Its noteworthy that some of the residents of Lewis Town...,.has dumped a bit of marl in the pot-holes in their district-they did this about 2 weeks ago. I dont know how long this will last......but a big thank you to those residents.

we should all donate some marl for the potholes. we can ask the villa owners to donate marl for the pot holes that are sometimes DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF one of these wonderful expensive villas ...
how does that feel as a tourist, when driving out of the resort or villa and each time first thing through a pothole, filled with water....

cīmon villa owners, you all are not poor... if you get together and DONATE SOME MARL it would make a big improvement.... even we, the tourists could participate and donate money for marl... I am absolutely convinced that MANY tourists would participate just for the feeling of being able to improve....

The road situation is not an easy fix of just filling in a few potholes. It will require installing proper drainage systems, repaving, etc. A bit of $$ donated by whomever, will not be enough to fix this problem. Besides, I guess I feel like I "donate" enough money at the end of each month when I go to the Black River tax office to pay my taxes.

Sometimes I wonder if all of the businesses paying taxesin Treasure Beach should gather at the tax office at the end of the month, pay the taxes and then get the $$ back to fix the roads ourselves.

Money has been allocated by the government to fix the roads - lets see our tax dollars at work and see the roads being fixed.

I would much rather see the villa owners donate $$ to causes which would have no other means of support than see them put $$ towards something that should be and is the responsibility of the government.

sunny_island Am in Florida and when I look at the roads here i wonder when will Jamaican roads every be like this?
I wish the day when i see Treasure Beach with good paved roads. Treasure Beach could be more developed if we had better roads.

Given the recent new beachfrontage tax, the new
boatmen certification/licensing tax, the 8.25%
GCT tax, the health regulations exam/tax, the
property tax and the income tax (let's not talk about JPS increases here), the Jamaican government has "discovered" TB -- as a REVENUE CENTER and cash cow only. Assumba has not visited since Ivan but the tax collectors have been down the roads in droves. Once again, the only way to
insist on r.o.i. and basic representational rights for the area is to elect a strong, committed local to stand up for his or her
citizens.

Rebecca, you have hit the nail on the head. I know that sometimes citizens have to take matters into their own hands to make everyday life a little easier, but I think this issue is way past that stage. Let's hope that the many cries have been heard.

I totally agree with Rebecca, look how many side roads (lanes) etc. which needs marl, why should we take over the Government's responsibility when we have already paid our taxes and the majority have voted for an MP who should make sure we have good roads. How much worse should it get, in the meantime we have to fork out more money to fix our vehicles. Come on, citizens, what's the next best thing to do, it is full time now. How comes everyone is just accepting the road situation? We are fed up, imagine some persons are unable to get in their homes because of lack of drainage and the roadway has totally caved in. We are tired of driving on marl roads, all it does is cause one heap of white dust, I don't know how we survive until now, with all that dust over the past 2 years. Heaven help us!!!

Hear, hear, Rebecca!

I agree that the roads should be fixed by the people whose job it is to fix them ... the same people who are *supposed* to know how to fix them properly!

We are always calling on the villa owners to step in. While I think all of the villa owners should find ways to give back to the community, I don't think calling on them for every thing that needs attention is reasonable or fair. And, too, many owners *do* give back plenty to the community.

Seth, Please remind us what villa owners have done for the community. Some of us are suffering
from Amnesia.

Memory Loss; Why continue to pick on the villa owners when you know the proper authorities that should be fixing the problem. What if the villa owners decided to close their doors to business. No more villas/villa owners.....Ummm? Who would you pick on then?

Just my two cents on the table.

I'm sure all the Business places have an agreement whereby they pay taxes to the government for their businesses and their employees. It is the government's responsibility to use these tax funds to provide road, water and other amenities to all citizens. Whatever else the business community does is their call; they kept their part of the bargain, the government should do likewise. Representation without accountability is tyranny.

Hi, Memory Loss,
I was being maybe overly generous when I said 'many' owners. I want to think it's many. I was mainly thinking about Stephanie, Viking and Jean Genus and Jason Henzell because I know about some of the work they are doing outside of running their businesses. I'm sure there must be other guest house owners who take seriously the need to be active in the community.
Sorry for the exaggeration.

#1 bring visitors into the community with the attendant $ and cultural spin offs.

#2 local employment.

#3 local purchases of goods and services.

#4 Visitor referals.

& no I do not own a villa.

Villa? Isn't that some kind of old Roman house?

Sorry to butt in Seth! or as we say here, "mi nah cut yu..but..."

Best, Justice.

