Charting Our Course: Sustaining Bermuda

Some Talked the Talk...

...While some actually walked the walk!

Warren Jones, Assistant Cabinet Secretary and a member of the Civil Service Executive walks the walk and openly supports our Days of Action.

He participates and encourages others to take part as well.

He tells us “We live in such a beautiful country and it is inevitable that some of us would take that for granted. The last two Civil Service Action Days have provided me the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of our Island in a different way. Running in to work from Warwick along the South Shore or through the Railway Trail has been a great way to start the day. I encourage      everyone to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others by finding an alternative way to work, even if only          on one day a month.”

What will you do?

Join us tomorrow on our THIRD CIVIL SERVICE DAY OF ACTION on Tuesday, November 28th 2006

Catch Public Transport, Car-pool, Pedal Bike, Run or Walk to/from work

Email us at chartingourcourse@gov.bm or call at 298-7193 for more advice

Defining affordable housing

One proposed definition for affordable housing is housing for which the purchase price (mortgage and other annual costs) is no more than 28 % of gross annual household income. In the case of rental units affordable housing would mean housing for which rent and utilities constitute no more than 30% of gross household income.
Is this definition appropriate for Bermuda?
If not, what definition is more appropriate?

Some measures being proposed include:

• taxing housing allowances and subsidies
• taxing rental incomes
• placing limits on the amount of residential housing that can be owned by individuals and
• corporations progressively increasing death tax on additional properties
• capping rents.

How effective do you think these measures will be in addressing the challenge of providing more affordable housing, if implemented, and why?
Would you personally be willing to accept a housing policy that included these measures?

When commenting can you indicate if you've read the relevant sections in the strategy. If you haven't, housing strategy options are dealt with in Theme 4, Objective 4.1.B. Find it in the draft strategy which can be downloaded, as a Word doc here.

After the doors are locked

This is the first blog of the Government of Bermuda. It is an experiment to increase democratic participation. Some call it a form of e-democracy, but whatever label you attach it is an opportunity for you to comment. As the Sustainable Development public consultation period draws to a close on September 25th we hope that by using this medium we can encourage further and deeper comments right up to that deadline. You may have already commented else where. You may have reflected on what you have heard. You may have had your interest in a another topic awoken. Whatever the reason take time to comment and to read those of others.

Tonight saw the fourth public meeting about the strategy. This time people met at St Paul's AME Church to discuss sustaining our community. The phrase community encompasses almost all of society. I am sure it was a wide ranging debate down on Court Street. And, I am sure that round about 9pm someone locked the doors after politely encouraging the last few disputants to carry on outside. That's the trouble with so-called 'town hall' meetings. They have got to end.  With this blog we hope that, after the doors are lock, we can sustain the debate.

• If you did attend and did speak would you like to summarise or elaborate on what you said?
• If you did attend, didn't speak but wish you had, here's a chance to make your point.
• If you did attend, said nothing but gathered your thoughts afterwards, now you can comment.
• If you didn't attend but feel there is something you wanted to say, well, you too can be heard.

So what do you think about some of the issues raised tonight?

• Doubling the cost of work permits to fund affordable housing?
• Creating modern apprenticeships that bring in experts to train and send Bermudans abroad to serve their time?
• Or what about focusing each of the  two mega-schools in to academic and technical specialisms?
• And, just where do 100 year old trees in the Botanical Gardens figure in a plan for sustainable development?

Over to you. And feel free to comment on other aspects of sustain our communities

For more information about commenting and moderation of comments please read this earlier post.

Comment on Theme 4

The Sustainable Development Strategy covers many topics. If you want to comment about anything in the draft strategy relating to Theme 4 please do so here.