The Cayman Islands Youth Development Consortium (CIYDC), founded in 2006 by Dr. Sylvia Wilks, promotes the developmental assets framework to help young people succeed by focusing on strengths rather than problems. This framework identifies 40 external assets (support from family, school, community, and opportunities for service) and internal assets (commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity) that contribute to youth success. The organization's Youth Asset Fair, launching on May 30th, 2026, brings together 31 organizations to showcase these assets and provide young people with meaningful opportunities for engagement and skill development.
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FOR THE RECORD WITH HOST ORRETT CONNOR| MAY 25TH, 2026Added:
Tayad and Synino keeping Kayman covered.
>> We ask our listeners and viewers to avoid any statements or comments which are abusive, derogatory, malicious or defamatory. Do not use indecent language or make any statement that is false or misleading. Call 1 800534-8255 94969949837 or WhatsApp us on 9253261 >> live from radio kman studio >> this is for the record with connor >> here from your government officials independents and the opposition on issues that matter to For the record, >> engage in an open dialogue between residents and lawmakers >> with Or Connor.
>> Informative, impartial, insightful.
This is for the record and now your host.
>> Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Oh land of soft fresh breezes and verdant trees so fair. Today is Monday the 25th day I believe it is.
uh of May 2026 right here in the beautiful Cayman Islands. We do hope and we trust that everyone had a restful, peaceful, enjoyable weekend. Those of you who are on our roads, we urge you to please, please, please be extremely cautious.
Ensure that you observe the rules of the road because the life you save may just be your own. And for those of you who are celebrating a birthday today or if you've celebrated one over the past few days, we want to wish you a happy birthday or a happy belated birthday, whichever is applicable. And to remind you that the for the record birthday shoutouts brought to you by Coca-Cola and the credit union. Coca-Cola available across the Cayman Islands. You should accept no substitutes from generation to generation.
CocaCola still a Cayman Classic and the Credit Union. Credit Union looks forward to serving the people of the Cayman Islands for the next 50 years and beyond. Those of you who have lost loved ones, again, we want to extend our sincere condolences to you. We hope and we trust that your faith will help to carry you through these extremely challenging times and that the memories of your loved ones will be a blessing.
Those of you who are ill and are either at home or at a medical facility here in the Cayman Islands or overseas, we want to wish you a speedy recovery as well.
And of course, we want to give a big big shout out to our colleague here at Radio Kman, Mr. Joel Wilson as well. Uh last week we had an unfortunate incident incident where which resulted in a loss of life and we want to extend our sincere condolences to uh the family who lost a a family member and at the same time we sorry and at the same time uh we want to also keep in our prayers all of the families that uh were impacted by this unfortunate incident um as well. So folks again I want to extend my thanks and our gratitude uh to you for allowing radio Kayman into your homes into your vehicles as you traverse the busy and sometimes dangerous roads of the Cayman Islands into your places of work wherever that may be because as you know for the record is a show produced by the staff and management of Radio Cayman and it is geared towards keeping you a breast of issues Jews as they arise and play out on the local, regional, and international scene. I am your host, Orret Connor, and you're welcome to join me every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. During that period, of course, our phone lines are open again this morning, that beautiful radio voice of Miss Susan Watson waiting to take your calls. You can call us on a toll-free number provided courtesy of Flo, that toll-free number 1 8005348255.
You can also call us on 949837 949-6990.
WhatsApp number 9253261.
So let's look at the birthday shoutouts again brought to you by Coca-Cola and the credit union. We've asked to send birthday greetings to Raphael Lawrence, Donald McLaclin, and Moren Mcfield.
They're all celebrating birthdays today.
Also, my dear sister uh Mavvita Etchinika who celebrated her birthday who celebrates sorry her birthday tomorrow. So, Mvita Chenica will be celebrating her birthday tomorrow. Um, Raphael Lawrence, Donald McLaclin, and Moren Mcfield. They're celebrating their birthdays today. And all of these love and birthday greetings are coming from Aldine.
Happy to share that information with you. Let's look at all of the other uh birthdays as well.
Uh today ol olugey olugeiminy olimy hope I'm pronouncing that right or I'm really making a mess of it laier celebrating uh a birthday today other upcoming birthdays tomorrow the 26th of May uh Miss Shirley Jervis will be celebrating uh a birthday tomorrow, the 26th. Let's see if there are any more. If you know someone who's celebrating uh a birthday or any other momentous occasion, please share that information with us right here on For the Record and we will give them a birthday shout out brought to you by Coca-Cola and the credit union. Coca-Cola available across the Cayman Islands. You should accept no substitutes. From generation to generation, Coca-Cola still a Cayman Classic and the Credit Union. They look forward to serving the people of the Cayman Islands for the next 50 years and beyond.
Okay, folks. Uh those of you who have been following the news internationally or locally will know that uh the situation with uh the spread of Ebola continues and uh we see here in the western hemisphere that uh health authorities including the Cayman Islands are doing their part to in uh mitigate against the spread of uh Ebola in the region. The Ministry of Health, Environment, and Sustainability issued a release on Saturday the 20 3rd of May and I am going to share that with you. you would have heard uh some excerpts from that on or uh news at 7:00 or 7:00 news.
Um I'm going to share more information with you on that as well. So the Ministry of Health, Environment and Sustainability confirms that passengers from uh yesterday's which would have been this is dated the 23rd that would have been the 22nd passengers on yesterday's BA 253 flight bound for Grand Cayman that they have safely arrived at Rowan Orin Roberts International Airport. So they safely arrived on the 23rd. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hillary Wolf, Chief Nursing Officer, Mrs. Felicia Mlean, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark uh Paramal and national epidemiologist Miss Rachel Corbett were on hand at Owen Roberts International Airport to brief Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control staff ahead of the flight arriving and provide support to the public health team.
Arriving passengers from the original BA flight 253 were asked to complete a health questionnaire and provide confirmation of their contact details enabling public health officials to maintain appropriate monitoring and surveillance in the coming days.
A subgroup of passengers identified through contact tracing conducted by Bahamian health authorities also underwent additional screening on arrival and will be proactively monitored by the public health department over the coming days and weeks in accordance with established public health protocols. The Ministry of Health, Environment and Sustainability, Public Health Department, Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control, Cayman Islands Airport Authority, and health care personnel have worked in close partnership to ensure that all public health screening procedures were safely and efficiently carried out while ensuring passengers and crew were treated with care and professionalism throughout the process. The Honorable Katherine Ebanks Wilks, Minister for Health, Environment, and Sustainability said, and I quote, "I want to sincerely thank all the agencies and personnel who worked together to ensure the safe arrival and management, sorry, and management of passengers aboard BA Flight 253.
This includes our partners in the Bahamas and the United Kingdom as well as the teams from the public health department, Customs and Border Patrol, Cayman Islands airport authority, healthc care personnel, first responders, and airport staff here in the Cayman Islands. The coordinated response demonstrated the strength of our public health systems and the importance of international cooperation in managing potential public health risks. Uh her quote goes on to say, "I want to reassure the public that the risk of Ebola transmission remains very low. The Cayman Islands has established public health pro protocols in place and we remain prepared, vigilant and equipped to respond appropriately to incidents of this nature.
Uh the press release goes on to say that the honorable Katherine Ebanks Wils is off island and parliamentary secretary Mrs. Heather Bordon is acting minister in her absence. Chief Officer in the Minister of Health, Environment, and Sustainability, Mr. Mara Ebanks added, and I quote, "I wish to thank all local and international partners involved in this response for their professionalism, collaboration, and swift action. The public health department alongside the chief medical officer, chief nursing officer and health care partners will continue to closely monitor the international situation and provide updates to the public as necessary.
Ebola virus disease known by the acronym EVD is a serious viral illness spread through direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of a person who is showing symptoms of the disease. Ebola is not spread through the air, water or food.
Individuals infected with Ebola cannot transmit the virus until symptoms develop. Symptoms may appear between 2 and 21 days after exposure. And those symptoms can include fever, severe headache, muscle pain and weakness, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea, abdominal pain, unexplained internal or external bleeding or bruising. Members of the public are encouraged to practice good hand hygiene, avoid direct contact with bodily fluids of individuals who are unwell, and seek medical advice if they develop symptoms following recent travel to affected areas or contact with a suspected case. So folks, if you want more information on Ebola virus disease uh or to speak with public health officials or to report symptoms, contact the public health department, that contact number is area code 3452442849.
I will repeat to contact the public health department on the Ebola situation area code 3452 2442849.
With that folks, we're going to take a commercial break. Please stay tuned for the record. We'll be back shortly.
>> Did you know that Doctor's Hospital provides urgent care services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? and Doctor's Hospitals urgent care physicians have access to the most advanced MRI and CT imaging in the Caribbean. Providing reliable diagnostics when you need it most. When you need quality urgent care for an illness or injury, Doctor's Hospital is here for you 24/7. Whether it's a migraine, chest or abdominal pain, shortness of breath, broken bones, or another urgent need. Doctor's Hospital at the top of Walker Road.
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>> Yeah. Let me tell you, no AC when I was a boy. I still remember just how good at ice cold Coca-Cola was.
>> The part is the coolest moms and dads always had Coca-Cola at our parties.
>> The sound when you pop the top and the fizzle and that ah after that first sip.
>> Coca-Cola from generation to generation.
That ice cold bubbly CocaCola still a Cayman classic.
>> Cynico's parametric insurance after hurricanes is now available for motor policies. Fixed automatic payouts cover incidental vehicle expenses like fuel cleanup and minor repairs. No claims, no damage required. $200 for comprehensive policies or $100 for third party policies. Available exclusively through Synino and included with all new motor insurance policies and upon renewal for current policies. Visit cynino.ky today.
Synico, keeping Kman covered.
>> Looking for fresh, healthy food that's full of flavor. Then you've got to visit Kirk Market. Our dishes are made with fresh, high quality ingredients. Enjoy vibrant mixed greens or satisfying pasta salads. or try one of our delicious grill options like blacken chicken, spicy beef steak, or grilled salmon.
Looking for something light and flavorful? We've got sushi rolls and pokey bowls prepared daily. And don't forget to explore a hot bar or fresh salad at the salad bar. Stop by Kirk Market today for breakfast, lunch, or dinner at Taste the Difference. Eat well, live well with Kirk Market.
