News
The Beach and Coastal Vending Ordinance still looms large over our society in TCI
#TurksandCaicos, April 22, 2022 – Now that the dust has settled on the Beach and Coastal Vending Ordinance, what are some of the impacts and effects?
There have been reports of many beach entrepreneurs and vendors unable to maximize revenue due to their new location and feeling disenfranchised.
Law abiding Vendors in uniforms, particularly in Grand Turk, are being confined to their zones and are prohibited from walking up to Carnival grounds to locate and greet their guests, while others are allowed to roam freely across zones.
There have also been reports of business as usual with respect to random drug peddling, illegal sale of alcohol etc.
What have been even more concerning are the reports of indiscriminate targeting of select Vendors by the newly created positions of Beach patrol units. It appears the actions of a few have deviated from the true intent of the ordinance.
Some of the beach patrol units with good intentions appear to be ill informed, frustrated with the lack of adequate resources to carry out their duties and no clear focus of what needs to be accomplished.
Although some of us may view the ordinance from different lenses, I must say, there are some notable changes such as,
- There is a certain level of uniformity among Vendors in terms of chair and equipment placement that once blocked guests’ access and also created a safety hazard.
- Guests and Vendors alike now have access to restrooms at Local Village.
- Broken and dilapidated beach equipment which created such poor aesthetics has improved.
- There also appears to be less alterations taking place between beach vendors and hustlers.
Whilst some Vendors including myself are very grateful for the local village space which was designated for beach vendors and boat tour operators, some tours are being delayed due to poor signage and closed shops which gives the appearance of abandonment.
In the end, Carnival Corporation got exactly what they bargained for, no Vendors operating on public beaches in front of their property.
One would expect that based on these facts, it would prompt the policy makers to reconsider their initial assumptions that this bill was designed in the best interest of the people. With all due respect, I beg to differ.
Why is it so difficult to understand the citizens’ position on this bill? Why can’t the policy makers just admit that they might have gotten their assumptions wrong at the very start?
Albeit, I do not object the bill in its entirety, however, there was no need to create an entirely new bill since most of the ordinance already existed on the books, but lacked enforcement by the appropriate authorities.
In my opinion, I think it’s a mix of playing to a special interest group that has formed the decision of certain politicians over the past few years.
A virtue of reflection and re-analysis of this bill is what’s needed. This should include soliciting further input from relevant stakeholders on their positions, repealing of certain line items and making the necessary amendments.
By doing so, this will ensure the way the ordinance is written, it’s not stifling growth among our beach entrepreneurs or creating any barriers that will negatively impact legitimately operating businesses.
The complexity of the situation is, we must try to find a sensible middle ground in the best interest of all concerned.
Here is what we are fighting for:
- Stop letting big corporations define the rules of the game or dictate how and what is in the best interest of our country.
- Put proper docking facilities in place in Grand Turk to accommodate boat tour operators in loading zones. Until this is done, Beach patrol units should reframe from harassing operators when fueling boats or boarding guests.
- Repeal and amend the ordinance that confines Vendors to their zones, which prohibits legitimate business operators from locating and greeting their guests anywhere on public beach. In essence, this is borderline infringement on one’s rights to free speech and does not exemplify the concept of a free democratic society.
- Remove the clause which states that in order to acquire a Beach Vendors license, this has to be one’s main source of income.
- Provide proper training for the beach patrol units before placing them in such positions with overarching authority. They are not sworn law enforcement officers, operating outside of the RTCPF, and are not subject to the control of the Police Ordinance; That’s a problem.
- Requirement to have liability insurance should not be a mandate for all beach operators and should be limited to select business categories. For instance, who will set the minimum requirements? What if no company wants to take on the risk? This will again disenfranchise our people.
- Provide proper sanitation services to clean up the beach on a daily basis not just Local Village.
- Consolidation of certain fees to ease the burden on local operators.
- Make provisions in the ordinance to accommodate local land based tour and rental operators who primarily operate outside the cruise center main gate, but rely on greeting their guests on the public beach. These include golf cart rentals, tram tours, horseback riding, car rentals etc.
Make no mistake about it, despite the fact the bill has been passed, our continued voices are not futility in error, it’s a fight to preserve our rights, not only for ourselves but for the future of our next generation.
