http://www.savethis.clickability.com/st/saveThisApp?clickMap=link&webPadID=K8008 50092

A positive article about investing in Jamaica!

I am seeking investors to cooperatively purchase an existing 10 room hotel- go to - www.buttonbayjamaica.com which is located on the sea on 3 private acres about 3 miles from Treasure Beach. The concept is to create a coop, a core group of people who wish to be in Jamaica in an creative and natural setting for extended stays. The property is in excellent condition, has a commercial kitchen, beach and pool. If interested email me or call 518-432-0736.

Interesting article, MCQueener

Note that Sparkiling Waters (original) is listed for sale at bottom.

The quote "Jamaica is unique because we have so much indigenous culture," got my attention. It certainly has its own wonderful culture, but I don't think the term 'indigenous' is correct here. Not too many Arawaks or Taino still walking around, unfortunately, though I suppose its relative to what time period one thinks about.

Also, the comments section are a good illustration of what jamaica is up against in terms of its tourism reputation. The positive way to look at it is that Treasure Beach is none of the negatives listed and is a great alternative the better known areas.

So this is what it has come to: private beachfront. This is progress?

Button Bay is secluded by a hill and steep cliffs. Private is not the correct word as this implies ownership of the beach and this was not what I meant. Land adjacent the sea is protected by Jamaica Law - to the public as a right away and owned by Jamaicans, but as we know many large resorts- Goldeneye, Sandals Whitehouse- have gained the legal the right to exclude people from passing sea side of private property and can also extends for some distance into the sea. This is just plain wrong but legal! [edited by TB.net] walks but money talks. "Stand up for your rights" Bob Marley. Native, I would like to meet and reason with you about the big picture.

I don't see this as "progress." Where i live in the states, I've seen so many lovely areas made less lovely by development, greed (not that I'm suggesting greed is at play here). Five years ago, seeing how things were perking in TB, I told my sister, who was with me on vacation there, "I'll give this beautiful Treasure Beach five years."

I guess I was pretty much right. Makes me so sad to see this happening to Treasure Beach.

Development, greed, progress? Not much has changed in Treasure Beach during the past 5 years. Many if not most guest houses and mini resorts are owned and operated by Jamaicans. These business create jobs that in turn feed families, send children to school, pay for water and electricity. I believe that most residents of Treasure Beach are inclined towards more progress. Is it only visitors who would to stop progress? There can be many positive aspects to progress- jobs- and also many negative ones. I do want to see a beautiful TB in the future. You can not stop progress. Is it possible to have a master plan and effective zoning in place to keep TB beautiful?

The master plan is already in place and was humming until about 500 years ago Fred. Maybe who/what the Master is was forgotten.

As long as our progress and development is predicated on the burning of fossil fuels, the continuance of agriculture based on post WW2 technologies, the wasteful culture of animals as food, the use of the soil, subsoil, aquifers, rivers and seas as waste dumps, the forgetting respect for neighbours, the acceptance of denial and deception as norms (See Wikileaks), the continuance of low expectations for our educational and health systems, the division of "Out of Many" and the ruling by those who should be serving; the master plan is not followed.

Did I forget anything? Right: Great Bay received the eggs of one stubborn mother turtle night before last, no predators at work till now. Change of attitude to egg hunting. Little by little.

I do not clearly understand what you are saying, Mr. Ricard. Could you explain why you believe visitors want to stop progress and Jamaicans want progress. Could you explain why you are implying non-Jamaicans who own guest houses and mini resorts do not create jobs, feed families, send children to school, pay for water and electricity, etc. Could you also explain how you define progress. Do you call all change progress?

[edited by TB.Net] it seemed to be yet another Island Outpost PR story, just under the guise of Jamaican Second Homes!

[edited by TB.Net]

Don't Understand, You don't understand what I was trying to say and this is my fault- All operators create income for the greater community. I was responding to a post by Saddened - A visitor's visit 5 years ago and expressed that TB will be ruined in 5 years. And this has not happen during the pass 5 years. I should have written , I don't see a lot of development, greed. And not much has changed in Treasure Beach during the past 5 years. I am for progress in terms of development that is sustainable and benefits all and doesn't destroy the goose that lays golden eggs.

