EDITORIAL

Making Cayman beautiful again

Tuesday,  August 23, 2005

While there has been a concerted effort recently to clear away the remaining debris and rubble littered around our streets and neighbourhoods from the fall out of Hurricane Ivan, the country still seems a long way from looking beautiful again.

From roofless houses and crumpled chain link fences to dead trees and flowerless dry gardens, we all now need to start making our Island look pretty again.

Yes, we should be doing this for the many tourists that visit each and everyday on cruise liners and the slowly increasing numbers coming as stay-over guests, but we should also be doing it for ourselves – the people that live here all year round.

Anyone who drives into George Town on a daily basis from the eastern districts or even West Bay must be surely fed up at the bedraggled, tired and unkempt look of our Island which has formed our view for more than eleven months now since Ivan did its worst last September.

It is incumbent now on each and every one of us to start sprucing up the place and brightening things up in our immediate environment.

It was refreshing to see the Hon Arden McLean making the first steps towards a brighter Cayman when he announced the renovation of George Town Central Police Station and the ‘multi-coloured cop shop’ – likely to put a smile on any arrestee’s face.

And, if the police station can have a cheerful new look then what about the rest of the country?

As we cannot expect Government to foot the bill for every face lift, we should all turn our attention to our own exterior living and work areas and start there.

From paint jobs and mending fences to re-seeding and re-planting in the garden we need to get working.

After all of the hard work undertaken by volunteer and service groups co-ordinating clean-up operations since the very early days after the storm, we should build on that with a serious commitment to a beautification project Island-wide.

It would be good too, to see support from the private sector and business community. The creation of a little friendly competition with a “Cayman in Bloom’ or “Best district” contest that local businesses could sponsor.

Prizes and incentives could be awarded to the streets and districts that make their neighbourhoods beautiful again with repairs, renovation and painting, but above all new trees, plants and flowers.

With the invention of miracle-grow trees and plants that grow at a rapid rate and with a little investment in flora, fauna and brightly coloured paints, we could have this Island looking even better than before Ivan.

Creating an attractive environment is important and it is more that just a superficial face-lift, it makes people feel better about their community as a whole and to want to preserve it and contribute to it.

The neglect that we have witnessed in recent times with properties abandoned because insurance claims drag on or the money cannot be found to rebuild, has created a seriously down at heel and depressing environment that can have done little to help the country’s mood recently.

When neighbourhoods deteriorate in appearance they often deteriorate in terms of social ills too as the recent rise in crime demonstrates.

We need to be proud of Cayman again and that means making the Island green and beautiful, with the help of everyone, including our corporate citizens.

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