- set-up and fund scholarship programs

- donate computers and supplies to local schools

- donate funds to local schools for tutors, fencing around schools, facility improvements

- sponsor Treasure Girls cricket team and other sports teams

- provide accommodations to doctors and dentists coming from overseas to provide free clinics to area residents

- assist their staff in paying for educations for their children

- provide jobs

- provide further opportunities

- sponsor the dollar-a-night program for BREDS

- sponsor Christmas parties for children and adults

- sponsor life saving training programs

- participate and donate to various fund raisers throughout the year

- sponsor beach clean-ups

- marketing the area so other businesses can reap the benefits of increased traffic to the area

. . .and that is just off the top of my head. Of course, I am only speaking about the villa and hotel owners whom I know participate in many of the above community based programs.

Oh, and did I mention all the letters written, meetings attended to make government officials aware of the conditions of the roads, constant contact with media to make sure the issue doesn't die, etc.

Why would you need to even ask this question? Wouldn't the better question be, "What have I done for the community lately?" Remember, when you point a finger at someone else, three fingers are pointing back at you. If we all committed to improving our community in some small way, much more could be gained than by checking out what others have done and depending on one small group versus on the many businesses and residents which make up a community.

One thing I just thought of. The 'community service' done by guesthouse owners goes well beyond the work they do themselves. Just having the guesthouses reaps a positive benefit for the community. If not for guesthouses visitors like Lynette/Sweetlips might never have come to TB. She has become a wonderfully active and strong advocate for children's education and access to technology. The tourist trade in TB (which the guesthouse owners take a hand in developing and supporting) widens the circle of TB-lovers who happily support community projects or buy into raffles that pay for scholarships, etc.

I'm not really interested in jumping to anyone's defense (besides, others have already done that quite well enough), I'm just always surprised when people call on owners to step up ... it is up to *all* members of the community to step up ... and it is up to the government to do the work it is obligated to do.

Has anyone done any research to see how much tax revenue is generated by TB ... and how much of that money comes back to TB? It might be interesting to see how much money is going out of the community into government coffers and how much (or, more likely, how little) the government sends back our way.

Just my two cents. Also not interested in getting anyone else's back up as this discussion clearly already has.

I'm a local person,and I can say that this community has not had a very good record of local business people contributing to the development of the community.
No matter how small, they could have been combining their resources to assist with small projects over the years, but very little of that has happened.
Suddenly, with the arrival of a few 'outsiders'who now operate modest businesses (Yes! These guest houses/ villas are not big five-star hotels, but small operations!) there are all these demands as to what they should do!
Please be fair!
I am detecting a bit of prejudice in some of this griping, and it will only get worse. As more and more locals sell their beachfront properties to savvy outsiders, for short-term gain, the same persons who sold them the land in the first place will then turn around and 'cuss' them because of the improvements they have made.
Make up your minds!

To add to your list of what villa owners do for the community, Rebecca, do not forget the Hurricane Ivan relief program. A huge percentage of the money collected and given to the community (emergency food and water, medications, clothing, lights for the fishermen, and building materials to replace or repair about 200 homes) was given by the villa owners and their guests (after being asked by the villa owners). Someone even provided flower seeds for all of TB to try to make the area look pretty after so many of the beautiful plants had been ruined by Ivan; I think that was a villa owner.

Plus, they DO help with the road situation. I remember seeing heavy equipment in front of Rainbow Tree about a year ago putting in expensive drains to keep the road from flooding. This road flood situation is something that was there before Rainbow Tree, so what they did was a community service for that end of Treasure Beach, not for their own villa.

Also, what about the Women's Group building? I think many of the villa owners contributed money, materials, and time to that.

Thanks for reminding us. However, we tend to get too defensive, it's all about progress, nothing else. Good work y'all, keep it up!!

People of Treasure Beach "For the love of all" please pitch in and do your all and stop putting the blame on others. They came in to the district and spend their money to buy and build guess houses/villas as business people and over the years has helped the community in many ways over and over with or without hurricane disasters.They have employed so many locals who should be thankfull because we all need jobs to be able to support ourselves and our children.
Please do not be ungreatfull, instead give thanks.That is all I have to say.
NOW GET TOGETHER AND WRITE A LETTER TO YOUR GOVERNMENT THAT IS WHERE THE BLAME BELONGS.

There are thousands of hotels/villas here in florida and the owners are not responsible for fixing the roads in front of their buildings or elsewhere in that area.That is why they pay property taxes for roads repair/water/schools etc,etc.

AMEN, Florida!!!

We do the same here in California; that what taxes are for.

Stop complaining to the owners. Complain to YOUR government.