Massive police operation at intersection of Mountain view ave and Old Hope RD

There is a massive police operations at the Texaco Gas station at the intersection of mountain view ave and old hope rd. Dozens of cops are now at the scene and I witnessed a White Toyota Corolla with its 4 doors open and 4 men lying on the asphalt facedown.

They do not appear to be dead as I saw one of them moving pretty freely. From, what I could pickup, it appeared that the 4 may have attempted to rob the Texaco Gas station and were surprised by the lawmen, but this  is to be confirmed.

Roger Clarke is dead !

Agricultural minister Roger Clarke is dead. Mr Clarke died at an airport in Florida of a massive heart attack while trying to get back to Jamaica.

Our condolences to the family of Mr Roger Clarke.

RIP.

 

 

JUTC bus lane idiocy and the timid reactions of the travelling public.

It appears that Jamaican have lost the fight for what is right or wrong, or is it that people are too in love with the PNP to make their voices be heard, when stupidity is the order of the day.

I made the journey yesterday along the mandela highway headed towards spanishtown and for the first time had a chance to see the JUTC “bus lane” in action.

What I saw shocked me and made me angry at the stupidity of this move and even more the actions of the travelling public to this utter nonsense.

So in essence what is taking place is going towards Spanishtown, one lane is closed to traffic going in that direction to allow the JUTC to entire this at the stop light leading from Mandela to Portmore and they exit and enter the regular lane just before 6 miles bridge.

What this does is to create a huge pile up of traffic all the way from central village to six miles , resulting in traffic delays and excessive fuel use for those travelling along Mandela highway and even those coming off highway 2000 and then merging into the traffic on Mandela highway going into Kingston.

As I travelled towards spanishtown I ( unno know me already) decided I would do a basic quick review of how many buses was actually using this reserved lane, to make a determination if it actually made any sense at all.

For the entire section that was reserved for the JUTC, counted about 8 buses from where they exit the bus lane to where they entered at the traffic light to portmore or an average on on bus every 2mins or so.

In other words the usage of the lane by the JUTC buses was not great, which really means I saw no need for them to have a dedicated lane at all given the total cost of doing so.

Being who I am , I decided that on the return journey into Kingston , I would count the number of persons who were employed to support this stupidity.

I observed two motor cycle cop at the traffic light intersection of Mandela to Portmore and a car with two cops, where the buses exited the bus lane and re-entered the regular lane at six miles. In addition to that I observed no less than 20 people (male and female, but most females) manning the roadway eg placement of cones etc along the section in question.

I am not sure who is paying these people, but I am sure that at the end of the day, we the taxpayers are  they ones who are paying these folks to be there 5 days per week x 3 hrs per day.

I would like for someone to tell the cost benefit analysis for what appears to be sheer madness to me given the higher fuel bill for all those car pile up in traffic, the cost of the people employed to ensure the system works and fuel savings to the JUTC plus increased revenue as a result of this system.

My very quick analysis suggest that it cost the country way more to keep this service in place vs allowing traffic to flow normally.

There is no doubt that another two lanes  needs to be added to Mandela going in either directions to fix the real problem, but this CANNOT be done as a former Transport Minister in the PNP administration signed a contract as part of the HIGHWAY 2000 agreement, which says Mandela Highway cannot be developed in a manner which would allow it to compete with HIGHWAY 2000 and if any such development does in fact take place, the GOJ ie the people of Jamaica would be required to pay the operators of the HIGHWAY 2000 any revenue that is lost as a result of such development.

This is one reason why we will never see commuter rail coming into Kingston, PNP made sure of that in the HIGHWAY 2000 agreement.

The question I have is how long the travelling public is going to endure this madness and why have we become so docile on matter of national importance ?

Bless.

No subsidy for public sector workers on JUTC buses

The Jamaica Civil Service Association President Mr Oniel Grant is calling for the entire leadership of the JUTC to go, as it has lost confidence  in the entire leadership of the management team.

What is rather interesting about this rather hypocritical call by Mr Grant is just last friday after a meeting was called by the transport minister, he Mr Grant reported that he trust the position taken by the transport minister , that he would meet with cabinet  to consider the submissions made by the JCSA before the new fares were implemented.

Mr Grant also reported that given the good faith displayed by the Minister, his association would no longer be withdrawing from the social partnership and other consultations with the PNP government.

No sooner had Mr Grant made these statements it was announced that the fares will remain as they are for adults and the only adjustments to be made is that of the elderly.

So it was Dr Omar Davis, who did not live up to his word and breached the “agreement”, but today we have Mr Grant calling for the heads of the leadership of the JUTC and not the Transport Minister, how ironic.

