Question for People Who Really Know Kingston - Downtown

[Reggae plus]

I mentioned in the St Lucia/Cuba thread about the work being done to resurrect a plethora of historical buildings in downtown Havana. In Kingston too I would imagine that there was a wealth of different architectural buildings and influences. But who is to pay to restore these buildings? And who is to pay for these buildings to be guarded from simply being taken over and inhabited at will once they're ready?

Try THAT in Havana. In Kingston? Would it not turn into a politic mess in every sense? I have to think that reality dictates how this hasn't been played out. Or should I say realities?

[Tropicana]

Well I have a couple of ideas based on what I have seen elsewhere. Restore a few of the streets in downtown Kingston to what they were complete with period furniture. Use them as museums. People will pay to visit sites like that and as I said, funding is available from various sources for restoration of historical buildings and areas.

Provide adequate security of course and use the funds generated by the visitors to raise funds for urban renewal.

[RichD]

MINISTER of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna has urged students to assist in promoting the importance of the Blue and John Crow mountains as Jamaica tries to get them listed on the World Heritage Site.


"You need to start talking; you need to start educating people about it and you need to start lobbying everybody across the island," Hanna told students attending the recently held Heritage Club of Jamaica/Jamaica National Heritage Trust Symposium at the Institute of Jamaica in downtown, Kingston.


"Culture is serious business and everybody is talking about roads, water. Talk about your culture, there is funding for culture internationally but we need more voices," she added.


The minister noted that Jamaica has applied for the Blue and John Crow Mountains to be inscribed on the World Heritage List and that officials from the World Heritage Site Committee will be visiting next month to assess the site and to determine whether or not it should be included.


"I am depending on you to carry the message, and the ministry is now in work mode to get everything done," she said.


Hanna said Jamaica stands to benefit significantly if the site is accepted.


"We must get a heritage site, it will improve tourism, it will improve Jamaican ratings on the international indices for competitiveness. It will also improve our stakes when we go to international conferences because we now have the ability to attract funding because they realise that we are not only serious about our national heritage but we are serious about international things," she said.


According to Hanna, Blue and John Crow Mountains were selected because of their cultural significance and because of what heroine Nanny did there as the first military leader of the world.


In the meantime, Hanna said the country's leaders and policy makers need to take advantage of our culture and not allow it to happen by coincidence or accidentally.


"We have to have a deliberate commitment to making this a part of our economy and economic growth because we have a competitive advantage with it in the world and not allow other people to use it without claiming it," she said.


Hanna also encouraged Jamaicans to start preserving the culture and heritage, while adding that she will be announcing several policies geared at preserving, protecting and sustaining the nation's heritage during her sectoral presentation in Parliament on May 20.


Meanwhile, assistant general manager for Jamaica National Building Society Leon Mitchell said that enough was not being done to preserve the national heritage and urged Government to play a more active role in the preservation of the national heritage.


"While we applaud successive Governments for their continued recognition of National Heroes Day and Heritage Day celebrations, I submit that more must be done to preserve the legacy and heritage of this great country called Jamaica,"


he said.


"We need to begin a process that defines and refines who is a Jamaican, what is expected of Jamaicans anywhere they are in the world. There was once a sense of dignity and pride and it came along with being Jamaican, which defines us as people who aspire to great heights and was willing to work to achieve economic and social progress," Mitchell added.


He, however, lamented the fact that children were not being taught about their Jamaican culture and were growing up with little or no appreciation for the struggles which have made Jamaica what it is today.

[Tropicana]

MINISTER of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna has urged students to assist in promoting the importance of the Blue and John Crow mountains as Jamaica tries to get them listed on the World Heritage Site.


"You need to start talking; you need to start educating people about it and you need to start lobbying everybody across the island," Hanna told students attending the recently held Heritage Club of Jamaica/Jamaica National Heritage Trust Symposium at the Institute of Jamaica in downtown, Kingston.

Great to hear this.

"Culture is serious business and everybody is talking about roads, water. Talk about your culture, there is funding for culture internationally but we need more voices," she added.


The minister noted that Jamaica has applied for the Blue and John Crow Mountains to be inscribed on the World Heritage List and that officials from the World Heritage Site Committee will be visiting next month to assess the site and to determine whether or not it should be included.