Therefore, we are counting on both political parties to bring this matter back to the HOA, either in the form of a bill or private members motion.
Ed Forbes,
Concerned citizen of Grand Turk
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, April 19, 2024 – In an attempt to move to 24-hour-a-day operations Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is steadily recruiting Air Traffic Controllers to work at the Providenciales/Howard Hamilton International Airport, according to Godfrey Smith, TCIAA CEO, reporting to the Appropriations Committee.
Speaking on April 8th Smith said a cabinet paper would be sent soon requesting six more Air Traffic Controllers to make round the clock operation at the Provo International possible and to open the airport in Grand Turk till 12 a.m.
Currently, 17 posts are filled and seven are vacant.
Smith was candid with his responses to recent industrial action from ATCs which led to resignations and firings.
“What we have to do is find systems to mitigate such actions and that has to start with filling these jobs, putting people in that want to
work and doing right by people – and we always try to do right by our staff. Persons may not think that we are but we always do – we ain’t pick no fight,” he said in the meetings held at the NJS Francis building ahead of the National Budget Communication.
Smith indicated that recruitment was an issue across the board, ‘we need to find ways to recruit a little bit better’ he told the committee. Also in need of a push was capital spending or projects according to the CEO, who said the agency had ‘not been very good’ at meeting that mark but insisted they had recognized the issue and could do better.
A very important key performance indicator drawn up by the TCIAA is increasing passenger satisfaction at the Howard Hamilton International Airport. For the TCIAA part of this means a 30 percent increase in seating by Q2 of this year.
When queried on if they could even handle this increase the CEO said,
“The fact of the matter is we already have the capacity there. What we need is to make the service a bit better.”
Staff shortages have become such a frustrating issue that the TCIAA is instituting a scholarship program created by Authority Chairman, Selvyn Hawkins
“What the board wants to do is basically allocate $25,000 annually for a scholarship and they’ve approved it already.”
This process would cover tuition and all other costs for one student.
The student would return as a summer intern and other breaks to work at the TCIAA and upon graduation, assume a role at the company.
“We identify a particular skill we need, we go after it and we build capacity that is in a nutshell the nexus of the program,” Smith said.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) is allocated $49 million this financial year; over $20 million goes to salaries.
Company delivers fastest speeds nationwide and boosts service reliability
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS, APRIL 19th, 2024 – More connections, faster speeds and greater support for customers. This is the promise from communications and entertainment provider, Flow TCI, as it embarks on an initiative to provide households with enhanced connections, greater overall reliability and now, for the first time, speeds up to one gigabit person second.
FLOW TCI Country Manager, Joanne Missick shared: “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. We listen to our customers and want to exceed their demands, so we are focused on delivering unmatched value with customer centric products and services that are future proof. Flow subscribers on our Fibre Extreme package can now access up to one gigabyte speeds and subscribers on our Fibre Plus and Fibre Max package, as of April 1st, are also now benefitting from up to 5x more speeds.”
This is third speed boost for Flow customers in the last two years. This comes under the umbrella of the the Company’s recently launched “Working for You” campaign, where technicians are going into the neighborhoods across the island to conduct repairs, decommission copper cables, and increase the brand’s visibility in local communities.
“To date several neighborhoods have been served by technicians and the company will continue to go across the islands to ensure each neighborhood receives personal attention. We recognize that over the past few months some customers have experienced issues with the quality and delivery of our services. This is not what we stand for. Flow remains committed to providing technology and innovation
that enables growth and positively impacts lives”, says, newly appointed Head of Technical Operations, Simeon Thomas.
Thomas adds, “We have been closely monitoring and reviewing every aspect of our network and there is room for improvement across each of the islands. Where we find shortcomings, we are taking concrete actions and assigning our technicians to rapidly make all necessary adjustments and improvements for our customers”.
Flow has made significant investments in expanding and modernizing its infrastructure and delivering a more robust and reliable network paving the way for the country’s digital transformation.
For more information on speed increases visit https://www2.discoverflow.co/turks-and-caicos/price-adjustment-speed-increase on our website.
Thank you for your usual assistance in sharing our stories.
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