Inside The Inner City With Valentino "Scrooge" Brown - October 9 2026

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Radio your station for up to the [00:00:02] Speaker B: minute news and intelligent, interactive and engaging conversations. [00:00:07] Speaker A: 96.9 FM. The views and opinions of the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the management and staff of Guardian Radio. [00:00:25] Speaker B: La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la oh yeah, oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah I represent Bamian people I from Nassau mamas bigger bitan bro where I from. Right between west and Augusta where them two roads meet There is calling Wilkeson street manners and respect was like a sign blind check it seems the ones that come in after quick to disrespect you see this life in the ghetto never easy so many hu break tell him grieve me way I doing the best I can Trying to turn my dollar to 100 grand I represent the ghetto people I from Nassau mama pick up in where I from d don't take no mountains, no drive or no joke if you find fire your dip [00:01:26] Speaker A: if they find Covid on bro where I from Good night Bahamas and welcome to Garden Radio 969. I am your host, Valentino Braun, aka Scoochy or Scrooge or Governor or MP, host of the talk show Inside the Inner City that premieres every Friday at 6:30 to 8pm except holidays. Telephone numbers tonight are 323-623-23254316 and 325-4259 and UCON Texas powered by BTC at 422 gr 96. And like I say, it's always a pleasure to be your host. I love the conversation we have with the guests that calls in. You guys do a phenomenal job. To the listeners who listen in and don't call in, who say that we say everything that needs to be discussed on airwaves, they say that we're neutral. They like the fact that, you know, we speak truth, we stick to our conviction. You know, we are neutral. You know, we are nationalists and we have conversation that really conversation that really is impactful to our lives. Things that are going on every day, whether it consists of the hospital, the prison, the inner city community, the family islands, I feel that can be improved to make the living conditions and the lifestyle better for Bahamians in the country. I would do all in my power to make it known on the aviators and then the college themselves, you know, would support it because it's for all of us. You know, we need improvements in the hospital. We have improvements with maintenance in government departments, maintenance with our streets, maintenance with plans to On a regular basis, maintain the communities to make sure we don't have dialect vehicles run down homes. We don't have an outburst of rot that can actually make the entire community sick with rat spreading diseases, cockroaches and stuff like that. So there's a lot that we have to do to really get this country up to standard. We have to deal with also a lot of internal problems that is plaguing our government institute. From the Royal Marmots police force to the defense Force, the custom to immigration. We have to see how we can redefine it. Means that we have to get it where it works, where it's balanced, where we don't have so much corruption. Because we all have behemoths here and all we are doing is destroying one another in the country. And what we want to do is that we have a problem. Bjs needed to be fixed and then we need to put barriers in place that make sure it is always manageable. Means that we would have private investigation teams that are part of immigration. It's a part of the Rod Bahamas police force. The part of defense force is just an office set up for internal investigation against government officials. That's what we really want in the country. And it has to be a bipartisan where it is, it's a nationalist. From a nationalist standpoint. Means that those who are part of this board, their job is to make sure corruption is held at a minimum. Means that we can't stop corruption fully. What we can do is put the fear of punishment or repercussion holding these government position. And with the fair loan and prosecution it would slow it down tremendously in our country. So we need internal investigation. Internal investigation teams be established in all government departments. And their job is whether they are plp, whether fnm, whether they're normal citizen, their job is to forget about the plp, forget about the fnm. I mean it's very hot for it to happen like that. But overall we want better for us because what affects one behemoth affects all. Okay? And we need the internal investigation teams in there to stabilize our government departments and also us ourselves as well in the homes as well. So it goes from top to the bottom. So today I show we're going to talk about unemployment. I had my good friend member Potter Monkey at Global Road, she was speaking on the matter. You know, she is a tremendously great mp. She does great works. You don't have people complain about her. So that means she's doing a fabulous job. But I just want to comment on something that she is saying that I think that we can work on when it comes to unemployment, which I think from a government standpoint they might see it decreasing. But from a standpoint of me living in inner city community, seeing people every day, that is a different turn of events that I would like to discuss personally. And then we have a clip from a lady who is a part of the Ministry of Tourism and she's given the reason why we have a high influx of tourists coming to the Bahamas and spending millions of