Since the police have moved into tranquility bay the amount of traffic has increased greatly. Trucks, taxi's etc ... all speeding round the corners and driving as if they are late for an important appointment.

This is a residential area and was pretty quiet till recently when construction equipment, trucks and taxi's invaded.

Ii am wondering if and how we could get speed bumps on the roads here, before someone is hit by a reckless speedster.

Any ideas?

WHY has traffic increased greatly?

You mean to tell me that the live police them not doing nuttin bout the speeding and you now have to be taking "sleeping police" into consideration? My ! My ! I wish you good luck.

Unfortunately, I don't have the phone number they gave out in the meeting held a few months ago where they said if there were any issues or problems we should call them.

Does anyone have that number? If so, please post so Slow Down can call.

As a resident of Old Wharf, I will call as well as I have witnessed the same. I remember shortly after Courtney left my gate the other day seeing a police car flying by and thinking, "I hope Courtney is off to the side of the road." As a matter of fact I was worried all week as there was a great deal of pedestrian traffic on the road due to folks attending the doctors clinic and the cars kept speeding on by.

To: Slow Down
and others who wish a number to call

Deputy Comm. Jevene Bent
Tel 9783224 or 9274595 or 8551128

She gave out those numbers to contact her.

I have noticed this past week an increased amount of traffic through Old Wharf too .. speeding around the corners. Agree that a few speed bumps now needed in that residential communinty.

Should of thought about traffic before letting the police academy in Treasure Beach. It will be the same, if not more, when the Sports Park is open. Community cannot sit idly by and let Treasure Beach loose the "laid back" atmosphere it promotes to tourist or they will go some place else.

What a shame after all the promises and reassurances.

Take lots of pictures. Then look at them in 10 years. I bet you won't even recognize the place. So buckle up TB and say goodbye to these days. I just cannot understand why everyone does not put their foot down, all at once and SAY NO!!! Do whatever it takes. Get angry. Get vocal. Act as if your childrens lives depend on it, because it does. Now everyone can talk on this site until we are all blue in the face. It does no good. When backed in a corner, sometimes folks just need to come out fighting and not care one bit what the "big shots" think of them, or what they might do or not do. When will the bullies be sent packing? That is the only hope. That EVERYONE gets involved. Otherwise, just sit back and watch it all unfold. Don't ask for speed bumps. DEMAND them! Better yet,don't ask for speed bumps, as it would take 2 years to get that done... DEMAND accountability from those who have the police academy there. It seems that there are 3 or 4 things going on all at once that is not beneficial to the community but the opposition to the 'progress' hides behind this website as their only venue. Go ahead, get mad at me. That's a start.

In the old days, both good and not so, we would organise a little tea party with a rum punch for those off duty and civilians.

The brass at the training center, Black River and at the top station would be invited.

Organisationss like the Womens Group, Breds, church reps etc would be there for a polite chat about speeding etc and the remedies sought.

Pickney and passersby felt free to come in and say howdido and enrich the gathering.

Costs: some teabags, coffee, sugar, milk, fruits and a bottle of rum. Someone would invariably bring neatly trimmed sandwidges.

Profit: couple hours of socialising and gettings to to know you, usually practical solutions found and implemented, as no informer culture existed; a deepening of co-operation and understanding with our servers and protectors and good times were had by all.

I find people are still reasonable for the most part. Even the unreasonable look forward to peace and quite and to not worry about their people walking on the roads.

I used to be concerned when my children walked the roads, 15+ years ago. Even when the lease is up in two years a pattern of speeding may have set in.

The Treasure is being dissed and squandered and the Taino duppy dem a get real brindle!

Is it that some people are suggesting that we do not develop TB? Yes, it is good to have peace and quietness in a laid-back community but on the other hand our idle youngsters needs development!

How about letting the whole community decide what they want to live with in TB. Take a vote.
The youngsters can be better helped/developed with a community center where they can hang out with friends, listen to music, and have something to do such as help with homework, learn to swim, play pool, dominoes, cards or basketball, etc.
Hold dances, garage sales, or bake sales for revenue. Parents can take turns volunteering their supervision.

Take a vote? And do what with the results?
Give the results to the 'big shots' to make it happen?

So, one for the webmaster: would he not consider "big shots" name calling? It is, but it is benign, and makes the point. So perhaps the webmaster can lighten up, and not be so touchy with all his befuddling censorship rules. Sometimes it seems even the webmaster, in his zeal to censor willy-nilly, is confused, and could use a break from his constant struggle to maintain some sort of vague proper decorum.

"Big shots" is a perfectly good term, and we all know whom is being talked about.

This is going to be a long post.

I think what we are seeing with the speeding on Old Wharf and the canal is that the people of TB had no choice in the matter.