The 25th annual talent exposition of the arts. Hope is here. Presented by the new self-help foundation. Sunday, June 28th at the Hawkill Theater. Proudly sponsored by Rainbow Realy, Ministry of Tourism and Trade Development. NCB Group, Dominoes, CU, Mitsubishi, Al Thompson's, Kmanion Times, and Radio Kad. Tickets cost $15 CIS prepaid and $20 at the gate and available from the number one shoe shop at Winter Circle Sports Talent Exposition of the Arts hosted by Anika Jefferson and Lloyd Barker. Part proceeds from this event to benefit the Pines's retirement home.
This is For the Record.
>> Good morning and welcome back to For the Record. Uh no guests in the studio. We have about 10 minutes before we will be going to our 8:00 news. And when we return from the 8:00 news, we will be talking uh about the Cayman Islands Youth Development Consortium uh which celebrates 20 years of promoting the assets that help our young people succeed.
And that conversation will take place with uh Dr. Sylvia Wilks after her 8:00 news. So we urge you to continue to stay tuned to Radio Kay Man and in particular for the record so that you can hear that uh discussion. We we will be talking about the youth asset fair launch uh that will be uh taking place as well. I'm not going to give out too much information at this point in time simply to give you uh an opportunity to hear it coming from the proverbial horse's mouth when we have Miss uh Sylvia, Dr. Sylvia Wilks in the studio with us. Meanwhile, let's take a look at our local news headlines today.
We see in the Cayman compass, Kaymanion compass. I still call it that. They call themselves Kayman compass.
Kayman needs an infrastructure plan that transcends politics.
Well, we do. That that is extremely important. We need an infrastructure plan that transcends politics. But folks, as long as we have the influential, the rich, uh, those persons that control industry here in the Cayman Islands, as long as we have those individuals and entities calling the shots, that plan will never transcend politics.
Because at the end if we be extremely realistic about it you as we as individuals we go to the poll.
But then after that collectively some people question you know how much influence uh do we have and in what areas do we have that influence as well?
when it comes to money, when it comes to investing, we know it's the people with the money or access to the money who will have that influence as well. Other stories in the compass potential super El Nino points to hotter, drier, rainy season for Kayman. We saw last week, I think it was could have been last week Thursday or Friday where the UK um recorded the hottest day ever in the United Kingdom.
And folks, here in the Cayman Islands, we're in the month of May and we are experiencing it here as well, the heat.
Other stories NCFC National Coalition for Cmanians administration's first big first first year sorry big emphasis on public health. uh that one that story ties in with what I just shared with you in terms of the protocols put in place for uh controlling uh Ebola and the the BA flight over the weekend. I'll try to share that one with you if possible. Uh also it says another story public should feel safe angling says after BA flight health alert and uh the uh minister angling was a passenger you know on that flight uh as well.
Other story bursting at the seams Kayman has outgrown its infrastructure.
Kayman has outgrown its infrastructure.
I was thinking a few days ago and so many of our callers talk about the granting of concessions to investors here in the Cayman Islands and many of those concessions going to not necessarily pure Caymanian companies and I was wondering whether or not and I don't believe that it uh any any such motion has been brought or any action has been taken in terms of how concessions are managed whether or not it's addressing the public service management um act but we know that the various administrations s have taken positions in relation to what would govern their decisions to grant um concessions, especially um waiver uh custom duty wa waiver concessions to companies.
And I was thinking folks, similar to what was done after the uproar on the 2003 status grants.
Whether or not and maybe someone should consider bringing a private member's motion or the government bringing a motion themselves to put in place some sort of guard rails to protect against any government granting concessions. And maybe concessions up to a certain point should have to go to our parliament to appro be approved by our parliamentarians as opposed to the government having the discretion to grant concessions. Like I said, folks, I didn't do a whole lot of re any research on this because it was something that I was thinking about last night and I said to myself, well, you know, if it isn't in place, maybe uh something like that should be in place.
If any of our listeners out there are aware of as to whether or not something of this nature is in place, I would be grateful if you could share that information, you know, with us as well because so many people have spoken about concessions being granted by the government and those who uh advocate against it point out, and I would say correctly so, that in a an economy and in a jurisdiction where people are looking to invest. And the reasons that they're looking to invest, number one, stable political system, good communications, no no uh income tax, no tax on on on uh capital uh returns. uh as well that we really don't need to hand out concessions or to grant concessions to persons wanting to come and do business here in the Cayman Islands. We heard the premier talk about it on Friday and you know in relation to that as well and there are so many Cmanion companies that have the financial and other wherewithal to do things that that is really not necessary.
So why don't we put legislation in place? Why don't we empower our parliament to decide? Or some people may say maybe we shouldn't have them do it either and maybe we should set something else in place in in relation to or just cap you know the concessions that will be um allowed the amount of concessions that that will be allowed if you really don't have that sort of confidence in our parliament uh you know to do it. You wouldn't want to have a situation where it's put down there for um I think it's called uh negative something um where it is table and you know unless you vote against it it it passes you know as well. So maybe we should have some sort of legal structure in place to control the granting on of concessions in particular in particular to non Caymanion entities seeking to do business in the Cayman Islands because at the end of the day especially if they are if if it's an entity that is seeking investor um participation in a company. Let's say for instance they're building wanting to build a hotel or build condominiums but they're seeking investors to um invest in the building of those condominiums if they get a$2 million or $3 million due to concession from the government without having to repay it at all. This is this is an outright waiver.
No repayment whatsoever.
Literally those millions of dollars can go right into the the the prime investor, the person who has initiated the the the the program, the building of those condominiums. That money go can go potentially go straight into their pockets, meaning that you still have investors coming in and you the way that you attract them, we already have $3 million concession from the government.
or they may not tell their investors at all and they're able to pocket that money. What what I'm trying to say folks is that concessions the way that we see it may not be the way that those persons who are granted concessions see it as well. And at the end of the day, we're not sure where that money goes. With that, folks, uh we are going to go to a commercial break.
Don't forget that when we return, we will be talking um about the youth asset fair launch uh taking place this weekend. That conversation will take place with Dr. Sylvia Wilks after we return from our 8:00 news. So, don't change that dial. Please stay tuned. For the record, we'll be back immediately after the 8:00 news.
The voice of the Cayman Islands >> 89.9 FM in Grand Cayman and 93.9 FM in Kimman and Little Kayman.
>> Silver wings.
>> Radio Kayman >> for today's biggest news.
Radio Kayman, the voice of the Cayman Island.
>> With your latest news, I'm Carson Fuller. A stabbing victim in a West Bay wounding has died. Shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, officers were sent to a fight on Northwest Point Road near the Cayman Turtle Center, where the victim had been stabbed in his stomach, head, and neck, and carried to the hospital in critical but stable condition. After the attack, a 47year-old Georgetown resident was arrested on suspicion of wounding.
The Roan Islands Police Service now confirms the victim has died and the man initially arrested and bailed has been rearrested for murder. He remains in police custody. If you saw anything suspicious near the Turtle Center or the Tortuga Rum Distillery on Northwest Point Road around noon on May 20th, you're encouraged to contact police on 949399 or the confidential tip line on 949777.
A 34 yearear-old Bodentown resident has been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, damage to property, and possession of an offensive weapon. Shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, officers were sent to a home near Breezy Way in Georgetown where two men were reportedly fighting with one getting stabbed in the chest and forearm. A vehicle was damaged as well.
The injured man carried to the hospital for treatment had quote serious injuries. The 34 year old is scheduled to appear before the court on June 5th.
And the National Coalition for Caymanians Administration is looking to make it easier for vulnerable Caymanians to get access to financial assistance.
On Friday, government gazetted the financial assistance amendment bill that changes the prescribed residency timeline for financial assistance eligibility in the 2022 act. If passed by MPs in parliament, the residency timeline will be reduced from 8 months out of 12 preceding the date of the application to just three. You can find the full bill online at gov.ky.
While there, you can also see proclamation number three. Her excellency, the governor, Jane Owen, has proclaimed that a session of parliament will now take place at 2 p.m. on June 19th. Cayman Airways is expanding its summer schedule with a new non-stop route to Texas. Radio Kman's Elizabeth Charles was there for the inaugural flight at the Owen Roberts International Airport. Austin is a new destination from Grand Cayman. I caught up with the deputy premier, the honorable Gary Ruty to speak about the strategic significance of the new route through Cayman Airways.
>> You know, it's an exciting day here for Cayman Airways. Also for the people of the Kimman Islands, we're opening a new route to Austin. It's all about taking the lid off and exploring new opportunities. Austin is very key market. We have a lot of good, you know, uh, numbers coming in from that area and, um, the Texas area is the the strongest area for tourism out of the US out of the US market and continue to look forward to tap into there. We're also looking at some other destinations as well because we're just going to continue to make Kayman better and better all the time.
>> It's certainly off to a grand start as a full terminal of people await to travel from Grand Cayman to Oxton, Texas. For radio kayan news, I'm Elizabeth Charles.
For more information, you can head to caymanairways.com.
Now with a check of international news, here's the BBC, which takes us out of the newscast. I'm Carly Feler. BBC News with Danielle Yaoetska.
Pope Leo has warned of the dangers of artificial intelligence and called for an ethical code for its use in the first encyclical of his papacy. In it, the Pope apologizes for the length of time it took the Catholic Church to condemn slavery and warned that AI could create new forms of enslavements.
President Trump has attacked critics of his potential deal with Iran as losers.
While Iranian officials have played down the prospect of an imminent agreement, Mr. Trump insisted any deal would either be great and meaningful or it wouldn't happen.
Uganda has confirmed two new cases of Ebola, bringing to seven the total since the virus was discovered there 10 days ago. Both are Ugandan health workers employed at a private facility in Campala. The head of the WHO says a delay in detecting Ebola cases meant responders were now playing catch-up.
President Erdogan of Turkey has reversed his decision to close a private university following student protests.
The authorities in Bangladesh now say more than 500 children are suspected to have died since March in one of the worst outbreaks of measles there in decades. Bangladesh has been carrying out a mass vaccination program. BBC News.