dollars. She is saying that is not really directly affecting the everyday life of Bahamians. Meaning that the money is, that are being spent when these tourists come to Nassau or to the Bahamas. It's actually not trickling down to make the country unemployment levels go down tremendously like the way it's supposed to be. Besides the government's statistics on unemployment, you know, their standards decrease. But like I say, unemployment is still high in the country. There are thousands of Bahamians who live inside the community. Who wants work, can't find work. But like I say, the tourism industry is the way out for a lot of Bahamians in this country. If you combine tourism with Junkanoo and we train people, you know, how to make cost. I mean, we don't train people how to make cost who are souvenirs, conch shell, coconut and stuff like that. You get an avenue. An avenue means you have the guests rest. 11 million, record breaking, close to 12 million that are risen last year. How could we get them to go over to a safe environment where stalls are set up and they could come there and spend all their credit cards in that particular area that is trickling down and we can create those. Okay, but before I get into the show, I want to give my condolences to the late, great Steve McKinney, especially to his family. His son, I know his son from a little boy in Fox State. McKinney used to live on Lewis street for many, many years, him and his wife. He used to live on Lewis street east for many, many years. Danny moved about 15, 20 years ago, I think. And then he went on the hill top of Nassau street where he started his radio station. I get to meet him personally on James Radio as a guest from Debbie Bartlett and Gandhi Pindo. I went on Steve McKinney show many times. In fact, his show Hard Copy, I had a few appearances on it and from time to time he would invite me on. A hell of a guy. You know, life is short. You know, life is just short. You know, there's so many people passing away so unexpectedly in the country, you know, but ain't nothing much we could do, you know, all we can do is feel sad because of what that person meant to us, you know, Some of us might not know him personally, but we know him because, you know, his name was in the country. And we know all of the news reporting he has done over the, over the years, you know, affected our lives. So a lot of people were sad just by that. So, you know, we are all a tree. We feel things like that, you know, and we know he passed away of medical conditions. So in a way we sad but we happy, you know, he's out of his pain, you know. You know, we all have to go that way one day, you know, and all we could do is be sad and, you know, we could remember the good memories and, you know, you live by the memories and stuff like that. Also our troublesome friend, late great Sparky, possibly as well, you know, that's a menace, you know, but he did his part, you know, he spoke out, you know, despite his ways and stuff like that, you know, he. He was who he was, you know, and even him, you know, passing away felt sad because again, we all a tree, you know, we just a tree, you know, that's why I didn't get to wish no one to die, you know, besides the people. Like, you know, even the guys, the bad guys a time ago, my enemies, so called enemies. What I believe was my enemy is, you know, when people just get shoot and stuff like they get hurt, you would say that's good for them, you know, What I get to understand is when you do that, all you doing is dooming yourself. Because what you get for us will actually come back around to you. What you wish on others will actually come back to you. You understand? So I get a thought on my head long time ago. Even when I see some people who are bad nature, you know, who lose their lives, you know, I still feel sorry for them, you know, I ain't gonna ever say that's good for them, you know, don't say that. People, you know, you know, you don't want to know. We the baddest set of poisons out there who get killed. Some who get killed on the road like a dog sometimes, they might deserve the way they die, okay? And you know how we look at them, we don't take much of them, you know, because, you know, they take lives and stuff like that. So we have reasons to judge people how they die, you know, we ain't judging Steve McKinney, you know, we know he had medical conditions, so we're kind of happy with that and understandable with that. When someone get killed who is a prolific known gangster or drug dealer or hitman, you know, we don't take much. Them, you know, we say that's good for them and we. You cannot blame people for that. So it's the way how you die is how people respect you and how you die, you understand? So what you do in life really comes back. It really comes back to your life story and how people would look at you, you know, so, you know, even more crooked Sparky, you know, but, you know, wherever he is, wherever he is, you know, I hope that, you know, he made peace, you know, and that, you know. Yes, yes, you know, one day you just could be here, the next day ain't, you know, life's serious, you know, So I just hope that he rests in peace, you know, you did your time. It was your time, the country, you know, Even though you were past, you know, you know, but that's my boy, you know, but, you know, life, life. Life is, you know, so my condolences to his family, you know, and to everyone who's his friend and to the listening audience out there, you know, he was the pest, but he was a good guy, you know. You see, when you die, like, when