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The Rape of the Public Interest
COMMON SENSE
JOHN MAXWELL
Sunday, November 01, 2009
In 1973, nearly 40 years ago, I was one of the journalists on the new JBCTV public affairs programme, Press Conference - later renamed Firing Line. One of the first guests on the programme was Moses Matalon, the first chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC).
JOHN MAXWELL
Mr Matalon was then, as we say in Jamaica, 'in him ackee'. He had been installed in 1968 by the JLP Finance and Development Minister Edward Seaga and confirmed by the new prime minister, Michael Manley, when he took office in 1972. Someone, of course, had to invent the mot: "JLP or PNP in office, no matter, Matalon in power!"
The UDC was then at the height of its public relations prowess, spinning out brochure after brochure detailing how the corporation was going to give Jamaica an extreme makeover and convert it into the "Miami of the Caribbean".
At that time, Hellshire had only recently been rediscovered. The rugged geology conspired with the harsh climate to keep Hellshire out of sight to all but a few Jamaicans, mainly bird shooters and crocodile hunters such as James Gore, father and son, hog hunters and fishermen. The UDC decided to change all that. It was going to build another Kingston across the water - eclipsing Portmore whose prospects were pretty dim at that time. Some of us who knew something about Hellshire would drive out on the new UDC road to swim and eat some fish with the fishermen. It was even possible to skinny-dip on the deserted white-sand beach with 20-ft dunes walling off parts of the beach from easy view.
It was paradise, whether you inhaled or imbibed or simply lay about in blissful, peaceful idleness.
About two or three weeks before Mr Matalon's appearance on Press Conference, a few of us found an enormous gully cut across the road to Hellshire - between Fort Clarence and Halfmoon Bay.
Portmore, during the time it was being built, was underlain by irregular layers of peat, sand, quicksand, unconsolidated clay and gravels and other debris deposited by the Rio Cobre, the Sandy Gully and other streams which had formed the estuary on which Portmore was being built.
On Press Conference Mr Matalon expatiated on his plans to remodel Jamaica, always skirting delicately around Hellshire. In response to a direct question, he admitted, yes, there was a plan to develop Hellshire as a tourism resort. I asked him whether he realised that Halfmoon Bay was the only good beach within reach of Kingston's sweltering multitudes. He said there was Gunboat beach. I said Gunboat was now too dirty for swimming and even with its neighbour, Buccaneer Beach, there was not enough space for Kingston's people.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...C_INTEREST.asp
COMMON SENSE
JOHN MAXWELL
Sunday, November 01, 2009
In 1973, nearly 40 years ago, I was one of the journalists on the new JBCTV public affairs programme, Press Conference - later renamed Firing Line. One of the first guests on the programme was Moses Matalon, the first chairman of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC).
JOHN MAXWELL
Mr Matalon was then, as we say in Jamaica, 'in him ackee'. He had been installed in 1968 by the JLP Finance and Development Minister Edward Seaga and confirmed by the new prime minister, Michael Manley, when he took office in 1972. Someone, of course, had to invent the mot: "JLP or PNP in office, no matter, Matalon in power!"
The UDC was then at the height of its public relations prowess, spinning out brochure after brochure detailing how the corporation was going to give Jamaica an extreme makeover and convert it into the "Miami of the Caribbean".
At that time, Hellshire had only recently been rediscovered. The rugged geology conspired with the harsh climate to keep Hellshire out of sight to all but a few Jamaicans, mainly bird shooters and crocodile hunters such as James Gore, father and son, hog hunters and fishermen. The UDC decided to change all that. It was going to build another Kingston across the water - eclipsing Portmore whose prospects were pretty dim at that time. Some of us who knew something about Hellshire would drive out on the new UDC road to swim and eat some fish with the fishermen. It was even possible to skinny-dip on the deserted white-sand beach with 20-ft dunes walling off parts of the beach from easy view.
It was paradise, whether you inhaled or imbibed or simply lay about in blissful, peaceful idleness.
About two or three weeks before Mr Matalon's appearance on Press Conference, a few of us found an enormous gully cut across the road to Hellshire - between Fort Clarence and Halfmoon Bay.
Portmore, during the time it was being built, was underlain by irregular layers of peat, sand, quicksand, unconsolidated clay and gravels and other debris deposited by the Rio Cobre, the Sandy Gully and other streams which had formed the estuary on which Portmore was being built. On Press Conference Mr Matalon expatiated on his plans to remodel Jamaica, always skirting delicately around Hellshire. In response to a direct question, he admitted, yes, there was a plan to develop Hellshire as a tourism resort. I asked him whether he realised that Halfmoon Bay was the only good beach within reach of Kingston's sweltering multitudes. He said there was Gunboat beach. I said Gunboat was now too dirty for swimming and even with its neighbour, Buccaneer Beach, there was not enough space for Kingston's people.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...C_INTEREST.asp