>> Stay in touch with Radio Kimal with the latest, up-to-date, accurate news and information. For your convenience, the headline news will be repeated on our sister station, Breeze 105.3 FM weekdays at 8:30 a.m. Follow Radiok on social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or download the Radiokman app in the app store, or log on to ww.rakman.gov.ky and stay connected to what's happening in the community. Radio KMAD, your voice, your choice, your radio.
Since 1993, Rotary Central has worked diligently each year to provide quality bus shelters to our community. A traveling convenience tour, the elderly, young people going to work, guest workers, and visitors using the public bus. We, Rotary Central, help you, our advertisers, make it happen. Your marketing dollar travels a far way.
Positioning your message, your product, your services, your presence in over 83 bus shelters. Every dollar you spend, every advert you place helps to build another bus shelter, providing modest comfort for Kiman travelers. Reserve space now on the only billboard medium in the Kimman Islands. Email Rotary [email protected].
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The bus shelters, a partner in community convenience. Another inspiration program by Rotary Central Cayman Islands.
Radio Cayman News. A new working group to review the existing legislative landscape related to sexual offenses.
>> Quote, gravely concerned by a rise in sexual offenses, the majority of which are committed against children.
>> This is exploitation. This is abuse. And this is rape. Radio Kman, your voice, your choice for today's biggest news, >> 7 days a week.
>> The 800 a.m. Weather update brought to you by CG Briade, where people come first.
Good morning. Let's take a look at the latest weather report. Synopsis indicate pockets of deep moisture trailing the periphery of a high-pressure system will continue to bring the occasional shower across the northwest Caribbean throughout today with some thunder at times. From tonight, an upper level trough will move across the Bay of Honduras, enhancing this moisture, bringing a higher concentration for some showers and thunderstorm activity by early tomorrow morning.
Moderate to locally fresh winds are expected throughout the next 24 hours as a ridge of high pressure slowly becomes squeezed over the Cayman area. Satellite imagery shows scattered to broken layers of cloud with isolated thunderstorms noted near the Cayman area.
Now the forecast for the Cayman Islands for today calling for partly cloudy skies with cloudy spells and a 40% chance of showers and isolated thunder.
Temperatures will rise to the upper 80s with a heat index near 101° F. Your winds will be east to southeast at 10 to 15 knots with higher gusts in the afternoon and seas will be moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 ft.
Forecast for tonight calling for occasionally cloudy with a 60% chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms after midnight tonight. Temperatures falling near the mid to upper 70s. Your winds will be east to southeast at 10 to 15 knots and seas will be moderate with wave heights of 3 to 5 ft. Low tide will be this afternoon at 12:30 with a high tide tonight at 5 minutes past 7. The sun will set this evening at 6:56 and will rise tomorrow morning at 5:48.
And the outlook is calling for scattered showers and occasional thunderstorms through the next few days as high moisture content lingers over the northwest Caribbean and becomes enhanced by the upper level trough.
Winds and seas are expected to increase from Tuesday morning, becoming moderate to occasionally rough as the pressure gradient continues to tighten over the region. A small craft advisory will be in effect thereafter. And that's the very latest on your weather report.
>> The 800 a.m. Weather update brought to you by CG Brit, where people come first.
>> Let's hear it for your Wildcat cheerleaders.
>> Angie, weren't you a cheerleader?
>> The best in the Western Hemisphere until I attempted that switchkick double twist roundhouse.
>> Huh?
>> Exactly. I must have been in the air for 20 seconds before I fell into that snare drum. I set a world record though and thankfully I could trust the CG medical portal with my claims. All 37 of them.
>> The CG medical portal. Safe and secure.
CG Brit K. Good like that.
>> Attention North Side and East End residents. The Department of Environmental Health Northside and East End bulkway collection will take place between May 25th to May 30th. This bulk waste collection will replace the traditional year-end collection.
Household appliances, furniture, and other items too large to be handled by the weekly DEAH collection crews should be placed by the roadside where it is easily accessible to DEH collection crews. Metals and vegetation should also be separated from other bulk items. Do not obstruct the roadway or storm drains or place tires, construction, and demolition waste, hazardous materials, or electronics. For more information on the north side and east end bulkway wastist collection from May 25th to May 30th, please contact DEH's solid waste management section at 9496696.
>> The traffic report is brought to you by Subway. Enjoy a delicious start to your day with breakfast from Subway.
Top of the morning, let's check in with traffic and see what's happening on our roads. Slowmoving traffic on Crew Road heading to the doorstand area. Expect delays. Heading east on Crew Road.
Traffic is moving along pretty good.
Coming off of Barber Thommpson Way, traffic is steady and continuing on to Hala Avenue as well as on the Lford Pearson Highway. Further up on Shamrock Road, traffic moving at a moderate pace.
West Bay Road um in front of the wrist.
Traffic is moving moderate in both directions and no issues coming from the west fourway stop as traffic flowing nicely. North Sound Road stayed a bit flowing traffic and on Godfrey Nixon Way and Eastern Avenue traffic is moderate in both directions. It would street no issues there's traffic flowing pretty good. Have you seen any accidents? Let us know by calling us at 9496 to990.
That's the very latest on your traffic.
Join us again at about 10 minutes past 12. We'll give you another look at traffic. Remember, click it or take it.
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The traffic report is brought to you by Subway. Enjoy a delicious start to your day with breakfast from Subway.
>> For the health of it, heard on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. and repeated on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. is brought to you by the Lightroom. Tired of being unwell and struggling to find the energy and vitality to live the life you desire?
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Kayman Art Week is back and bigger than ever with art on show at over 50 venues across all three islands from Tuesday the 26th to Sunday the 31st of May. From one-off popups and creative collaborations to open studios and late night gallery hours. All events are free and there's art on sale for every budget. Join a guided bus tour or visit at your own pace. You'll find everything you need to know at caymanartweek.com.
>> For the Record with Ort Connor.
>> Good morning and welcome back to For the Record. So, as promised, we're going to be talking uh on this segment of For the Record uh about the youth asset fair launch. That conversation or this conversation is going to take place with uh Dr. Sylvia Wilks and uh Mr. Jarn Reynolds. So, first uh I want to say good morning folks. Welcome to For the Record.
>> Good morning.
>> Good morning, Mr. Osie. My first time on For the Record. Yes.
>> Good to Good to have you. Great to have you here. And while we're going to talk about the youth asset fair itself, uh I think it is extremely important for our uh audience to know about you and your organizations and uh you know both of your involvement in that as well. So uh Dr. uh Wilks, we'll start with you.
>> Well, thank you so much uh Mr. Connor and well um hello hello hello all my friends out there in radio land they would say. Um >> and YouTube land >> and yeah right on YouTube and Facebook now. Yeah.
>> Yep.
>> So the Cayman Islands Youth Development Consortium was started in 2006.
20 years of of really hard diligent work.
>> And it started because I was working at um the girls home, worked at the boys's home um first and then I was at the girls home and I did some research uh because I wanted to track their progress while in residential care.
>> Okay.
>> And I came across the developmental assets and I thought that it wouldn't only benefit them but it would benefit other young people as well. So I started the Kim Island Development Consortium in May around May um 2006 and left the the Keys Foundation at the time to concentrate on the Cayman Island development consortium. So um I met a lot of young people during that time.
Jiren I met in 2016 um when he was he attended our summer camp. So Jiren can tell you what he's doing with CIYDC. No. Mhm. Now before before we go to Jiren though, um that was uh certainly a bold move by you. It was uh in terms of uh you know leaving the Keys Foundation >> and to establish >> this you know on your own. So you you you're leaving um a somewhat comfortable and stable situation to to uh venture out.
>> Uh y >> quite a bold move.
>> Very much so. But I I'm glad I did because I've learned so much since that.
>> I I'm assuming I got a message I got a text message just now from someone um that said she remembers when it's when you know I started out and you know we we barely understood it at the time and that was true. You know I but I knew it was was something that could be beneficial to all of our young people, you know. So it was a it was a bold move. Yes. um a very faith move as well.
Um but I'm really glad that I made that move at the time that I did. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons why I I made that move is because I spoke to my youth pastor at the time, the late um Rudolph Willis. And just before he passed, I showed him some of the plans that I had >> and he said to me, "Don't make this be something that you start and you don't finish." Mhm.
>> And I was like, "Oh my gosh." Like seriously, cuz there were there were some things that I would start and I wouldn't finish. So I was like, I I I made sure that this would not be one of those projects that I just, you know, okay, I did because it was an interest at the time.
>> Yeah.
>> So I kept it going.
>> I remember Mr. Willis. I remember.
>> Yes. Yes.
>> Mr. Renos, tell us about yourself.
>> Good morning again to you, Mr. O, and to the wonderful people of the Cayman Islands, in particular, my constituents of Westby North.
>> Okay.
Just how to put it out there.
>> Okay. Then >> um so many many individuals may know my face from youth parliament because I've served three terms. Wow.
>> I actually serve my final term back in March.
>> So I decide that I would no longer serve another another term because I would rather a younger Kman now to take up that role >> by allowing them to have another by allowing another person to have the opportunity of serving you know having the opportunity that I did. Yes, >> cuz I had such a wonderful opportunity over the past three years. Served as a minister, then speaker, and then finally made it to the opposition for my final term. And like Miss Sylvia said, I was involved with CIYDC since 2016. I started off as a camp member. I was also awarded best camper.
>> Yeah, >> best camper.
>> Best camper.
>> So that brought back some amazing memories. 2016. Wow. So I've known Miss Sylvia for almost 10 years now. Wow.
>> Oh man. Feel like 10 years.
Yeah, >> but now I'm a board member of CIYDC and it's such an honor. And so now that I'm no longer a youth parliamentarian, at least I'm able to continue the work of representing the voice of the young people but in in a different capacity.
>> Okay. So, uh, the Cayman Islands Youth Development Consortium nonprofit?
>> Yes, sir.
>> Okay. Registered nonprofit. Okay. Mhm.
>> Um can can can you um speak to you know your your mission statement what you're all about?