Fred

There are approximately 50 - 53 Villas, guets houses and hotels in the Treasure Beach are from Great Bay to Fort Charles Bay. There are about 10 or so that are owned by people who do not reside in Jamaica. They nevertheless do have one person at least that look after their properties. These are usually people from the area.

If you read this web site information form time to time, you will see a lot of people complaining about various "progress" issues like the sports club and the areodrome.

Unfortunately, those of us who have invested money in the area by putting our properties into the system of Tourism do need certain things to improve the area, such as roads, water and a cleaning up the area. Is this progress for the better? I should say so.

There are a lot of unemployed people in the area, however, when you investigate, they are unemployed through choice. Please remember that we all have choices in life and for those in Jamiaca who do not have jobs, it is becuase they choose not to.

responding to jobs:I am very hurtby the last statements in your post;yes individuals do have choices but. also used to blame the victims of social ills.HOW could you possible think that those in Jam. who do not have jobs choose not to work.My knowledge of TB.and Jam.is that they are probably some of the hardest working and kindest people any place; true that there are some lazy people please do not use this minority to harshly judge a community and nation.I do not know your experiences but am sure that there has been good ones too so how about a little credit.TOMORROW willbe a better day.

Mr Ricard I do appreciate the well intentioned efforts of all who would bring development to the area. Jobs, and the benefits they bring, are welcomed in a fishing district where that livelihood has all but disappeared. However, as one who spent his childhood roaming the beaches from Great Bay to Old Wharf ( long before it became Olde Wharf), what raises the hair on the back of my neck is that "private beach" concept. There is no place for that in Treasure Beach.

The beach is all some of us will ever "own". If there exists an ordinance that mandates a reasonable setback for buildings from the shoreline, and should this ordinance be ADHERED to, then I respectfully submit that you may have all the progress you want.

Turey: Fossil Fuels vs Renewable Energy

Here we go again, round and round, and if the "horse" we are beating is not dead, it can seem mighty concussed or in a coma.
I wasn't quite sure if the original Master you referred to in your post had some spiritual significance, but one of your comments caught my eye and led reflex-ively to what our status in the Caribbean Basin (or tub) says about our "getting on" with sensible solutions.

"As long as our progress and development is predicated on the burning of fossil fuels..."

From a recent piece by Neil Hartnell in the Realist:

The Bahamas “could actually get rid of the Bahamas Electricity Corporation” in 10 years if it fully committed to financing and installing renewable energy throughout this nation... with this country “virgin territory that is significantly behind many other Caribbean countries”.

Yet a critical obstacle to the take-off of solar PV system use, and the expansion of renewable energy in the Bahamas in general, was the absence of legislation or policy support for net metering...

“We are hoping to fairly soon have legislative support for net metering... “Even without legislative support, if BEC as a policy did net metering and allowed people with PV systems to sell power back to the grid, BEC can sell that on to other rate payers, so essentially it is getting power for free.

...senior officials from Alternative Power Sources (APS), which has operations in Jamaica and Bermuda besides this nation, urged the Bahamas to “get on with it” and implement net metering legislation to make solar PV systems more affordable to a wider market.

To ease the way into renewable energy (it is) recommended that ... households and businesses target solar water heaters first, as their installation could slash electricity bills by between 10-30 per cent, depending on usage.

PV systems could come later... their construction was modular in nature and that they could be sized according to the available financing.

There is this common fiction that Renewable Energy (especially residential solar/wind) could not survive without subsidies (tax incentives, rebates, RE credits etc), but the truth of the matter is that dirty fossil fuels are subsidized 5X the level of clean renewable energy.

Could this possibly have anything to do with huge lobbying-political apparatus of Big Oil/Coal and investment portfolios which benefit?

Talk about an uneven playing field. But even at the current rate, credits & rebates in the US are producing close to 50% discounts off installed renewable energy systems.
Jamaica is a ways off from this increasing affordability, but with JPS energy based on imported oil constantly increasing, payback periods for solar PV/water heating are shrinking.

When Jamaica is importing over 90% of its energy needs in fossil fuels and the government is locking in long term contracts for more, while the sun shines daily on our roof tops, me tink sumtin rong wid dis picha.

Although progress is slow on the Renewables front, Jam-born Damian Lyn of APS (Alternative Power Source) is steadily preaching the Policy determinants (including net metering & subsidies), while installing state-of-the-art solar PV/Water Heating & residential wind turbines here and on other Caribbean islands.

