necessary co-ordinated agencies to do what they needed to do in an emergency without having to invoke the emergency powers act. Frederick said that was now with the Deputy Chief Secretary to come before Cabinet.
Fredericks covered a wide range of areas and the issues impacting the unit and how they help the country as a whole prepare and the issuing of plywood came up. Bush asked the Deputy Director what research had been done about looking at the cost of installing shutters as he said in the long run it may be cheaper. Frederick the last report that was done revealed that concertina shutters or hurricane windows cost about three times as much as ply-wood.
Bush said that government had to explore this option however, as giving out plywood every season was a costly exercise and furthermore the plywood has to be put up every time and many of Cayman’s older people could not help themselves. “I think we have to look at a shutter system as in the long run it will cost government less,” Bush added. He also told Frederick that he did not think there would be money for the new emergency services building estimated to cost around 14 million as the country was not in a good financial situation. “Maybe if we have a few less other school buildings we could have done this,” he said but he added they would deal with the legislation needed to get the unit running smoothly.
Category: Headline News
“Maybe if we have a few less other school buildings we could have done this,” – M. BUSH
LOL I’m not surprised by anything stupid this man says.
A well educated population is Bush’s greatest fear. The smater the voter… the less votes his party gets.
Keep the people needy, greedy and STUPID. That’s why he is against new schools.
The ignorant and stupid out number the rational and educated… that’s why UDP won…. UDP YAY! :
🙂
I believe that you are the stupid one by showing your ignorance and likely sour grapes from a lost election. If the PPM had focused on spreading out development to more sectors and needs instead of just focusing on super expensive schools, we would likely not be in so much debt that we are in. What is the point of being so in debt that you can’t do anything anymore? Yes, one school less might have made a big difference in the country’s finances. Disrespectful people like you are even more ignorant than the people you criticize. Please let those in charge do their work without such negative criticisms and be more respectful of our leader and future PREMIER, THE HONOURABLE MCKEEVA BUSH. Boy, that must hurt people like you, heee heee!
In reply to "I believe that you are"
I am afraid that "the future Premier THE HONORABLE MCKEEVA BUSH" is going to hurt us all!! but I hope especially the miguided oneswho voted him in .heee heee
I think the Hazard Management unit need to visit Georgetown Police Station, unsafe working conditions, infestations with everything from ants to rats, a condemed building and thi9ngs that don’t work properly.
It really is true that its only when you peel back the nice painted exterior that you see what really lis beneath!!!
Ridiculos &ldquo!
Mac destroyed the Turte farm and spent $65 million building the Boatswain Beach amusement park that loses over $500K a month. He did not think that it would be necessry to build schools for an expanding population or even a build a road so that the tourist could travel on to visit Boatswain Beach, where money just floats away in ponds.
Mac, despite being half the man he used to be, still believes in keeping you dumb and under his thumb!
To suggest that a buiding for the HMCI is remotely more important than badly needed schools is outrageous, but it is exactly what I have come to expect from him. Creating a crisis out of a concern that he can mange is not what I really consider strategic thinking. But then Dumb and under the Thumb is a management tool that has proven effective to control the average Joe.
And for those who beat their heads against the wall in frustration, rather than staying under the thumb, you have the option of staying in a bar to 3:00 am instead. Mac has a solution for for everyone!
Meanwhile Dumb and under the Thumb will persist during the next four years.
Please do not forget this!
This department is one that the Government could definately do without. It functioned better when it was just a committee who came together during the hurricane season and whose membership consisted of civil servants who were engaged in other productive work full time in the absence of a threat.
Look at the performance of this department after Paloma, it failed, It was pretty much the Ministry of Planning who took the lead and did all the coordination. I think instead of making them bigger, they should be downsized or eliminated. After you go to the protocol office, clear out the elections office (bring it back in 3yrs) then the constitutional review secretariat (don’t believe we are going to be reviewing the constitution again next year) then the accounts receivable department that PWD has to chase other government departments to pay the bills pwd sends them and while you’re at it, get rid of a few statutory authorities too or merge them back with central government.
Things and times are tough, people are going to have to muster the courage to make some tough decisions and cut a few things loose that are dragging down the ship. That is the only way we survive this, from what I hear, a lot of people in Government knows this, many are pretending that if you ignore it, it’ll just go away, but the rubber is going to hit the road soon and it is going to be a lot more painful unless something is done now.
for the 20+ years i’ve been around these woods, i’ve never seen it this bad, or this ridiculous, we don’t need all these bells and whistles we have now in Government, we need what we had back in the 80s and 90s, a strong core of good hardworking civil servants who rolled up there sleeves and did what needed to be done to keep this country running. Now everyone needs a fancy title and a corner office in the newest office building downtown, ridiculous i tellyou.
These posts could start a good discussion on civil service departments and statutory authorities we don’t need or which could be downsized. Can anyone say what Cayman gets from the maritime authority which used to be called the shipping registry. Lots of trips over seas for the staff but what for the taxpayer? Or what about the Stock Exchange? Or the London office?
“Maybe if we have a few less other school buildings we could have done this,” he said….what a message this man is giving to the young Caymanian children….this is pathetic. It is bad enough all the general issues our children face growing up these days but to have your ‘leader’ constantly suggesting that their education is of little importance and therefore they themselves are of little importance, it’s no wonder so many of them go astray! It is so embarassing to have a ‘leader’ who has so little regard for the education of our children; it amazes me what comes out of this man’s mouth….he really confirms to all that he himself has had no education. All the so called ‘advisors’ and ‘brains’ surrounding him should be absolutely ashamed of themselves…..perhaps they all need to spend a day at each of the Government Schools to understand properly the disrepair those buildings are in.
Please, remember it is not the buildings that detrmines the education of a child but the teachers. The Minister is right in saying that as less could have been spent on the scholls and more to boost the morale of the teachers. Putting a child in a 60M dollars school without teachers, who is going to teah him, the walls or the equipment?
Please, remember….
Oh isn’t education a wonderful thing? After all look at the excellent written English of the message from “Maybe…
HMCI wants a new building.
To do what? They do nothing now. One of those civil servant departments that could be closed or at least cut back massively to save money. Then they could move on to the Protocol Office-how many of you knew we had one of these full of staff preening themselves, doing nothing. Disgraceful.
“Maybe if we have a few less other government buildings we could have done this,”
Mr. Bush, wouldn’t this also be a Government building?
"Mr. Bush, wouldn’t this also be a Government building?"
Aah. But you see the others are PPM buildings and are therefore bad. This one would be a UDP building and therefore good.
isn’t that area a flood zone?