A new concerted effort is being brought to bear against the so- called ﾓdirty dozenﾔ buidlings that blight the countryﾴs main business and tourist thoroughfare.
The government is considering issuing health orders against owners of two buildings in the downtown area.
One of the buildings is considered to be part of Bay Street’s ‘dirty dozen.’
Officials have described the buildings that are sandwiched between Kelly’s Ship Yard and Government Publications as “eye sores.”
The building next to Kelly’s Ship Yard, which formerly housed ‘Georgie Peorgie’, is in a particularly degrading state, according to environmental health officials.
With broken windows, rusting metal bars and a rotting veranda, it sits in the midst of one of the country’s main thoroughfares. This state has landed the building on the ‘dirty dozen’ list of the Nassau Tourism Development Board.
According to an official at the Antiquities Monuments and Museums Corporation, both buildings are over 50 years old and were part of the original buildings that made up historic downtown Nassau.
Because they are historic buildings, the owners can apply to the Ministry of Finance for duty-free and or real estate tax exemption, as restoration incentives.
But according to Executive Director of The Nassau Tourism Development Board Frank Comito many property owners have not taken advantage of such incentives.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Ron Pinder, told The Bahama Journal that both buildings are of great concern to the government, although one is in worse condition than the other.
Now, officials are pressuring owners of the buildings to improve their state.
“We…intend to take action in short order,” Mr. Pinder said. “At present, we’re reviewing whatever recourse we have under the law that when we act, the actions that we take are sure and swift.
“Either improve those buildings or if need be, look at demolishing the buildings if they are of no use or if they do not intend to renovate the buildings. One of them in particular has deteriorated to a deplorable state,” Mr. Pinder said.
This move by the government is part of its initiative to significantly improve the environment throughout the Bahamas, officials have said.
From Fox Hill to Bernard Road to Sandilands Village, overgrown debris-infested properties and dilapidated buildings that could become hide-aways for criminals and pose health hazards are being identified.
Officials of the Department of Environmental Health Services are identifying these buildings, pressing owners to clean up their untidy lots and buildings or face the full brunt of the law. Notices are being placed on the properties, giving owners two weeks to rectify the nuisance or face legal action.
Meanwhile, both Mr. Pinder and Mr. Comito, confirmed that owners of the two targeted buildings downtown have been warned to improve their facilities.
According to Mr. Comito, about two years ago the Nassau Tourism Development Board
ﾠﾠidentified the so-called dirty dozen in the downtown area. At that time, appeals were made to store owners to upgrade their properties.
“We asked them to work with us….about half of those properties – and you see several of them are being renovated downtown at this time – did cooperate in that regard and are moving along and we hope others will follow suit…the derelict properties, it is a problem across the board,” he added.
Realizing that there are limitations as to how far the government can go in demanding or requiring a private property owner to take care of their property, Mr. Comito is hoping that persons would at least make cosmetic improvements.
“We’re just a voluntary operation,” he said. “All we can ask is for people to cooperate. If they don’t want to cooperate, then we would have to review the public policy in that regard and what the government’s policies are.
“In the case of the dirty dozen, six of those property owners personally came forward and worked with us to restore their properties and we were pleased with that. The other six, have not been responsive and beyond us as a voluntary operation requesting cooperation, there is very little else that we can do. At that point it becomes a matter of government intervention,” Mr. Comito said.
The government has in the past, made significant strides to improve the look of Bay Street, with the help of merchants. A few years ago, additional lights were put in place, sidewalks enhanced, in addition to a face lift of government buildings.
While persons have the freedom to own property, Mr. Pinder pointed out that they still have a civic duty to ensure that those properties are kept clean.
“With these buildings in a state of disrepair, it’s not fair to let’s say, a Hoffer and Sons who have just spent tens of thousands of dollars just renovating their building. I think Mike’s Shoe Store did the same thing and here right across the street, you have two dilapidated buildings. You’re not dealing with properties Over the Hill somewhere, you’re dealing with properties downtown which is in the heart of one of the major centres of commerce in the region,” he said.
“We are continuing to landscape the area, ensuring that there is litter picked up, that the streets are being swept, sidewalks are being washed down, so we are continuing to do our part. But we can’t improve and enhance the look of the environment with owners who have been derelict in their duties with respect to maintaining their properties.”
In fact, the Nassau Tourism Development Board is in the final stages of working on a plan with the Ministry of Tourism and other relevant agencies and government departments to conduct a massive clean-up of downtown on an on-going basis.
“We’ve spent about six weeks right now identifying all the aspects of the problem which include the derelict properties you are talking about and now we have been meeting with respective members of various areas of government and we’re hopefully going to be able to launch something very soon.
“We’re doing our homework right now and identifying the kind of resources that we and other others need to bring to the table to make town look better,” Mr. Comito said.
The Bahama Journal has attempted to contact owners of both buildings for comments on the matter, but was unsuccessful in those attempts.
By Hadassah Hall, The Bahama Journal