I heard Garnet Roper on Nationwide last night describing the call for subsidised fare for public sector workers as foolishness and ludicrous and I agree with him 100%. The JUTC and public sector workers had no wage and price restraint agreement in exchange for no job cuts, that was between the public sector workers and the government and JUTC should not be called up to foot the bill to  transport the public sector in the KMTR .

The public sector unions have been chumpy chumpy with the present administration and as such must be willing to take what comes to them for there undying love and support for this party. Those in the public sector cannot expect to sign agreements and when the other party breaches those agreements, then the rest of the country should pay for their stupidity!

The PNP government have breached the MOU time and time again and what have you seen these powerful unions do, you guessed it, nothing as they are way too compromised to act.

Public sector workers will continue to feel the pinch and I feel no pity for them, as they must live with the decisions they have made and the pact they have signed with a party that has shown in the past they cannot deliver what they have promised.

You reap what you sow.

Bless. 

PNP is about poverty alleviation, not poverty eradication

Alleviation – To make pain more bearable.

Eradication – To remove in its entirety., to destroy.

The PNP has preyed on the poor and uneducated and has consistently preached poverty alleviation. These are systems that seek to reduce the pain or the burden they have inflicted on your while at the same time comforting you and telling the poor they love them and are looking after their interest.

Like a drug addict the poor keeps coming back again and again for more medication and free drug to reduce the pain vs seeking a way to eliminate or eradicate the actual problem.

The fact is the PNP has never been a party focused on sustained growth of the Jamaican economy and instead has consistently focused on winning and retaining power and I am truly amazed at the fact that the poor in the country continues to vote for a party that continues to make them poorer by the day.

I recall one person going to a Medical practitioner for a period of over 5 years spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and could not understand why he was not recovering. The individual was recommended to a new Doctor and was immediately scheduled to do a procedure, which correct his condition.

There is a story of the son of a Doctor, who before being trained , would visit his fathers practise for years. When the elder Doctor retired, the son  took  over the practise. One day the son ran home excited and told the father that he had “cured” the problem the patient who had kept coming to him for years. The father turned to the son and spoke angrily ” You damn idiot its that cough that sent you to university”. .

Bless.

Prime Minister silent on national issues, but fiery and vocal on Cass Cass

The Jamaican Prime Minister chooses to remain mostly silent on national issues, no matter how important these matters are and getting any word from her is extremely difficult.

The Prime Minister is silent on crime

The Prime Minister is silent on the economy

The Prime Minister is silent other pressing matters.

The Prime Minister however refuses to remain silent when criticised by the opposition JLP and  launched an assault on the JLP leader for questioning her commitment to the eradicate of poverty in Jamaica.

The Prime Minister was asked to indicate her achievement in politics after 42 years and instead of reeling off a list of achievement to demonstrate stellar performance, the Jamaican Prime Minister launched a broadside against the JLP leader telling him he should never question her commitment to poverty eradication.

At press time, the Prime Minister has not yet attempted to address the substantive issue of her list of achievements over the last 42 years.

The opposition leader then responded that ” empty barrels made the most noise” in response to the tirade of the Prime Minister. Less than 24 hrs after the opposition leader comments, the Prime Minister launched another loud and vocal broadside against Andrew Holness saying ” He is not even an empty barrel and so cannot make any noise”. The tone and posture of the Prime Minister continues to leave a lot to be desired from a so called leader of this country.

She did not stop there as she  suggested she will continue to “trace” off Holness if he continues to be “rude” and “disrespects” her , this is rather interesting.

So here we have the Jamaican Prime Minister who not only believes she is God’s gift to Jamaica and is beyond criticism, but is very quick to respond to the non-issues but continues  to disrespects  Jamaicans given her refusal to speak to the country on national issues on a national stage, but has no problem “cussing you out” on the political stage.

Andrew, a who tell you fi draw Portia tongue ???

Signs of progress under the PNP. Students must bring water to flush toilet !

One can tell how a nation is progressing simply by looking at the most basic needs that must be provided to the people by the state. Issues like water and sanitation immediately comes to mind.

I was therefore horrified when I heard a Rhodes Scholar, Oxford Graduate and Minister of Government in the PNP administrator encouraging parents to give students water to take to school to drink(no issues here) , to wash hands and flush toilets. I said to myself this could only happen under a PNP government, no other minister could have said this and gotten away with it in the 21st century.

I will attempt to point out of ludicrous and impractical the mere thought of this is and I am amazed that Jamaicans are not outraged, that in the 21st century a government minister can be asking us to commit to such nonsense.

Most schools across the country uses the old style toilets that are rated at 5 gpf ( gallons per flush), while the newer toilets are rated at 1.6 GPF and pressure assist toilets are rated at 1.28 GPF.

One US gallon of 3.785L of  water weighs approximately 8.34 pounds, while a UK Gallon which is over 4 Litres, weights approximately 10 lbs.

