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**Hortical** · April 1, 2007, 09:04 AM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

They point to the indefinite closure of the Dragon Bay Hotel and the Ken Jones Aerodrome as proof that "tourism is all but dead", noting that the economy of Portland could now well be ranked among the lowest in the country.

This is a damn shame. I stayed at Dragon Bay hotel just before they were bought by Butch Stewart. They bay is one of the most scenic I have ever seen in person, the water is calm as it is buffered from the ocean currents.

Pity, looks like the ongle place to stay is the Mockingbird hotel, but I don't think they have a water front. Portland is one of the few places where you go out and walk the street at night, without feeling unsafe. People need to seriously stop paying taxes in Portland.

**Assasin** · April 1, 2007, 10:16 AM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

everything a Portland crash because of lack of support from the government.

no water, no roads, no hospitals, no tourism, no coffee, no work, the only thing the people have a cell phone. I wonder when them have pickney a who a go support them?

Why should people pay tax when they get no representation. We rather have places look good fi world cup visitors who is coming for one day. You don't think the visitors see throught it?

I will talk a little more later but the Portland and St.Mary need fi have their own treasury for now and demand action.

**Lazie** · April 1, 2007, 10:28 AM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

The people of Portland and St. Mary need fi understand that they deserve better. A woman in an abusive relationship has to be the one that want to get out of it.

**MdmeX** · April 1, 2007, 09:37 PM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

No road nuh deh a Portland, Portie road dem even worse!! & yes Dragon Bay is a beautiful place, I remember back in the days when it was owned by Michael Rosenberg.

As to WATER, can you believe that if you're building a house in Pt. Antonio and its environs, you better build a TANK!

Bwoy, I tell you. Sass, you right, the only thing in abundance is cell phones.

**Hortical** · April 1, 2007, 10:11 PM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

Whey Karl deh? How yuh get so quiet pon this post?

**Shatta** · April 3, 2007, 11:32 AM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

Unfortunately what I am about to say will sound harsh and it won't win me any friends but like Bob say many more will have to suffer and many more will have to die don't ask me why.

Garvey tell us say Black man won't know himself until his back is against the wall. We can't generating all this money in Jamaica and yet not owning a thing. We are paying the price for not honoring our MOTHERS and FATHERS like the Bible say as we still a try go round Garvey and the man saying that we fi know ourselves but he predicted that we would never know ourselves until our backs are against the wall.

This have to happen to us for us to rise again as a people. 7 times rise and 7 times fall. No nation can sustain a culture of cosumerism and dependency. It just can't happen and unfortunately we have to fall on our faces to realise that.

Jamaica will be much the better as now dem a have the debates about television etc and its effect on youths(look how long rasta tell dem that dem fi bun cable) but no because of self hate thats bred in us we laughed but look at us now.

We can't own a damn thing and generate income in Jamaica. We have youths in the hills of Portland training as guerillas to overthrow the government but one a dem buss pon the rest and the government a keep it hush hush.

So wait wah unnu think the stockpiles of AK-47's are for? You no think say the man dem study how Hezbollah and Iraq a resist with the K'?

Nuff things nah make news but trust mi unnu see the range of Parishes from St Anns to St Mary to Portland dem hills deh response fi the most revolution in the WORLD and a from deh so the revolutions in Africa and the caribbean plus south America start from. So wait unnu no think we overdue for another one?

Garvey, Marcus, Tacky, Sizzla, Bogle you name it dem hills deh still a resist.

gwaan think a preach man a preach

**MdmeX** · April 3, 2007, 12:05 PM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

Nuh tell nuh lie pon mi BELOVED parish of Portland. We don't have any guerillas or gorillas in those hills - only peaceful law abiding citizens planting dem vegetables.

**Assasin** · April 3, 2007, 12:52 PM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

Sign mi up Shatta. You have the information.

Somebody taking a stand.

**GaryD** · April 3, 2007, 01:28 PM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

I am not saying anything new...