"I am depending on you to carry the message, and the ministry is now in work mode to get everything done," she said.


Hanna said Jamaica stands to benefit significantly if the site is accepted.


"We must get a heritage site, it will improve tourism, it will improve Jamaican ratings on the international indices for competitiveness. It will also improve our stakes when we go to international conferences because we now have the ability to attract funding because they realise that we are not only serious about our national heritage but we are serious about international things," she said.

Absolutely.

According to Hanna, Blue and John Crow Mountains were selected because of their cultural significance and because of what heroine Nanny did there as the first military leader of the world.


In the meantime, Hanna said the country's leaders and policy makers need to take advantage of our culture and not allow it to happen by coincidence or accidentally.


"We have to have a deliberate commitment to making this a part of our economy and economic growth because we have a competitive advantage with it in the world and not allow other people to use it without claiming it," she said.


Hanna also encouraged Jamaicans to start preserving the culture and heritage, while adding that she will be announcing several policies geared at preserving, protecting and sustaining the nation's heritage during her sectoral presentation in Parliament on May 20.


Meanwhile, assistant general manager for Jamaica National Building Society Leon Mitchell said that enough was not being done to preserve the national heritage and urged Government to play a more active role in the preservation of the national heritage.


"While we applaud successive Governments for their continued recognition of National Heroes Day and Heritage Day celebrations, I submit that more must be done to preserve the legacy and heritage of this great country called Jamaica,"


he said.


"We need to begin a process that defines and refines who is a Jamaican, what is expected of Jamaicans anywhere they are in the world. There was once a sense of dignity and pride and it came along with being Jamaican, which defines us as people who aspire to great heights and was willing to work to achieve economic and social progress," Mitchell added.


He, however, lamented the fact that children were not being taught about their Jamaican culture and were growing up with little or no appreciation for the struggles which have made Jamaica what it is today.

Very good to read this. I had seen this next part a while back.

UNESCO: Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity - 2008
URL: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/RL/...
Description: Situated in the highlands of eastern Jamaica, Moore Town is home to the descendants of independent communities of former runaway slaves known as Maroons. The African ancestors of the Moore Town Maroons were forcibly removed from their native lands to the Caribbean by Spanish slave traders in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The term Maroon, derived from the Spanish word cimarrón (wild), refers to those slaves who fled the plantations in the early 1600s and established their own settlements in the Blue and Johncrow Mountains of eastern Jamaica. By the early eighteenth century, the Maroon communities controlled much of the eastern part of the island. In opposition to the expanding plantation system of the British, they formed well-organized and efficient underground military units. After decades of warfare, the British finally yielded to the communities demands for recognition of their autonomy by signing a treaty with the Maroons in 1739.

The music of the Moore Town Maroons was declared by the UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005.

http://www.blueandjohncrowmountains.org/sustainable-tourism/community-buffer-zones-sites/moore-town-maroons.html

[RichD]

Again y waste money on kill some?....a lot of those buildings are not fit for any modern purpose....Kingston is a commercial city that needs uliterian functional buildings...restoration of killsome buildings is not sustainable... This is why there has never been the drive to do it.'..

Better investment is restore Black River..more sustainable... A growing tourist region with small hotels to the east and negril an hour drive to the west..... Better return on investment better, state of repair, better original feature better chance of it attracting amdisney crowd... All those angst feelings about the Zong....