Now, what this PNP minister is asking is, for a child to be sent to school with at least 5 gallons of water, which would weigh approximately 50 lbs!

Now can anyone tell me if this is not a downright STUPID and IMPRACTICAL idea. If  the parents even drove to school, simply getting this to where its needed would be a challenge. What about those who take public transport to school, how would they haul a 50lb container with water to school on a daily basis.

If a political leaders cannot provide basic sanitation needs of its people , it a clear sign that we are failing as country. The people of Jamaica have given PNP leadership for the last 23 of the last 27 years and this is how far we have grown. I feel like we have lost over 23 of the last 27 years.

I am outraged that Jamaicans are not outraged, but them again the PNP can do no wrong.

The people get the government it deserves

Why does our Prime Minister only speaks in her defence ?

It  is hard to get our Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller to speak on the national stage about national issues. It is very easy to get the Prime Minister to speak to her political hacks on national issues when severely criticised. 

The news outlets in Jamaica continues to do a great disservice to the people of Jamaica, by carrying on the air waves excerpts of the Prime Minister address to party loyalist at her party meetings , when she choose to ” fire back” at critics who continues to lash her for continued silence on issues of national importance.

If we have a Prime Minister for Jamaica, why is it that we only seem to get responses when she is criticised and those response only appear from the political platform while addressing her supporters and NOT the general populace. This  kind of action should not have the support of media and they need to stop carrying these reports and thus force the Prime Minister to address the issues on the national stage.

Portia Simpson Miller must recognize that there is only one Jamaica and her continued polarization of the country should be rebuffed by the general populace and this action must be supported by the media.

If the Prime Minister wants to address the country let her appear on the national stage, enough of the excuses for her poor leadership, I am sick and tired of it, to the point where I no longer listen to what she has to say at political meetings, after-all if she wanted to speak to me she would do so at a neutral forum and not a party meeting.

Stop carrying the Prime Ministers rantings, we have had enough of it !

 

 

JUTC fare hike is justified; JLP should shut up !

The JLP  appears not to know its head from it’s tail and appears to be jumping at any and every non-issue to seek public attention, which is really beginning to make the party look stupid.

The Government of Jamaica has decided that in order to increase revenue at the JUTC,  a fare increase would be the best approach to cauterize the haemorrhaging of this entity, which is  made up largely of political appointees.

The JUTC is a drain on all the taxpayers of this country and this must come to an end. I do not use the service and therefore I see no reason why my taxes should be used to prop up an entity that continues to lose millions by the day. I therefore believe the government should ask those who actually use the service to pay more and stop using my taxes to subsidize this loss maker.

Let the people of Jamaica decide when the  cost to travel on a JUTC bus is too high, they will know what to do and what actions to take to send the members of the administration a strong message. This is not the fight the JLP needs to fight at all, leave that to those who actually use the service.

Illegal bus and taxi operators are eating into the potential revenue of the JUTC, but those too should be left alone as they provide a service to the Jamaican people and of course they must be allowed to ” eat a food”, after-all they have families to feed and kids to send to school. 🙂

We need not worry about the fact that they and the people who use their illegal vehicles all contribute to the state of the JUTC, that should not be an issue as there is “food” out therefore everyone. I cannot therefore blame the government and call them insensitive in this regard, given the fact that these very passengers, will use an illegal taxi or bus and is willing to endure not only a harrowing journey in uncomfortable conditions, but are also willing to pay more than what it cost to ride on a JUTC bus.

We simply cannot afford to reward illegal activity and the Government must charge the travelling public for the shortfall in revenue as a result of the public continued support of illegal activity and I must say they are correct in this regard.

I am also suggesting that the JUTC must become more efficient in its operations. We simply cannot have large 50 odd seater buses running empty one behind the other, burning fuel and there is no revenue as a result of their efforts, while at the same time, we cannot have people waiting at the bus stops for 45 minutes to get a bus ride, that is simply unacceptable.

So if the JLP wants to be relevant, what they need to focus on is an improvement in the service levels of the JUTC, which will bring about increased passengers loads, which means increased revenues. If this happens the illegal taxis and buses will die an natural death and we need not worry about them.

A dat me seh.

 

 

Mount Rosser bypass “Gift” has become a nightmare for many motorist

Portia Simpson Miller in opening the mount Rosser bypass called it a birthday gift to the people of Jamaica, but just days after this motorist are complaining about the rather steep incline of the road, which has resulted in vehicles overheating while travelling along the road and ultimately engine damage.

Dr Wayne Reid says the maximum slope of the inclined road is 8% for the highway, but I have found that the maximum incline used in the USA is 6% and in exceptional case a slope of  7% for mountainous rd were the speed limit is less than 60 mph.

What motorist needs to therefore do is try to keep their speed down while ascending the hill to avoid overheating and engine trouble.

Courtesy : Jamaica Observer