I think the other thing the canal and the speeding have in common is the people of Treasure Beach are essentially good and decent. They are not liars. When they give their word, people can TRUST them. In turn, they expect others to be like they are - trustworthy and decent.

By example, many years ago, someone from TB handed me a lot of his hard-earned money when I was going to America and asked me if I could purchase a vehicle for him and have it shipped back to Jamaica. He never even asked me for a receipt. I could have taken his money, money he had worked so hard for and saved for years and years - and disappeared. To this day, I will never forget how he trusted me.

With the police training facility, that building is privately owned, and the owner has a perfect right to lease it to whomever he wished. In this case, it was to the police. (Hey it could have been for a factory making deadly chemicals or explosives, so leasing it to the police wasn't the worst choice.) It's not like the building was owned by the community, and people got to vote on what went in there. This man has an expensive building which is an investment; he has ongoing expenses; and he needed to lease it to someone.

The problem is the people who leased it from him made assurances to the people of TB when rented it. They said they would be a "good neighbor." Then, when the police or their visitors or whoever it is speeding broke the rules, the promises seemed to vanish. Does anyone think for one minute that POLICE or police trainees or their visitors do not know traffic laws?

The point of this is: Promises are easy to make. They are very difficult to enforce. But the good people of Treasure Beach TRUSTED people not to break their word.

The canal - no one reading this forum could not know what a disaster this has been and will continue to be. When construction was started, people were happy. As it dragged on, people started asking questions. As people who understood drainage and engineering and simple aesthetics saw what was happening and offered solutions, they were ignored. Yes, they got some press but no results. Diana McCawlay went to bat for TB. They told her the canal was illegal. They told her they could levy a fine. But we still have something that is disgusting and dangerous. Again, the good people of Treasure Beach TRUSTED the government, at least when the canal was started.

If we are lucky, the police will be gone in two years. but who knows if their lease will be renewed.

But the canal is HERE TO STAY. And the only people who are "paying" for it are the good, decent, and TRUSTING people of TB.

Promises are easy to make. They are not necessarily made by people with evil intentions. I think the designers of the canal believed they were designing an excellent solution. In my opinion they were wrong. I believe when the police said they would be good neighbors, they intended that. Again, they have not yet proven to be good neighbors.

Excuse the length of what I am writing but I have another point I feel is important.

We are now looking at the very beginnings of the sports park. I am positive that both Jason Henzell and BREDS think they are doing a good thing for the residents of TB. I know most residents would enjoy a place for the children and youth to be able to engage in sports, for a community center, and for a health center. The problem? The problem is TRUST WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES. What will really happen if they can't raise enough money to complete the place? What will happen if the activities end up disturbing LOTS of residents? What will happen if the roads become clogged with vehicles when they can't accommodate the traffic we already have? What will happen if too many people from other places come in and cause crime? What will happen if we have a lot more trash thrown on the roads?

WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN. Neither BREDS not Jason is intending that anything will go wrong. But in a project of that size, there ARE things that will go wrong. We don't know what they are. And, when something goes wrong, I predict it will be the good and TRUSTING people of TB who will end up paying.

Unlike the canal and the police training facility, the people of TB CAN do something about the sports park in advance. They can DEMAND their questions be answered. They do not have to sit by and wait for the consequences while they TRUST all will be fine.

What Trust has said is so true. I think this may be the answer to why more people are not going around saying they are opposed to the sports park.

Someone PLEASE print out the message from Trust without Consequences and place it directly in the hands of Deputy Commissioner Jevene Bent. Or if she is not close, please call her and read it to her. There is no reason our police should be considered enemies instead of helpful friends. We need to coexist as good neighbors. The police have a duty to uphold the laws, even among themselves. If not, what are they teaching our youth?

Great post! Thank you.

It not just old wharf which has this speeding problem in the treasure beach area, so sleeping police can only do so much and no more, what is needed is some slow ,50 zone areas, signs, some are also needed at the sandy bank school, in fact the first sign should be out at Bro. Gayle church area, thats where the speeding starts, and others sign put at other selected points, need about a half dozen signs..................

Really now, did anyone really expect anything different? Does this really come as a surprise? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. As said, Buckle up TB this is only the beginning.

Deputy Comm. Bent has been sent a letter.

It would have more impact however if more people in the community would let her know about the speeding too, as someone could get hurt.

I am pleased to say that Deputy Comm. Bent replied very quickly to the speeding concerns, and has assured that the matter is getting full attention.

Have also been informed that the Police will hold a community meeting soon (most likely august 13th)

If the taxis drivers would also slow down and stop putting pedestrian lives at risk, that would be a great sign of respect to all.

FORGET ABOUT THE SPEED BUMPS.JUST LEAVE ALL THE POT HOLES AND SEE HOW FAST THEY WILL ALL DRIVE.