from todays gleaner

Councillor Everton Fisher, the mayor of Black River and chairman of the St Elizabeth Parish Council, said that the relevant state agencies have failed to promote Black River as a heritage tourism site, despite the town's great potential.Fisher made his comments during a recent Gleaner State of the Capital Editors' Forum in Black River. According to him, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) and the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) have both failed to provide funding to restore historic buildings in the town, many of which have fallen into disrepair.
"I don't know their (JNHT) source of funding, but you cannot ask me as mayor to preserve the heritage of these buildings while you sit and do nothing about it," said Fisher. "All over, heritage buildings, outside of probably the tax office, are run-down. They are in terrible condition. We don't have money as council to restore them."
He continued: "All the way along High Street are buildings that persons are asked to preserve under the heritage thing, and there is no assistance. It's either the heritage people find the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) or something. Black River doesn't even have a civic centre. If you even want to meet, there is no area, you have to borrow the library or even the church hall."
Black River has the distinction of being the first town in Jamaica to have had electricity, a motor car, and even a racehorse. It has numerous 18th-century structures, which are of great historical value.
When asked what steps the St Elizabeth Parish Council was taking to access funds and seek assistance to drive heritage tourism in the town, Fisher said proposals had "been submitted" but did not state specifically to which agencies. He nonetheless noted that the parish council had not sought support for tourism project proposals through the South Coast Resort Board, which has the responsibility to recommend tourism projects to the TPDCo for funding through the TEF.
BUY INTO BLACK RIVER
"It's not shortage of project proposals being sent," said Fisher. "The Greater Treasure Beach Sustainable Plan incorporates that. It needs persons to buy into the town of Black River. I am proposing as chairman of council, and I have said it to the current member of parliament. What we need to do is to go to the TEF and seek about $150 million. We might not reach the status of Falmouth, but we need to put in something of a Falmouth plan into Black River."
He continued: "That's why it takes the member of parliament to come on board; the parish council; chamber of commerce. All of us need to say to these agencies that have funds, listen, to restore the town of Black River, we need X or Y, and at the end of the day, you will reap the rewards. The whole tourism sector will be transformed," Fisher said.

[Reggae plus]

I agree with the idea of putting time and effort into a significant Black River project. I say that having only spent one evening there...Christmas Eve, 2005 I think it was. Stranded. Car broken down. Rain? Oh YA!!! But Billy's Bay was still at hand.

The point is that the south coast, particularly the Treasure Beach area, is a really wonderful place to visit. But in order to establish tourism growth of significance things need to be done to attract people looking for more than a pleasant taste of laid back, rural Jamaica. Bringing Black River forward and adding attractions in the immdeiate region like an 18 hole golf course would make a big, BIG difference. It's the future of tourism in Jamaica...and just as close to the airport in Montego Bay as Ochi or anything east of there.

I just hope that they don't OVER-do it...or the southern region might get spoiled by some of the 'traps' of the traditional north coast destinations and Negril for that matter. Then again...over-doing it isn't likely to happen or Everton's suggestions wouldn't have been in the Gleaner. Something really should happen.

[Wahalla]

I agree with the idea of putting time and effort into a significant Black River project. I say that having only spent one evening there...Christmas Eve, 2005 I think it was. Stranded. Car broken down. Rain? Oh YA!!! But Billy's Bay was still at hand.

The point is that the south coast, particularly the Treasure Beach area, is a really wonderful place to visit. But in order to establish tourism growth of significance things need to be done to attract people looking for more than a pleasant taste of laid back, rural Jamaica. Bringing Black River forward and adding attractions in the immdeiate region like an 18 hole golf course would make a big, BIG difference. It's the future of tourism in Jamaica...and just as close to the airport in Montego Bay as Ochi or anything east of there.

I just hope that they don't OVER-do it...or the southern region might get spoiled by some of the 'traps' of the traditional north coast destinations and Negril for that matter. Then again...over-doing it isn't likely to happen or Everton's suggestions wouldn't have been in the Gleaner. Something really should happen.

Black River is something special.... I agree with u when I make my billions I already know where I will build a golf course in St E..
There was a 18 hole golf course in the Hills above Black River....located between Malvern and Potsdam on either a property called Hermitage or Retirement.....it closed in 71 or 73..
F

[Wahalla]

my premise is that investing in Kilsome is a hiding to nothing in terms of oversea vistors and investing there wont be sustainable.....so make it what it is a commercial city... Some choices have to be made and gettign tourists o Kingston is not one that i would think is sustaible

Black river still has the layout that it has had for almost 200 years... except that bridge....St E was a center of logwood dye, german immigration, cane, where the Zong landed its slaves... Mary Seacole came there to learn obeah... Bogle had a meeting there...