>> So we're basically about promoting developmental assets >> because the more assets a young person has the more likely they are to succeed the less likely they are to gravitate towards drugs and violence. Yeah. So the consortium promotes these things. you know we're and all of the activities that we do is based on the assets. So the summer camp um the assets is promoted the activities that are done are all around the assets. Um so for example service to others fall under empowerment as a category and so what we've done is we've had um activities to promote that. So um service service activities we've done we've done various we went to the mental health hub at one point gave them care care packages uh we went to the um well we were at the Lions Lions Center at one point so we did some we did some care packages as well as food packages during COVID and so we you know gave people in vulnerable communities those packages to promote the service to others. So it wasn't just about teaching, we're actually doing it as well.
>> And you know, we constantly hear uh people talk about the fact that our young people uh there's nothing for them to do uh in in in the Cayman Islands.
How how do you address that? Um >> con um what perception that perception uh that people have? And speaking of your organization in terms of the amount of activity and interest that you have been able to generate >> right so the Cayman Islands youth development consortium the reason for consortium is because I like to be different right and everybody was doing association of this association of that and I wanted to come up with something else that that you know speak to a similar thing but was was different. So the consortium is is is having a group of people a group of organizations about the same cause. So there is a lot of organizations in our in our country just that they're not promote promoted based on the assets. So uh and I I kind of preempting a little bit but are going ahead a little bit but we have like 31 organizations that will be at the event on Saturday that are you know are showcasing uh the different things that they provide as services because not one organization can provide all of the assets. As a matter of fact, some of them are um from from parents and people in the community. Those are the support assets. So, it's it's very important for us to bring all of these individuals together because it it includes all community members. Developmental assets include all community members and and and that's why we want to target all community members. As a matter of fact, since since we've gone there, um we've we've reached out to all 19 electoral districts to say we want you to come and sign a community asset building proclamation to say that we want to do more intentional activities in your community. As a matter of fact, I would on talk today, I said that if I were an MP, if I was I would have bust my people to the event because we go to different events in our community and we don't see the local people there.
>> You are in my constituency. I need to make sure that you are going to an event that will give you information on how you can make sure you that you are intentional about your child's success.
>> Okay. So, Mr. um Reynolds as a future MP uh you know what do you say to that? How do you address that in terms of getting getting more uh participation?
>> Well, first of all, as Miss Silvia said, you know, you have to ensure that you provide the resources of like if you have to get your constituents there, provide transportation. If transportation is needed, you ensure that you have transportation. That is very critical. And at the end of the day, our young people, we need to ensure that we are there for our young people.
And that is by ensuring that our MPs are there. And not only there, but also learning about the different uh assets on the proclamation and sharing more about it, providing >> the knowledge about it. Mhm. Mhm.
>> So I feel that is very important >> and and that ties right into the the the whole issue of the call for having advisory district council, you know, an entity, a recognizable entity that can help >> depending on how the legislation is framed that can help >> uh you know to generate interest in things like this >> and that's what we want to do. As a matter of fact, one of one of the things that we did last year just after election is that we had the um not just MPs but we had some of the ministers sign the supporting Kayman youth proclamation which is done every four years. for the last several years now we've had that because we started in 2010 with the proclamation and we've included all of the important MPs at I think in 2012 we started with the DG deputy governor and others um during that time as well. What's important is that our parliamentarians understand that this is important for all of our young people. And so last year, November, we had an event and I reached out to our youth parliamentarians which signed that proclamation. That's Jiren um and several of the other youth parliamentarians at the time, Jiren and Zara Magid, which is also on the board.
I said, "Okay, listen guys, I'm going to give you a hackathon challenge. I need you to come up with some ideas in which these things can be promoted in in the communities." So they came up with 10 ideas um that was done in a video that we actually showcased with this event in November that we had. The very first idea that they had was a youth asset fair. So that's the reason why we're having we we had celebrate our youth day every January. Okay.
>> But we decided to relaunch and then launch the youth asset fair. Instead of doing celebrate our youth day, it would now be youth asset fair and opportunity expo.
>> For those persons out there listening, it may be a parent or may maybe may be a young person themselves.
>> How can uh they get involved with the consortium? Um how are they able to to join? Uh what is the age uh limit? And the reason I asked about the age limit, it because depending on the age limit, you could >> form a um what should I say? Uh uh influential voting block in in in in in the next election depending on your age range for me.
>> Right. Right. Right. Right.
>> You see this is where for the record has taken us now. Jared, look at that. Oh my gosh. Like seriously. Um yeah, you're right. Um the developmental assets goes on beyond 17, right? The last set of assets usually goes up to 18, >> but you'll always need support of family community. You'll, as a matter of fact, the one key um asset as relates to when you get older is youth as resources, utilizing them on councils, utilizing them in their communities, giving them opportunities, you know, so that they want to serve in that capacity. And so, it's very important because that falls under empowerment working in um in whatever field that they choose to work in. We're not about tokenism. We're not about giving them some sort of internship for a few for two weeks and then we don't see them again, you know. It's it's it's about giving them meaningful opportunities, you know, so that when they get older, they they can participate in their own country in a meaningful way. They have employment, you know, so so being involved in this gives them opportunity to build their skills as well, you know.
So it's very important.
>> Mr. Renos, you you anything you want to add to that?
share the same sentiment from Sylvia.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Yeah. You know, Mr. Connor, the traditional youth development um has been looking at problems, looking at deficits.
>> Yeah. And when when the conversation even in the media sometimes look at young people from a negative perspective, this is the other way around. We're changing the philosophy.
We're looking at at our young people as strengths. We're focusing on strengths.
We're focusing on on the things that help them to succeed. These are the different assets that help them to succeed. So, we're looking at um under support, we're looking at family support, positive family communication, we're looking at other adult relationships. So, the mentoring programs, um you know, um caring neighborhood, you know, community values, do do our communities value youth? when our young people when you ask them the question do your you know does your community value you what are they saying you know so what you'll find at the event you'll find different organizations displayed or displaying those different assets >> you know what is relevant to them so like for example onetoone you know is a mentoring program so they'll display um other adult relationships >> okay Dr. Wilts and uh Mr. Reynolds, we're going to take a commercial break.
When we return, we're going to talk about the event uh itself and give details on that. Folks, if you have any questions or comments in relation to it, you can send us your questions or comments on WhatsApp 9253261 or the phone lines are open as well. If you have any questions or comments once you get more uh information about the youth asset fair launch or uh you may just have comments or questions in relation to youth involvement in general. So when we return phone lines are open we're going to talk about the fair itself. That conversation taking place with Dr. Sylvia Wilks and Mr. Jarn Reynolds. Don't change that dial for the record. We'll be back shortly.
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This is For the Record.
>> Good morning and welcome back to For the Record. For those of you who are just joining us, I have in the studio with me Dr. Sylvia Wilks and Mr. Jiren Reynolds.
We're talking about the youth asset fair launch uh which will be taking place this weekend. and I will have Dr. Sylvia Wils and Mr. Reynolds tell you more about it. Folks, you have the mic.
>> Yes, sir. So, I want to say thank you to our youth parliamentarians who from last year um when I gave them this hackathon challenge came up with the youth asset fair and this is to help people to get an understanding of the assets and all of the organizations that help our young people to succeed. So, we're moving away from celebrate our youth day that we started in 2010 um and over to the new over to the new the young people idea of youth asset fair and that's on May 30th.
Saturday May 30th this Saturday coming at Arts and Recreation Center thanks to um sponsorship from DART and Queensgate our main sponsors. We are doing um we start from 10:00. So the minister um responsible for youth will be there um honorable Isaac Rankin, he's given the minister's address. Her excellency will also be there um to give some some remarks as well. Uh we've always had the governor um support us. From 2008, Governor Stuart Jack was a big supporter. Um so ever ever since that we've always had the governors support this initiative. We're doing one of the critical things that we're doing at the event is that we're going to have each community, the 19 electoral districts that we've reached out to. Right now, I think it's only three from West Bay that's confirmed. West Bay, South, Central, and West um that will sign this community proclamation. It's been over a month now. We've reached out to all 19 electoral districts. Hopefully others will come as well because we we want to say to the community that the MPs are serious about the success of your children in your electoral district because we want to provide you CIY DC want to provide you with the resources for the children or young people in your district.
>> There will be boots. So it's a youth opportun opportunity expo. So they'll there's right now we have 31 organizations that will have booths that to display the the um the different things that they provide services that they provide like 345 robotics um the public library will be there um literates for every um everyone um the early childhood association um the chem crisis center ta lounge junior achievement various organizations national drug council um cadet cadet and scouts will do a march pass. You know, they they've done it a couple of years for us and we're look I always look forward to that part of it.
>> Um and we're going to have youth performances. We're confirming youth performances this week. Um especially some of the NCFA um um performances and what am I missing? The fashion show.
>> Fashion show. The fashion show. The fashion show is is is it's about the the assets more than the fashion, but we're doing it as a fashion show.
Um, and then there's a show and tell.
The show and tell is is is giving the organization an an opportunity to talk about what they do. So, it's it's going to be moving. The Burger Classic, the National Youth Culinary Group, they're doing burgers and hot dogs for us.
>> So, you know, it's it's it's going to be nice.
>> Arts and craft as well. Did you mention that?
>> Yes. So, so there's some activities that we're doing based on the assets itself.
So, >> it's it's is it's is it's going to be good.
>> And the giveaway prizes.
>> So, so we're working on that. We're working on that. So, there any businesses there um that want to give us some prizes that you know, please reach out to us. Um you can reach out to my number 917 3885. Um but yeah, we're you know, we want to most of what we'll give away is is an opportunity for persons to attend our summer camp and and stuff like that. But we we want to we want to make sure that people, you know, take advantage of it. Parents, if you want to learn more about what your young people can get involved in, you need to come, you know, you want to meet these different organizations. There's others, but we could only accommodate this amount in in in that space.
>> So, we're I'm looking forward to it. I'm I'm looking forward to handing over because we have a new board, you know, so I'm this is one of the main projects that they'll, you know, definitely be working on. about your new board. Uh what is it? Uh who is it comprised of?
Uh any changes if any?