This is Real (Energy) Independence
www.voicesbahamian.com/2010/08/this-is-real-independence.html

The Truth About Subsidies for Fossil Fuels
www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2010/11/more-than-5-fossil-fuel-subsi dies-for-every-1-of-support-for-renewables

Turey... We know you enjoy a little Latin Loving and some side tracking to tie up the pieces.
We have all heard the ancient folkloric moral code of the three wise monkeys:
Hear No Evil...See No Evil...Speak No Evil
Well during the Middle Ages in Europe, the sentiment was re-fashioned from an early Roman proverb: Audi...Vide...Tace si vis vicere in pace.":: Hear...See...Be Silent, if you want to live in peace.
Some wag has come up for 21st century version of the proverb:
"Hear all, see all and speak out for freedom and liberty, if you want to live in peace.

I'm with the Wag Zed, timing and place being key and our private spaces remains so.

Yes, heating with electricity is not efficient.

Anything on solar cooling?

Guess only the Master knows if there is a plan and what it is. Efficiency,elegance, focus, flexibility, awesome and change seem to be in the mix.

Turey...you are raising the stakes on Master-y when you sneak in the idea of elegance.

It is one of those "un-capture-ables"...if you are in the know, you know or feel it when it appears.

It seems that elegance has long captured the imaginations of scientists, especially physicists and mathematicians (beautiful formulas from beautiful minds), attempting to crack "universal" nuts.

In the words of Edsger Dijkstra (Dutch computer scientist/mathematician & programming guru):
"Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a factor that decides between success and failure...

Why has elegance found so little following? That is the reality of it. Elegance has the disadvantage, if that's what it is, that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it."

Or, as tossed off quite witty-ly by Marcel Proust:
"If only for the sake of elegance, I try to remain morally pure."

Elegance also suggests a "just right", un-clumsy simplicity and beauty that seems to appear like a spark of a CREATION as, after herculean human effort & trials, the recognition of DNA in the double helix form & structure.

As vaguely relates to this thread, the individual "fashion" sense of Chris Blackwell (Island Records/Island Outpost) has been described by the multitudes as "elegant".

The Japanese refer to 'Shibui'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibui

What is our patois equivalent?

SHIBUI...Well referenced, Turey, and those in quest of an ideal, familiar to all who do crafts, in humble submission to a mastery of natural materials, which they did not create, to be transformed into objects useful, beautiful, strange & essentially elegant.

Look back to the LINK for Second Homes in Jamaica, which began this thread, and ponder for a moment the familiar "wood" construction of Goldeneye's Cottage 7, designed by your classmate Ann Hodges, who is well on her masterly way to defining an historically-derived vernacular, tropical architecture.

(1 Bedroom/ 1 Bath/ 1100 SqFt/ Midrange Price:US$1.1)

Does the concept LOCATION...LOCATION...LOCATION, or at least Prestige/Quality mean anything here, when the Price of over US$1 for what is described and portrayed as "sexy beach cottages, whimsical huts, serene spa cottages and chic lagoon villas."

Features:
Veranda and large porch for outdoor living with outdoor shower and private garden. Master bedroom is raised to overlook outdoor areas, master bath has oversized clawfoot tub, kitchen with high-end Italian appliances. Sold fully furnished, including flat screen televisions.

But in Turey's reference to Shibui, might not the best examples of a simple raku ceramic bowl, with all its visible imperfections not gain incredible monetary interest in the great auction houses of the world, for those with resources & appreciation?
Are the "rich" to be envied, or to be "soaked" for favouring an aesthetic which might easily disappear if not for gallery or museum patronage?

Conde Nast Traveler praised Island Outpost "as like a close-knit family of wildly attractive, intelligent and anarchic kids, they are utterly independent and quite impossible to separate from one another.
But something they have all inherited is Blackwell's easy charm, his amused and iconoclastic view of the world, his sense of fun and style, his instinct for beauty."

Goldeneye Hotel/Resort: Deep Pocket 2nd Homes Anyone?
"The collection of five original villas built by Blackwell, which range from one to three bedroom units, have also been artfully refit and updated. The design team behind Blackwell’s original villas was Ann Hodges, a Jamaican architect, and Barbara Hulanicki, a well known interior designer.

