Negril needs your opinion...

[negrilsand]

I agree with onthecorner-common sense.

[M&G Montreal]

There are many interesting and valid points made in this thread. Nobody is 100% wrong and nobody is 100% right. Common sense is a great prevailing attitude here! The opinions are all certainly worth pondering, and I hope the synopsis given to the powers that be will reflect all this.

Negril needs to grow and progress; that is inevitable. It is also inevitable that some the charm we come for may be – likely will be – lost – but it CAN be replaced with “better”.

It seems common that building above the 2-3 story mark is not wanted. Not warranted.

There have been a number of valid reasons why this should not be allowed. One I have not seen is infrastructure. Under the current population of locals and tourists, it seems that the electrical grids and sewage systems are strained at best. It seems to me that if one is to go with this plan, preferably not on the beach side (helloooo Miami!), that the first step would be to have serious studies done on the current electrical and sewage systems, and remediating them to beyond today’s needs, with an eye to supporting a larger tourist population.
The plans laid out in the article, seem to starting in the middle. Not at the root.

Where does Negril want to be in 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 years.

What tourist populations do they want to attract and how do they do that.

How is our current infrastructure – roads, sidewalks, sewage and sewage disposal handling; garbage control and handling – supporting the current needs. What needs to be done to support the growth needs, and how we achieve that. Other infrastructure to be considered should encompass, but is not limited to emergency plans; water distribution; security and policing needs; traffic control. New resorts should be built but they should have strict codes to adhere to in terms of power consumption – utilization of solar power? – sewage control and disposal, water distribution, recycling, garbage handling. How do we cope as seamlessly as possible with draught conditions without “robbing Peter to sustain Paul’s visitors”, as seems to be done now.

There is a major push on all fronts globally to be ecological and sustainable – how is this growth achieved while being ecological, sustainable?
How do we protect our natural resources? Identify the most important natural resources and what needs to be done the repair and sustain them. (The beach, it seems to me, is a HUGE natural resource! ‘nuff said). Ditto for the cliffs.

Jamaica is a position to put herself in the forefront of intelligent tourist development, and be the poster child for the Caribbean and worldwide resorts, if she chooses wisely. She can be a world class example of how to handle growing tourist needs, while maintaining the older demographic, and maintaining the island as it is, with minimal impact on natural resources.

They need to look at the current tourist population – and let’s be honest – a major portion of this board is over 45. The demographic I see on the beach is certainly over 45. They need to attract younger people who start coming as singles; continue as married couples, and want to come with their kids and continue once their kids are grown. They need to maintain us, the older ones, but in the grand scheme of things, we will not be coming as long as the younger population they need. How to attract and hold.

Negril is not Jamaica and Jamaica is not Negril. Perhaps they need to look at this island-wide. I certainly think Chris Blackwell’s plan for the Oracabessa region is a terrible plan, unless you like $3,500 a night resorts that are exclusive of most of both the native and tourist population.
They need to study other resort islands and areas and ask the hard questions. What did you do wrong? What would they change? How could they have done it better?

All of this takes time and $$$ so they need to keep the current tourist population coming and happy. It could be done, and what a wonderful thing it would be to have other tourist areas coming to Jamaica to study what they did because they did it right.

I know. I dream in colour. But … it could happen! I’m going to go hug a tree now.