>> Yeah. Yeah. So we have a new chair um Leticia Scott um and uh who are the other person? Susanna Bordon Novaz uh um Zara Majid uh which is which is involved in Protect Our Future >> and a bunch of other things. Kman Chess as well. Uh we have um oh Casey Casey Casey our secretary extraordinaire which was one of my students from UCCCI and she challenged me. I made a presentation um at our sociological um conference and she challenged me in that and I was like I'm I'm going to use you and so so I pulled her on board as well. Casey Jackson and and a couple others who I cannot remember right now. Um oh my goodness, Sha Edwards. Shakina has been with me for years, volunteered from 2015 and has been with the organization for for a long time in various capacities helping us there. Um, Natasha Marius and then we have Shiloh Scott. So, and Annie Hawkins, those are the main board members right now. My brother was the chair for a long time. He's coming out of it now. So, he's handing over to Leticia as as the chair of the board.
Um, so yeah.
>> So, Mr. Reynolds, if you had you not been involved in the youth parliament, would this activity, this entity, this organization, would it have still been attractive to you? Most definitely because having been involved with the program back at camp, I was able to see how beneficial C cydc was and seeing the the how can I say it now? A try and find the word. It's in my head, but I can't get it out.
>> Enthus something like enthusiasm or >> Yes, sir.
>> Mhm.
>> Just ensuring that they're there to not only represent the voice to young people, but providing the resources to young people because I feel that's very important.
>> And Miss Sylvia, she's such an amazing leader. Such an amazing leader. Oh man.
Amazing leader.
Because like what I love about Miss Sylvia is that you know she's very passionate about not only addressing the issues affecting young people but also providing resources for the young people and I feel that is very important at the end of the day because many of our young people for example you know they think that there's not any support programs when they are >> but with CIYDC that's why we're trying to try our very best to promote it so that we can say, "Okay, these are the support programs here. This is how you can get involved with it." But no, not only support programs, but you also hear about, "Oh, there's nothing to do in Kan. There's plenty to do."
>> But it's just that you have to ensure that you want to find it because we have the internet all over.
>> Your phone, your tablet, your computer, everything. So, it's there.
>> Okay.
>> Is there a need uh to register for this fair?
>> No, you just come >> come just come. And no fee to enter.
Everything Everything is for free.
>> Yeah.
>> Including the food. Including the food.
>> Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.
>> Yeah.
>> So, one one of our um listeners wanted to know um how uh what is your definition of assets when it comes to you youth assets? What's your your definition? And can you give some examples of >> So, so there's I'm glad they asked that.
So, there's 40 things that help our young people to succeed.
>> Okay.
>> They're called developmental assets. So there's an organization in the US that did a survey um and they continue to do so uh around what our young people need in instead of looking at the the different issues look at what is helping them to succeed cuz like in a family they looked at um families and they realized that one or two might not have been doing well but there were others that were doing well. What were the things that were helping them to do well? So they came up with these 40 things that that that they realized that help you know help our young people to succeed. So 20 of them are external. So that's support the support of families, support of school, um empowerment, giving our young people opportunities that youth as resources, service to others, um safety as well. And then you have boundaries and expectations. So family boundaries, community boundaries and then um constructive use of time having these different organizations that our young people can get involved in. And then you have the internal assets which are the as young people get older they're more responsible for. So commitment to learning which includes achievement, motivation, am I motivated to do well in school? Am I involved in my school? Am I bonding with my school?
And then you have positive values. and you have social competencies and positive identity um assets as well. So the the there especially the internal assets I think the ones I appreciate the most are the latter one because uh positive view of personal future I think that's the one that you signed for on the proclamation Jiren um we we hear a lot about mental health and our young people not having a sense of purpose or even having a positive view of their future.
>> Um that is that's an asset I personally um appreciate most because it gives me an idea. So if I ask our young people to rate themsel from 1 to 10 on these assets, if a young person is rating themsel low, then I'm that's an indicator for me that something is wrong, that they're not feeling value, they're not feeling that they, you know, life is of value for them. So, >> okay, we're going to go to a commercial break, but before we go there, I just uh the person who uh posed that question to you also uh said that they are proud to have watched you on your on this journey >> and your commitment to the youth of the Cayman Islands as well.
>> Grateful.
>> Uh with those words, we're going to take a commercial break. Folks, please stay tuned for the record. We'll be back shortly.
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>> And now it's time to celebrate you.
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Yesterday, today, and the next 50.
>> For the Record with Ort Connor.
>> Good morning and welcome back to For the Record. We're on the last leg of this segment of the show this morning talking with uh Dr. Sylvia Wilks and uh Mr. Jiren Reynolds. We're talking about the youth asset fair launch uh which will be uh taking place on Saturday, May the 30th from 10:00 a.m. until 300 p.m. The venue is uh Kamana Bay Arts and uh recreation center. So uh Dr. Wilks and Mr. Reynolds, let's talk about uh the importance and value of being involved with her youth.
And uh I will uh preface that by simply saying, you know, at one point in time, Miss Sylvia Wilks worked along I would say for me because we all worked for the government along with me at uh the what was then the immigration department. And when she handed in her resignation because she wanted to uh go on another journey, you know, I basically refused to accept it because, you know, because of the potential that she had, you know, within the immigration department and I hated to see her go, but no regrets whatsoever. So uh tell tell us you know about this importance and the fire that is burning inside of you and your organization and this this drive to ensure that our 19 electoral districts are involved and to get our members of parliament involved in this in in in in appreciating and developing our youth assets here in the Cayman Island.
>> Okay. So we hear the terminology and it came out quite a bit in the last election. Kmanions first, right? The way in which you put Kmanions first is to making sure that we're doing all all that we can to that they can succeed.
It's simply that we know the things that they may gravitate to when they don't are or they're not involved in pro-social activities. The criminality report shows that the when our young people are not involved in activities such as this, they tend to gravitate to the bad behavior, basically delinquent behavior. But when they're involved in in scouts, then you know, girls brigade, girl guides, when they're involved in all these activities, they're attending youth groups, they tend to do better, right? And and Jiren can tell you, you know, cuz he's he's amongst the young people more than I am. Mhm. Mhm.
>> When when you when when we give the 19 electoral districts this information and say, "MP, these we want to work with you intentionally to give you resources for the young people in your district. Help us to be able to come in and and do so."
>> It it it makes sense to me because they can't do everything for the young people.
>> Um but we can help provide those resources. So I was really elated, really grateful when our premier um MP um honorable Andre Ebikes was the first MP that responded from Westb South. You know, he's also signed on the the supporting Kiman youth proclamation as well, but for he's not going to be there because he's traveling. He's coming back on that day. Okay. But he's making sure that his his office, his representatives are going to be there to sign this community asset building proclamation because we're not about lip surface.
We're not we're not about tokenism.
We're not just about doing something and checking it off. We want to see the young people in our communities succeed.
And if it means having because like the the ideas that the youth parliamentarians who signed on the proclamation um came up with these different ideas they can be implemented in the communities.
>> You know we're doing one out of the 10 ideas that they came up with. You know we're all we're saying is we want you to be on board with this so that we can help you with being more intentional with the young people under your charge in your electoral district.
>> Mr. Reynolds.
>> Yes sir. you want to add to that?
>> Sure. Yes sir. It's very critical because you know at the end of the day if just say for example if our like Miss Sylvia said if our MPs aren't able to make it at least make a representative come and represent them on their behalf.
>> It is critical that we our young people see that they they are being represented and not only represented but >> they they would feel like they have a voice. So that's all I have to say about that. Now we we know also that there are some ad hoc groups that have been established um to sort of replace the or or or to serve in the absence of advisory district councils. Would would they be uh welcome to attend this this uh fair as well?
>> Absolutely. We want everybody to have an understanding of the of the developmental assets. We want you to because we talk about it takes a village to raise a child. I am going to pause and I'm going to ask you how >> right because if we don't function as a village making sure that there are these different things these different aspects that our young people have access to then we're not functioning as a village.
So in we have to be more intentional now because Kayman has now ballooned as a community. So we have a lot more persons from different places with different values and different you know way of doing things. And so we need to make sure that our young people are involved.
As a matter of fact those who are coming from elsewhere with their children are making sure that their children are involved in these things that are supposed to be in place for our children as well. Nothing wrong with that because we want to cater to all children, all young people who are in Cayman because we want to be a diverse community. Yes.
But everybody needs to have the opportunity but take advantage of them >> and if you don't know about them then you you you can't take advantage of it >> and so you need to come to the fair. You need to come to the so you can learn about these things.
>> Okay. So >> so we want to encourage the public school all all the schools. It wasn't just public schools to reach out to. All of the schools that we've reached out to, send your children, send parents, have them come. Some are some are um actually bringing their children as representatives. So Johnny Cumber Primary School um Josh Primary or Mary Martin um um primary school and um I think Joanna Clark Primary School are the ones who have actually confirmed that they will have young people represent Red Bay Primary as well. M um >> so we want the other schools to be intentional like that as well. Get your kids there so that nobody has an excuse that they did not know.
>> And let's again remind them the date.
>> So this is Saturday. This is this Saturday um May 30th at Kayana Bay Arts and Recreation Center. um because of the big event that's happening over there as well in the evening, we want there's there's we're the parking is going to be more on the side of the school um versus on the side coming from Kima Bay itself, the the heart of Kima Bay. So um and we're going to put out that information so that people know where to park and so forth.
plenty of parking mainly over by the field and over by the school coming from the health um city area >> is the entrance from that side.
>> So looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to the national youth culinary burgers and hot dogs. Jamo, thank you very much.
>> Yes. Yes.
>> So >> okay, we still have about 3 minutes uh left to go as well. I want to give both of you an opportunity for some closing comments uh and uh to highlight anything that we may have missed. So, we're going to start with you, Mr. Reynolds, and of course, Dr. Wils will have the final word.
>> Yes, sir. Well, thank you very much. I just want to invite everyone to come on out, including our young people. I feel it's very important that we attend this event. And don't worry now, the we are starting very early from 10:00 a.m.
until 3:00 p.m. So you won't miss the concert. So you don't got to worry about that.
>> So you can come early and learn about the different assets as well as learning about the different programs that are in place that will be present so that then you can sign up with these programs and to gain new skills >> and >> yes just to develop.
>> Yep. I want to say thank you there.
There are so many people to say thank you to for the last 20 years. Even the people who when I approached them about helping me with this organization, they're like, "What is this about?"
Nobody knew. I wasn't clear on the, you know, the assets until I did the training in 2012. Okay.