Portland has an ignominous distinction of a Parish with a great untapped and unrealized potential. The mini-coves, including the one Dragon Bay occupies and the blue lagoon, are fantastic. One other irony is that Portland boast some of the more electic hotels on the island (E.g, One that is a feature snap shot in Conde Nast magazine) as well asa buildingin the center of town that looks more like a Barvarian chalet. On a personal note, Dragon's Bay was our family get away but not anymore and not because dem locked down.

On the flip side, the interior roads are more saddening than I ever imagined. To say it is a shame is an understatement.

That said, the solution is not for the people of Portland to stop paying taxes. I don't know the % or absolute dollars they contribute to the national coffers, and if it is the case that the business base is just not there to generate the return fund. That, I am not totally convinced is the case.

However, frankly anyone who deliberately avoid paying taxes, anywhere in JA should face the highest penalty. Afterall, you wouldn't expect to get away with this in the US. If in the future we hope to have an administration and economic base to address some of these basic problems, certainly chosing not to pay taxes is a bad precedent.

All of this is moot however, because the basic question is "which taxes do they currently pay that you would suggest that they don't pay?" I would suggest that if you look at the different taxes Jakans pay, maybe with the exception of the GCT, there isn't a lot of opportunity to not pay the ones with the highestcontribution

**Assasin** · April 3, 2007, 01:40 PM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

What was the Boston tea Party about?

Tax without representation.

How do you send a message to Kingston? If you can't do it for the past 30 years, all you get is promise.

How does spending all the money on World cup cricket, In PJ constituency and other places of choice help they youngsters in Portland?

I say pay the taxes to their own Bank and when the government get serious they can rejoin the rest of Jamaica.

Without grassroot solution that hurt the pocket of Kingston, nothing will happen.

**Shatta** · April 3, 2007, 02:01 PM

RE: 'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

Assassin mi need to give you the house number so call mi again and leave a message as mi phone get waterlogged and mi lose all mi numbers so leave a message and mi will call you from the house.

GaryD one of the things I hear people complaining about in JA is that they feel as if the Chinese don't pay taxes and so dem have an unfair advantage(However the chinese also buy in bulk)over the Jamaican businesses as they can afford to pay protection money in the garisson area.

For some strange reasons which I can' t understand we seem hell bent on giving everyone else an easier chance to own a piece of Jamaica than we do our own.

Digicel seeing a US 1 billion dollar a year gross in Jamaica and we a talk bout we no have money and how we can't sustain a football league. Trust mi when I say that after seeing all those Spanish all inclusives coming on stream and how our people are both mentally and physically enslaved I am beginning to lose all hope for JA.

Portland is being deliberately starved to get the locals to sell out so that certain people alone own the prime areas when dem develop the infrastructure.

Trust mi big plans are in store for the marina and portland and its nothing but gentrification but since we refuse to believe then call it what unnu want. A sistren of mine have fam with land on the waterfront near the pier and dem first hit her fam with a $6 million tax bill and now dem no stop offer her fam money fi him restaurant hotel and nightclub in the heart of the city.

this is nothing new for years we have been run off prime land all over Jamaica. From the bauxite to all we public beach dem take away from us along the north coast fi give to the Spanish fi dem all inclusives.

Now the people dem no have no choice but to fight and with the country flooded with "tall up tall up" from Haiti what unnu really think ago happen given the aggressive and rebellious nature of our people? Unnu think a Haitian alone a wash up pon the beach a Portland?

Sometimes mi think unnu think man a post just fi post but trust mi Ochi no have nothing pon Portland when it comes to natural beauty nothing that I have seen so far in Portand Ochi can stand up to. Can you imagine 5 ships in the Portland Harbour? The people dem no need fi a suffer so and we have to be the voices and stop complaining as we need fi use modern technology fi take it to our morally bankcrupt and visionless leaders.

Once again people with vision are seeing eco tours, spa's health and wellness tours and medical hospitals etc. All that remains is getting the people off the prime areas and then taking over and if unnu think a lie mi a tell or that sounds too harsh then check history and come back to me as a no me say history repeats itself a dem.

since unnu feel say mi chat too much check this out and see whats instore for portland mi done talk

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...business1.html

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'Why are you doing this tous?'Portland residents speak of unbearable hardships

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