All villas, cottages and suites are outfitted with custom-designed furniture, bath and beauty products made using local wild-grown botanicals, and Royal Hut’s fine handmade linens."

Goldeneye as seen in Yard Edge:
www.yardedge.net/worth-a-visit/the-new-goldeneye-hotel-resort-opens-october-2010

www.islandoutpost.com/press_room/press_releases/index.cfm?task=detail&id=PR_0604 27_13041113_1YNM8

If I might just highlight the emphatics from the Wiki article on Shibui to nod at, and to remind of a refined aesthetic from a culture which reveres "master-y", but rarely bestows it on anyone before before very old age.

Essentially, the aesthetic ideal of shibumi seeks out events, performances, people or objects that are beautiful in a direct and simple way, without being flashy.

Expert singers, actors, potters, and artists of all other sorts were often said to be shibui; their expertise caused them to do things beautifully without making them excessive or gaudy.

House Beautiful Description:
The seven elements of shibusa are stated as simplicity, implicity, modesty, silence, naturalness, everydayness, and imperfection.
The aristocratic simplicity of shibusa is the refined expression of the essence of elements in an aesthetic experience producing quietude?

***Editorial Note: Does that lagoon cottage glimpsed in the Yard Edge image just bathe the senses in quietude?

Spare elegance is evident in darkling serenity with a hint of sparkle.
Implicity allows depth of feeling to be visible through a spare surface design thereby manifesting the invisible core that offers new meanings with each encounter.
The person of shibui modesty exalts excellence via a thoroughness of taking time to learn, watch, read, understand, develop, think, and merges into understatement and silence concerning oneself.

Shibusa's sanctuary of silence, Non-dualism--the resolution of opposites, is intuition coupled with beauty and faith as foundations for phases of truth revealing the worship and reverence for life.

• Naturalness: conveys spontaneity in growth, unforced. The healthy roughness of texture and irregular asymmetrical form maintain shibui freedom wherein the center lies beyond all particular things in infinity.

• Everydayness raises ordinary things to a place of honor refined of all artificial and unnecessary properties thus imparting spiritual joy for today is more auspicious than tomorrow. Shibui everydayness provides a framework, a tradition for an artist's oeuvre to be a unit not a process.

• Imperfection in shibusa Soetsu Yanagi in The Unknown Craftsman refers to as "beauty with inner implications. It is not a beauty displayed before the viewer by its creator; creation here means making a piece that will lead the viewer to draw beauty out of it for oneself.

Arigatou gozaimasu

CORRECTION: Price of Goldeneye Cottage 7, in previous post, should have read US$1.1 MILLION... but what's a few extra hundred thousand dollars among bredren?

Elegance...Shibui, Turey, when you pull the vines away bak a bush, might you be on a path, in patois expression, to the Root-sy or sumtin finer...leading out deh to the Heights of I?

Aye Zed, the shift to plant time is what the Doctor ordered. We are pushed away from Higher Hights by the anxieties taken as normal in our current way of doing things.

Clearing the inner vines ....those are the challenge. Remember Medusa? Cut off one head and others grow back; if one is not attentive.

Turey...your classical bent is showing through again. But the lesson that I remembered about Medusa was that she was the mortal gorgon, a Greek mythological being whose very look could turn the startled "viewed-upon" into stone.
In her case, two heads sprang back after her beheading.

We were chatting about "vines', real and virtual. Were you recalling those sculptural images of the crazed, writhing snakes darting out from Medusa's head.
Legend had it that Medusa's tall, flowing, golden tresses were turned into snakes, as a penalty, when she desecrated Athena's temple by copulating in her sacred precinct. A know-no!

Yet, I believe, Medusa's scary, terrible beheaded countenance, as reliefs on buildings, and elsewhere, was reputed to still hold the power of protection...similar, I would think to snake-y haired, protruding tongue of Kali in Hindu mythology, whose visage was used to ward off evil.

Draw your own conclusions about what anxieties these "frights" are meant to still.

Turey... me thinks, presumptuously, that you would have a blast, checking out Ms Zane, the principal at the Sandy Bank school, and volunteering to give a continuing class to the youth in something resembling: Mythology in Greek & Taino &___ Culture: A Fusion. (With Illustration help from the art teacher)