>> Um when my brother came on board, um Michael Wils came on board to be the chair, he was like, "Yeah, I just helping Sylvia because I don't know what it's about, but I just helping her." Um Katherine Ebanks Wils, these were the founding members. Jessica um Willis, right? Um and uh Glenroy Miller, Ricardo Henry. Um all those persons were the founding members, okay, that helped me in 2011. They're like, "We ain't sure what you're doing, but we're going to help you." So, I just want to say thank you to all the sponsors. The Project 365 people who gave us a dollar a day for for 365 days of the year. Um Queens Gate has been so faithful year after year. um Dart, you know, we approached them to um for a camp when we had we need a place for summer camp um because we couldn't get one of the um um schools, you know, have been, you know, supportive over the years, you know, and various other organizations. Just some different ministers, can't call their names right now for the time they have left. Just want to say thank you. Thank you. God has been good to help us to where we've come to now. And I just I just want to be >> grateful. And very quickly, can you speak of some of some of the successes that you have achieved uh you know in those 20 years?
>> Um you know keeping the summer camp going. We've had a summer camp since 2008 and it was um Governor Steuart Jack when that helped us with that very first camp.
>> Okay.
>> Um it's a leadership and prevention camp and it's only one year we've missed out of that from that time. Um so um with with having missionaries come and and help our our our our campus we've had um support our youth month I think it was only once we we missed as well. So keeping these events going have been with very little you know support or resources we kept it going. Thanks be to God we've been able to um keep it going.
So you know I'm those are some of the successes. It's been a hundreds of young people that have come through CIY DC.
Make sure to come Saturday. Don't give me no ch. Listen, all you that working now that tell me I was going to do camp and your kids are going to attend camp and now at that age, make sure you are there on Saturday. We want more volunteers. If you've been a part of the CIDC since 2006, 2008, >> come. And we know that the government has said and uh actually decreed that the vibes cartel concert should be uh should not be a PG event based on the conditions that they have placed in terms of the performance. But what we do know is that you don't have to worry about the youth asset fair launch being PG as you know you don't have to worry about that as well.
Everything there is clean and designed, you know, specifically for our young people.
>> Yes, sir. This is a place you want our young people to come at Kay Man Bay on Saturday.
>> Yes.
>> Earlier like 10:00 to 3:00, not the lack of time.
>> Okay.
>> This is where you want to bring them.
>> Yes.
>> I told I told some of them I I'm going to stand up by the the entrance >> and see who and see who coming there.
And I'll be like, where why were you not at the fair? Like >> Yes. Well, uh Dr. Wils and uh Mr. Reynolds, again, I want to thank you for all that you and your organization do uh to help our young people in the Cayman Islands >> uh to help them to achieve their full uh potential by leading the way by providing resources uh you know for them to do that uh as well. And if you keep chipping away, keep chipping away at it, you will see more and more positive results as well. But thank you very much and we wish you all the success at the youth asset fair on Saturday the 30th of May at uh Kamana Kamana Bay as well.
Folks, top of the hour headline news.
When we return, the phone lines will be open. We want to talk some more. I have received some comments, you know, um about uh concessions, government concessions as well. And we should have one of our members of parliament calling in to uh opine on that subject as well.
So don't change that dial. The phone lines will be open. Please stay tuned.
For the record, we'll be back immediately after headline news from Radio KN's newsroom. This is headlines, local, regional, international news.
The headline news is brought to you by Kirk Market and Health Services Authority. Kayman sees its second homicide of the year. Shortly before 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, officers were sent to a fight on Northwest Point Road near the Cayman Turtle Center, where a victim had been stabbed in his stomach, head, and neck, carried to the hospital in critical but stable condition. A 47year-old originally arrested and bailed on suspicion of wounding is now in police custody charged with murder.
In international news, Iran says some progress has been reached in talks with the US, but a deal quote is not imminent. The foreign ministry spokesman's remarks came after the US Secretary of State Mark Rubio said an agreement could possibly be reached today. The memorandum of understanding reportedly involves a 60-day ceasefire extension, reopening of the Straight of Hormuz, and a plan for further negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. At the weekend, President Donald Trump suggested the sides were closing a deal, even though he later said he had instructed negotiators, quote, "not to rush into one." This prompted oil prices to fall sharply in Asian stock markets to rise on hopes the deal could bring an end to the USIsrael war with Iran. This morning, global benchmark Brent fell 5.5% to 97.90 a barrel, while US traded crude was nearly 6% lower at $90.93.
The straight of Hormuz through which about a fifth of the world's oil and liqufied natural gas usually passes has been effectively closed since the conflict started on February 28th. Those are your headlines. I'm Carson Fuller.
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>> For the Record with Ort Connor.
>> Good morning and welcome back to For the Record. Phone lines are open. If you're calling from a phone number, we have a toll-free service for you. That number 1 8005348255.
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So one of our um listeners has written in and said good morning.
Congratulations. this camp has helped my three children and I hope uh that their children will attend um as well. So uh we want to thank that uh listener for those comments as well. Uh this person uh has written and said uh good morning Mr. Connor. I'd like to commend you uh uh on the remarks you spoke on this morning in reference to concessions for non-kayman. I'd like to say I agree with the statement that you made. I do hope that our representatives have heard it.
Thank you. I want to thank that listener for that as well. Another person wrote and said, uh, agree wholeheartedly with you that granting concessions to developers here in Cayman is no longer necessary.
Kayman is now a preferred uh location to live and work except for locals who are fast finding it hard to either build or to buy a home uh as well. So there we have um some of our listeners providing their commentary on the whole issue of concessions. And uh we we heard the premier speak to the fact or mention the fact that you know there may be instances when external participation is is necessary simply because we may not have the the the the wherewithal either.
could be financially, it could be um uh as far as the knowledge is concerned and under those circumstances, you would have you would want to um have local companies um control licenses being issued to companies. Otherwise his whole um idea and and his whole the whole direction you know was to uh is to reform the trade and business license law the local companies control law that will restrict uh the number of local company control licenses that we would have in uh in the Cayman Islands as well. I did a little uh googling because like I said, I was thinking about this whole topic of concessions and I hadn't done a whole lot of research on it. the uh member of parliament who I was speaking to earlier uh when we were doing our 8:00 news. We I won't call a name uh because I don't want to put that individual on the spot.
But if they do get the opportunity, I welcome them uh calling in so that we can talk more um about it in um googling the this information. And how in the world did I lose that on my screen? I have to try to bring that back up.
Susan, I'm in trouble.
We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out one way or the other. But it had to do with the whole idea of concessions.
And uh there was an article uh it uh actually it was uh AI generated um about the whole issue of concessions in the Cayman Islands. Trying to find it. Having a few challenges here with hopefully hopefully hopefully uh I will find that. Susan, a little bit of trouble here, but we will cover it as soon as we possibly can. Um, so meanwhile, meanwhile, let's go back and remind you very quickly about the youth youth asset fair launch. And we we we hope and we trust that all of our electoral districts, all 19 of our electoral districts will get involved in this whole endeavor and send some representatives there.
those members of parliament who are unable to you may want to send your support staff your those who man your constituency offices again uh an excellent opportunity for your constituency office to be involved in this so that they can then transmit the information um to their constituents in terms of uh you know what is taking race as well. With that, Miss Susan, we're going to come to uh let's take a commercial break in the event that we do have a caller so that we won't have to interrupt that caller.
Folks, please stay tuned. For the record, we'll be back shortly.
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>> For the record with Connor.
>> Good morning and welcome back to For the Record. Uh we do have a caller. Just before we take the caller, this person has written in and said that uh Dr. Sylvia Wilks has come a long way and I am very proud of her. The sky's the limit. Yes. Uh and again, you know, she has chosen uh this pathway because of her um concerns um for or her interest in youth development uh as well. And her career path after uh leaving immigration has always uh trended in and led her in that direction as well. Let's grab our caller. Caller, good morning. Welcome to For the Record.
Morning, Mr. Connor. I really don't want to take you off of your topics, but um I heard a lady talking to Mr. Glidding on Friday about the mess on the roads with these heavy equipment trucks.
>> Mhm.
>> Now, there is a new development that is right by the roundabout agriculture road and the trucks that are coming out of there are making such a mess on that road. I don't know if these trucks are road worthy or they're just holding up traffic and all of the mud. They're demutddudding the place and it's making such a mess on the road. That road is not officially open. And I mean, if you even drive there, you will see all of the mess that's on that road. You know, some time ago, I think they were saying that you had to put a cover on the road on the trucks or something to keep the mess or something. Is anyone there watching to see what is going on? Maybe they need to put someone there because that road is really busy and I think the trucks that are coming there are distracting a lot of the drivers and you have to be very careful when you're coming out from that road. So I would just advise that someone could be there to monitor what is going on because I don't think even some of those trucks that are coming out of there are road worthy. Mhm. Do you know do you know whether or not the material that is being trucked is it is it um water saturated or is it dry dry and dusty?
>> Well, idea >> I can tell you what I've seen. I think it's both. It is both because down in the back there, we know how it is, right? And I mean the the whole road is so messed up. There's rocks on the road.
I mean, other traffic is using that road in the afternoons and in the morning.
So, they need to at least try to do something.
>> Yep. Yep. To mitigate against that.
Yeah. And and you you mentioned the the the requirement for uh trucks to have their loads covered as well. Several years ago, I remember when when there were so many complaints about it, it was strictly enforced. But unfortunately sorry unfortunately what happens in cayman is that we start something we do it for a period of time and then after that it it it uh you know falls off the radar completely no longer no longer enforced. We need to ensure that these laws and policies that we um initiate that that they're sustainable that we continue to enforce them otherwise you know people will say oh they're going to you know after a while they're going to drop that no one no one is going to be enforce enforcing it and and unfortunately that is the type of um attitude that people are taking you know here in Kayman in relation to enforcing >> to happen because there's a lot of traffic on that road and I think someone needs to be there to monitor these trucks or to do something at least let's try to be careful on the roads because as I say it is a busy junction there.
>> Mhm. Okay. I I I know um that those persons if they're listening you know will be attuned to to to what you're saying and uh I will also try to contact someone who I believe is involved in it to uh to get their take on it as well.
Thank you. Thank you very much caller for that.
>> Thank you for listening. Thank you.
Okay.