It is the poltical capital of St E not the commercial with all that commercial activity going to Junction and Santa Cruz.... Hence its sleepness

so it will retain its sleep character.. it is ideally placed to have day trips from theNegril and blueFeilds Sandals.. it is the kick off point to Accompong, YS falls.. It is far enough for day trips from Ochi and Mobay that middle class tourist who want a learning experience can make the day trip. (i believe that alot of tourist actually want to go learn stuff as well as shag men like that black yanki crew).. you have the added attraction of taking tourist up the river and to the site of Princess of Wales ancestor at Tombstone.. you have the appleton estate ... you could then take them on a tour of the best weed growing area in Jamaica Braes River and to the three or 4 ganja airstrips that are in "lowlan" as we men of the hills disparaging call the people on the Black River Floodplains....

combine this wiht a low level sports tourism combining in the summer the playing feilds of Munro Steths and Treasure beach you have cricket and football teams meeting and competing. (Every time i go to Barbados there are teams coming in or going out).. Teh UK Parliament cricket team played a match at Treasure last year, Williams sister coached in treasure... or even inviting utilising the new Dorms at Munro as a sports clinic for coaching by Neil Harrison of atheletic..... these are not mega projects but utilising what is already in place...

the point is that i could develop a number of low key attractions in St E quite easily that could attract a tourist who wants an accesible non hurried visit... (the kond of things that appeal to me when i go on holiday) the appriach that australians take where they have attractions embedded into the community....rather than imposed like i feel about Mobay and Ochi is ... these have an alien feel to it....i always feel that these areas are not the Jamaica i know... Not the college crowd or rather not the colledge crowd in party mode but the sports enthusiast and the vistor who wants a socio-educational experience...and there are many of them already there....

My point is that none of these are large profitable or large return or relative large investment but there has to be a strategic move to combine what is in place and add value...I dont beleive that such a scheme with its low key approach could work in any other enveuroment than St Elizabeth with opportunities i have outlined...from both a social and security perspective

and this is not a joke if i could put together an investment package to attrace Lonwolf to black River it could be sustainable...

also Rich Everton Fisher the mayor of Black River isnt that the old head boy of Munro who went out with the head girl of Hampton

[RichD]

also Rich Everton Fisher the mayor of Black River isnt that the old head boy of Munro who went out with the head girl of Hampton

you are thinking of Orette Fisher who is currently Director of elections ..the name of the Hampton head girl escapes me now.

http://www.eoj.com.jm/content-140-143.htm

Mr. Orrette Fisher has served as Director of Elections since November 1, 2008. The 2011 Parliamentary Elections were the first national election he presided over as Director of Elections. His leadership journey began in High School when he served as Head Boy at Munro College in 1979. He later pursued a BSc degree in Management Studies and a Masters in Business Administration in Public Sector Management at the University of the West Indies. In addition, he has certification in a number of professional courses. Mr. Fisher joined the staff of the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) in 1995 as Assistant Director of Administration, with overall responsibility for the strategic direction and management of the organization's support service departments. Shortly after his appointment he acted as Director of Elections for eleven months and again in 2008.
Mr. Fisher’s electoral experience spans over eight national elections and he has represented the EOJ on numerous overseas observer missions and conferences.

[Wahalla]

you are thinking of Orette Fisher who is currently Director of elections ..the name of the Hampton head girl escapes me now.

http://www.eoj.com.jm/content-140-143.htm

Mr. Orrette Fisher has served as Director of Elections since November 1, 2008. The 2011 Parliamentary Elections were the first national election he presided over as Director of Elections. His leadership journey began in High School when he served as Head Boy at Munro College in 1979. He later pursued a BSc degree in Management Studies and a Masters in Business Administration in Public Sector Management at the University of the West Indies. In addition, he has certification in a number of professional courses. Mr. Fisher joined the staff of the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) in 1995 as Assistant Director of Administration, with overall responsibility for the strategic direction and management of the organization's support service departments. Shortly after his appointment he acted as Director of Elections for eleven months and again in 2008.
Mr. Fisher’s electoral experience spans over eight national elections and he has represented the EOJ on numerous overseas observer missions and conferences.

And proving the entire misunderstood concept of Karma is not true...

Maybe in the next life he will come back as a blind syphilitic mentally challenged person without definitive sex.....

Having said that his organisation has done a very good job.... Better than the US in organising elections....

[RichD]

And proving the entire misunderstood concept of Karma is not true...

Maybe in the next life he will come back as a blind syphilitic mentally challenged person without definitive sex.....