>> So folks um in 27th of August 2023 uh Mr. James Whitaker and uh Miss Rashma Ragn Rag Ragun Ragunath. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. Ragunath.
They wrote an article, joint article entitled Special Report.
Development concessions fueled a building boom. It's time for a a rethink. So that was three almost three years ago. That was on the 7th of August 2023 that uh they wrote that article. I'm going to share a part of that with you.
um because it speaks to the whole issue of concessions.
So they start off by pointing out that the building boom that has seen more than a dozen 10story office, condo and hotel buildings spring up across Grand Cayman over the past few years has been encouraged and incentivized by the policy decision of excessive uh governments.
Many of the developers involved in major projects benefited from privately negotiated concession agreements.
Only a handful of those were proactively made public. Folks, that is extremely important. And that speaks to what I was talking about uh before. whether or not this needs to go through the legislative process. I will again reread that particular paragraph. Many of the developers involved in major projects benefited from privately privately negotiated concessions agreements.
only a handful of those were proactively made public. So folks, if they're done privately, nobody knows what is discussed behind closed doors.
Nobody knows what terms and conditions who will benefit uh who will reap the profits of these endeavors as well. Article goes on to say that in many cases government agreed to wave import duties typically charged at 22% on the import of all construction materials amongst other fees.
The United Democratic Party government led by Mackiva Bush negotiated the deals that led to the construction of the Kimton Seafire Resort as well as the Health City project in East End.
And the progressives government under Sir Alden McLaclin continued the policy of incentivizing developers to bring major projects in Kayman in what it has described as a job creating tool following the global recession.
The policy persisted however into a second progressive administration with COVID 19 also cited as justification for stimulating construction and appears to have been continued by the cover current government. Remember now this article written in 2023 folks waiverss for the watermark condos another luxury 10-story development near public beach were extended last month as construction nears closure on the project according to brief notes from a recent cabinet meeting.
It is understood that other projects, including the one GT apartment tower under construction in central Georgetown, are also likely to benefit from concessions, though details have not been made public.
Premier Wayne Patton, again, folks, remember this is 2023.
Then Premier Wayne Patton did not respond to questions on his government's policy on incentivizing development for this article.
The progressives have defended their own strategy of using duty waiverss in particular saying, and I quote, "It broadly worked to bring Kayman's economy and government finances out of the doldrums.
Politicians on all sides and developers themselves say concessions can be a useful tool to stimulate economic activity, create jobs, and bring innovative new projects to the islands.
I'm going to pause there for a second and go back and read that to you.
Politicians on all sides and developers themselves say concessions can be a useful tool to stim stimulate economic activity.
I will add to that and say to stimulate economic activity when the economy needs stimulation.
When you have a booming economy, then what is the rationale for granting concessions?
People want to know. People need to know when an economy is booming.
When developers are offering those owners of units in condominiums in buildings where they have been limited to the four or five stories now want to go 10 stories and they are offering the developers they are offering all sorts of incentives ives to those owners sometimes maybe even giving them another um unit as well or given financial incentives to them.
Why do they then need concessions from the government when they themselves are incentivizing the owners and the occupants of those units by making very very generous extremely generous offers to them. So that is my question in relation to that part of it.
Um so uh create um so politicians on all sides and developers themselves say concessions can be a useful tool to stimulate economic activity.
Here's the other one. Create jobs.
Create jobs for for a home. Create jobs for home.
Do we do they mean create more jobs so that government can then benefit from the work permit fees? Yes, we we know and we rely on those work permit fees, you know, as well. But when you create those jobs that include adding more numbers to our population, adding more pressures on our infrastructure, is that what economic success is all about?
I'm not so sure. And uh what about bringing innovative new ideas or new projects to the islands?
Well, when you hear people talk about the Cayman Islands and when they visit other jurisdictions, they talk about the conditions, the good conditions, you know, of our roads, the cleanliness, despite the fact that, you know, many people complain about some of our roadways and, you know, people dumping garbage and everything, you know, on on them as well. the integrity of the structures that we build and uh even the um I forget the the word that is used in terms of the looks of a building. uh uh it'll come to me. But, you know, we we we get all sorts of plaudits and kudos in relation to the way that we build in the Cayman Islands despite um the despite the fact that there are many people who still believe that we need to retain that old Cayman style architecture because we don't see, you know, as much of it as we as we should. uh be seeing but you know we have all of the pluses here in Cayman.
We have all of the good points. So again what sort of innovative new projects are they bringing to the island?
uh and are those innovative projects helping the people of the Cayman Islands and answering the question for whom are we redeveloping.
Other part of that paragraph says, "But continuing lack of clarity about who gets concessions and in what circumstances, how they are negotiated, and whether they are made public is causing serious concern.
We keep hearing about transparency in government.
We need to see more of it. And that is why anything relating to concessions for private developers, not talking about concessions now for uh building a home in a B or construction materials going uh you know to the B or anything of that nature. be talking about concessions for private developers who stand to benefit financially, you know, from that and to put those monies in their own pockets.
That's what we're talking about. Where where folks is that transparency.
Still waiting for that call to come. But if you have any viewpoint in terms of concessions and the need for more transparency, please let us know. We're going to go to a commercial break. When we return, I will share the remainder of this article uh published in the Cayman Compass in August of 27th of August, 2023. Please stay tuned. For the record, we'll be back shortly.
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>> For the Record with Ort Connor.
>> Good morning and welcome back to For the Record. saw the word that I was uh looking for had to do uh it's um the aesthetics of our of our buildings and uh very quickly I went and look uh uh uh at the definition of um aesthetic or aesthetically it's an adverb that describes something done in a way that relates to beauty art or the appreciation of good looks.
it frequent it's frequently used to evaluate how pleasing, attractive or stylish something is uh to the senses.
Uh in this case we would talk about to the well the site is is uh one of the senses that we have as well. So but yes our when we build in the Cayman Islands we look at the aesthetic you know of things. Now, there have been some monstrosities that have been built in Cayman by private um developers, owners as well, and they do that to their own uh taste as well. And some people have complained about some of those monstrosities on Sevenmile Beach. Not necessarily hotels either. Some some uh pri uh private residency as well. But here in Kayman, we try to ensure that whatever we build that it it is aesthetically pleasing. Aesthetically pleasing. So going back to the article, do we have a caller, Miss Susan? Any call?
Uh no calls. Okay. So I can continue to read this. Uh so the article goes on to say that the office again folks reminding you that this is in 20 23 3 years ago the office of the auditor general the watchdog for how public money is spent first recommended in 2015 that government formalize its policies and procedures including a set of criteria for the granting of any revenues concession any revenue concessions.
Despite the formulation of various policy drafts by the previous government, no such policy was ever finalized and nothing appears to have been done by the current administration in power since April of 2021 to progress this or the issue. Again folks reminding you article written in 2023.
Here's a quote. It is disappointing that 8 years after first recommending that the government develop and adopt a comprehensive revenue concessions policy, it has not been actioned.
That was uh quote coming from the acting then acting auditor general Angela Cullen.
uh and she told that to the Kayman compass in an emailed comment on the situation.
The need for a policy was reinforced by a grand court case last year in which lawyers for Georgetown's Doctor's Hospital argued that it was unfair for a government to offer a slew of ongoing duty waiverss to Health City without making such conditions available to Doctor's Hospital.
Justice Richard Williams opined that the details of the Health City concessions package later offered to the proposed Aster Medical Med City Hospital as well were inappropriate though not illegal.
Important to note that folks that Justice Richard pointed out his opinion was that the concessions package uh the details of the Health City concessions package and one that was later offered to the proposed Aster Medical Hospital was as well that they were inappropriate. They were inappropriate but they weren't illegal.
and he highlighted further concerns over a lack of transparency around such agreements.
He suggested government should publish a transparent statement of criteria to determine applications for waiverss of customs duty, work permit fees, and stamp duty.
Though promised at the start of the pack term in 2021, the Panton le administration like successive administrations before his has not implemented a formulated written policy on issuing concessions. Meanwhile, developers, environmental groups, and campaigners on issues like affordable housing are calling for clarity on both a development plan, which would determine how and when new projects should go, and a concessions policy.
In this special report, the compass examines the ongoing debate around concessions and their central role in the development of the country.
Who has been granted concessions and why? That's the question posed in the this article as well. Any policy where government foregoes potential revenue in order to incentivize a project is a concessions policy. I'm going to read that again. This is their definition.
When I say theirs, the writers of this article, any policy where government foregoes potential revenue, that means government is giving up the potential for revenue in order to incentivize a project is a concessions policy. In Cayman, they have been typically granted for relief on fees to incentivize development in the belief that it will encourage economic activity.
Examples include Health City, Cayman Enterprise City, Tech Cayman, and several condo developments including Watermark. And I'm going to pause there for a second and just point out that that was just in that period of time.
Remember long before that we had the Ritz Carlton and the concessions there and uh the failure of those involved at that point in time. I think it was somewhere between four and $6 million that I don't believe that the government ever um recovered. I stand to be corrected but if you know more about that please share that information with us uh you know as well goes on to say there are more complex deals like the national roads authority agreement which granted the dart group duty relief on its projects in return for investing in kayan through the kimonire resort as well as building the assilibitz highway expansion Amongst other things, the stamp duty relief for firsttime Kimmanion home buyers is also a smaller scale form of concessions designed to help people get on the housing ladder.
I'm going to pause there again and say yes that stamp duty concession uh to help people in uh you know uh move up the housing ladder for Cmanians that is well detailed that is well defined as well even though some came many Kimmanions complain that sometimes it doesn't go far enough and it puts them in a situation where if they're not within a certain um earning ratio that they may miss out on something or they they're discriminated against as a result of that as well. But those th those uh stamp duty concessions they laid out they're published. The question is do we have the same for developers as well? The other question is does government give up money? In most cases, government agrees to give up potential revenue money it would never receive if the project doesn't go ahead. The developers the developer doesn't get only benefits doesn't get any benefits, sorry, unless it brings the project to Kayman. The team uh behind the Ironwood Gulf Resort project, for example, signed a deal that is understood to have included significant duty waiverss, but that project never went ahead. And we we know that there was some talk about that and uh I think that was one that was being um developed in conjunction with the Arnold Palmer group and then on the passing of uh Arnold Palmer. We we're not sure where that went or whether or not that uh impacted the decision on that. The point of cons uh concessions is generally considered to be to attract uh development that the country wants or needs that otherwise would not be cost effective. The idea is that government makes its money on the back end either in stamp duty or real estate sales or in the case of hotels for years and years of collecting room taxes, duty on consumables, work permit fees, and tourist spending in the economy. We shouldn't continue to promote this one about work permit fees because we know what the addition of work permits in the Cayman Islands uh has done is doing and will continue to do if we don't control it as well. Folks, we're going to take a commercial break. There's more to this article. I'm going to share more of it with you if time allows. Please stay tuned. For the record, we'll be back shortly.
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>> For the record with Ort Connor. Good morning and welcome back to For the Record. We're on the last leg of the show this morning. Have about 12 minutes left to go in the show. One of our listeners has written in and said, "Good morning, Mr. Connor. I agree with uh everything you're saying about these concessions. I think government needs to use these funds to help their elderly Cmanians who are in dire need of pro proper medical assistance. so they they won't have to make the decision whether to go to the doctor or stay home and delay. Let's get our priorities straight. Uh I want to thank that uh listener uh for writing those comments as well. So uh let's go back to the article again folks. uh in the event that I'm unable to complete all of this, it's an article written in the Cayman Compass 7th of August 2023 about concessions.
So um the next question that they pose is are concessions agreement our concession agreements public sometime the NRA agreement sometimes it says sometimes that they are and it goes on to say that the NRA agreement and a handful of others were made public the ironwood deal that never came to f fruition was announced at a press conference. For example, some of the deals for condo developers, including Watermark, were revealed following Freedom of Information requests from Cayman News Service. It appears that some concession agreements are still being granted. This again, folks, this is in 2023 that we're talking about now.
though uh Michael Nixon, the senior assistant financial secretary in the Ministry of Finance said, and I quote, "Large multi-year concessions, for example, ones that government has approved for 20 years or more were no longer granted and had not been since 2018.
There has been no public announcement or information released uh relating to any concessions, requests or agreements with developers in the past few years. Okay. They asked the question, what are the problems with concessions?
Answer. There are no real issues with the concept of concessions themselves, particularly to encourage needed infrastructure like a school or a hospital or even a project that will bring jobs to the islands. Again, I would be careful about this one now uh that portion of it talking about bringing jobs to the Cayman Islands because again the question will be jobs for whom? Jobs for whom? Until our people are fully employed, those that are employable, those that want to be employed, we do not need to create jobs for anybody else.
goes on to say, "There are significant concerns, however, about equal access to such financial opportunities and transparency, as well as more political issues around the point of concessions and whether they are delivering on any clear policy goal. The first issue is fairness. Why would one developer get certain advantages and not another?
Paul Pearson of Davenport Development, which built San Sebastian and Devela on South Sound, amongst others, believe there's a need for a clear, transparent policy over who can apply for waiverss and in what circumstances. He said his company had not benefited from significant concession agreements.
Here's a quote. It helps with the development of the country and it helps with the development of the industry.
However, if you're going to give concessions, it has to be equal. So you can't give concessions to a big hotel like the Ritz or whomever and not give it to for example Davenport Development.
He said the second issue is policy objectives. The lack of published criteria leaves governments open to the crit criticism that each such deals are negotiated on an ad hoc basis rather than with any defined policy goal in mind. So we can't really have it on an hawk basis depending on who you talked to yesterday. uh depending on what color um door your um deal was um made. That's not transparency. My words, folks.
Article. Going back to the article, there's also the question of followup.
The auditor general found no evidence of any government policy to track the success of such agreements or even if the project developer is following through on its commitments on hiring Kmanions for example.
The question why have a concessions policy? The auditor general has stated in numerous on numerous occasions that good governance requires a published policy and a tracking mechanism expressing disappointment that government has not followed through in the 8 years since that recommendation was made folks. Eight years recommendation made for transparency and government not followed. Is that what we want in the Cayman Islands? Is that what we're going to stand for? My question in the observance of a for in in in the absence sorry in the absence of a formal revenue concessions policy there is a lack of transparency in the process for approving concessions.
Sorry. Without such a policy prescribing criteria for assessing revenue waiver applications, there may be inconsistencies in the assessment and approval of concessions and waiverss.
Cullen told the compass both the previous and current governments again talking about 2023 have agreed that a policy is needed and various drafts have been produced with two general elections and the pandemic amongst the reasons given for stalling of those efforts.
Folks, the politicians always find an excuse.
What should could a policy contain?
developers and politicians that spoke uh to the compass on this issue felt that a framework that allowed sufficient flexibility for changing economic times and policy goals was the best way forward. While a policy drafted in 2013 might have looked to encourage development of the only kind of any kind. A 2023 policy might be more tailored towards encouraging lower cost housing. For example, one developer told the Compass, "This would likely be the best method to bring more affordable projects to Cayman. Everybody is chasing the market which is not $300,000 homes. The developer said person of Davenport which produces mid-pric homes but has not had only any concessions said some types of uh rebate was a necessary was a necessity with inflation and driving up the cost.
We do have a caller. So, we're going to go to that caller. This article still goes on. It talks about what uh what has government said in relation to that. I would love to share that with you. What uh do the opposition say? Uh what do opponents of the concessions say? My question is where are we with this policy um development? Where are we with concessions? Does the government know what concessions are out there? Are they being tracked uh as well? All of those uh rhetorical questions are the questions that I have as well. If you know the answers, please, please, please share them with us. Let's grab our caller. Caller, good morning. Welcome to For the Record.
>> Hi, good morning Oshi.
>> Hey, good morning. How are you?
>> I'm very thankful. OC, what what what I'm wondering is is like places like Watermark and stuff like that, the units is being sold for ridiculous amount of money. Uh uh I mean I'm I'm sure it's over $2 million per per unit um >> being sold there. What do we get from giving them concessions? I mean I I really can't understand what we get from that. I can understand the dark group because that wonderful road uh highway that we drive on there now that I used to leave Westby at at 7:00 in the morning to get Georgetown for for 8:30.
Uh, now I can leave at 8:00 and get George Town for 8:50.
>> Um, I can understand that. No, I I'm all in for that one. But water mark, come on. And I'm sure there's a lot more. I'm not singing out them, but there's a lot more. But oh, see, that's not what it really what I'm calling about this morning.
>> Okay.
>> Um, oh, see, there's something that is happening in K is what I call highway robbery. It is highway robbery in the fullest form to employers the employers of foreign uh domestic worker. Well, I'm only speaking from a domestic point of view, but I don't hire nobody else beside a domestic uh from the Philippines. and OC you're going to tell me that with all your years experience at working at the airport uh you at that point of entry you are not smart enough to detect whether or not a person uh requires an English examination or not then I think that it is very lame on border control uh and is is looked upon very lame at border control if they officer cannot detect oh yeah you need to go and do your your exam >> I mean >> but is that is that responsibility now placed on on uh uh CBC or is that uh uh with with work because there there is uh uh online uh testing that is done and that determines whether or not uh so I don't believe that it is more on the person anymore I'm not I'm not I'm not saying B uh C uh C CBC. I'm saying that what I'm saying is >> is that if that officer detects >> Uhhuh.
>> that this person requires an English exam, he should then make it known to work. This person needs to get an exam.
>> Pay $135.
$135 for somebody who speaks better English than me to go and do an English exam.
That is really really highway robbery.
>> But uh again, if you're trying to be fair to everyone, how how how do you how do you not if the person is coming from a non-English-speaking country, how how do you um do it for some and not for others?
>> Well, Philippines is an English speaking country. I've never met nobody from the Philippines yet that couldn't speak English.
>> Okay. Okay.
>> And and and and then yet we go we go right here in silent and we find foreign nationals that can't speak one word of English but is employed. How does that happen?
>> Mhm. Mhm.
>> How is that happening?
There is something inherently wrong and it's wrong really wrong. Bad. So that's that's that's just I'm just reing on that and I'm I I I'm going to be a soldier for that cuz it cost me money.
>> Uhhuh.
>> I don't worry about what what it cost anybody else.
>> But $135 can put fuel in my truck after that Donald Trump with all the food that he doing. Uh I use bill put in for $7, but now it's probably $105.
>> So $125 can fill my truck with diesel and and still leave him enough to get lunch.
>> Yep. Uh thank you. Thank you very much caller for that. Sorry I have to abbreviate it. Uh but we've gone over the time. I just want to share this uh WhatsApp message that someone sent as well. Good morning. We wonder how much uh the 19 MPs are costing the taxpayers.
They just gave themselves $1,500 uh uh Cayman Islands dollar allowance or raise because of cost of living has gone up so much. I'm not sure about that. Did they did they uh which they mostly caused only thinking of themselves uh with their big wages, allowances, big SUVs, drivers, etc. folks com uh you know compared to to to many others some people may think that uh members of parliament making a whole lot of money uh they have lots of responsibilities you know uh as well. So we we really you know shouldn't pay that um pay that down. Um, of course, anyone who uh gives themselves a cost of living increase while others uh are not getting it, no one would agree to that. But I'm not sure whether or not this information is factual. Is something that I would have to check into because I um I'm not sure that they have uh been given themselves a cost of living increase. It doesn't sound sound right to me. Um for those of you who are interested again the uh article I was unable to um complete it but it's an old article but it still addresses uh issues issues that have not been addressed by or uh legislators uh since 2023 uh as well has not properly been addressed. So if you want to know special report development concessions fueled a building boom is it time for a rethink came article uh published on the 7th of August 2023. With that, I want to thank everyone. Uh, thank you for letting us into your homes, into your offices, um, into your vehicles as you traverse the busy roads of the Cayman Islands. Don't forget, join Mr. Charles Glidden Shallow at 12:15 for talk today. And as usual, we ask the good Lord to continue to bless these three beautiful, wonderful Cayman Islands. And don't forget to join Miss Kathy Miller, Kathy Miller tomorrow morning on the buzz as well. Have a great day, folks, and please stay safe.
For the record, proudly brought to you by >> Brand Source Home Gallery, inspiring luxury. Doctor's Hospital, peace of mind is important when life happens. Doctor's Hospital, always there for you. Call 9496066.
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