you die, like, like, you know, I'm laughing at it because I know he's the best, but I know he's a good guy, you know. So shout out to Sparky, you know, go to his funeral. Or if I do not, I'd block a prayer, you know, Sometimes that's more better than going to a funeral, you know, just blocking the prayer, taking a minute out, you know, to say goodbye and ask the Father to accept them in heaven, you know, and that's all we can do, you know. So it's the way how you die, it's the way how you live and how you'd be judged when you die, you know. Okay, so we're going to begin the show now. We could do the first. Oh, hold on one second. I just want to. Again, before we begin, I just want to give a shout out to the Royal Bahamas Police Force. I'd like to give a shout out to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Anthony Roll, and then the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ms. Janet McKenzie, and then to my good friend Superintendent Kendra, who invited me to the symposium yesterday. Talks about. The symposium was about Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It was presented by the standalone unit of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, led by those Assistant Commissioner of Police Ms. Janet McKenzie and then Superintendent of Police Ms. Kendra. Excuse me, Wims. You know, there are great departments in the Royal Bahamas Police Force, especially this domestic violence unit that is spearheaded by these female officers. They are on the front line gathering information about domestic dispute. You know, that domestic dispute has exploded in the country. And they are making awareness, especially what the men go through and how it affects the female and it leads to domestic. Domestic violence actually leads to child abuse. So I was making a presentation there and we had a wonderful, wonderful time, you know, so I don't want to say thanks to the, to the domestic violence unit, especially the standalone unit, for the wonderful, wonderful symposium yesterday at Belize headquarters. I think that domestic violence is the number one problem in our country. I think it leads to child abuse and everything else in our country. Because if a child sees their mother, their daddy, their aunts, their uncle, eventually they themselves will be prone to that and learning that. And as they grow and when they have children, they themselves, you know, would be abusive, whether it's child abuse or whether it's domestic dispute. So it's like a learning cycle, and we have to understand that. So that's why I support the domestic violence standalone unit of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. And they're doing a tremendously great job. Those officers are fantastic. For me, as a citizen, I just would like to see stability, accountability in ranks of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, meaning that there is accountability, meaning that if there's wrongdoing with any officer and it's reported by the general public, it should be investigated by the full extent of the Royal Bahamas Police Force to investigate and make sure that the allegations are true. Because sometimes people lies on police officers. But in some cases that we're seeing now, we have to take the benefit from the doubt and still do proper investigation. But the people of the Bahamas want timely investigation. They want persecution, okay? And they don't want no more protection. No more because it has made our country corrupted. And it affects us in our judgment, it affects us to our core. And if we don't correct it against voice fast internationally, you could see what it's doing to us now. It has made travel harder for Bahamians to leave or to Nassau to go in the United States of America. Believe it. Now, I think that you have the. I was reading a tribal advisory, you know, stating that, you know, staying for six months, you better go foreign affairs and let them know if you're entering the States right now and you had a criminal record in the past, it don't matter if it's 15, 10 years ago, even though it might be an expunge from your police record. They say on going to America now, if I'm correct, they're saying that you have the stipulations, tell them exactly what you was locked up for. So it might not be on your police record, but they're saying that when you're going to leave to go to the US they want to know exactly what you was charged for and that may or may not allow you to enter the United States of America. Also, if you're traveling in America and you get any kind of accident, you better stop health insurance because you're in America, you know, so all of these things that I think they're doing to us is because now they're targeting us as, not as terrorists, but as drug smugglers. So now they're screening us in stardark art. There is sanctions, but hard restrictions on behemoths. Now, because of the corruption that has happened in our country, now we all pay in the piper for mistakes of a few bad apples, which these bad apples in turn has rotten a whole, whole bundle of apples. And now we as Bayman really have to pay the price. You know, it's sad, you know. Yeah, travelers get a little strict. You know, they asking for a lot of stuff now. Certain places you have to travel with visa now, you know, it's crazy. You know, we now use that, all these restrictions now to travel, you know, these like what the US Is putting on, putting on us now because of the corruption, they are not labeled as terrorists. But now we get. They're firing rocket launchers in the Bahamas. You know what that means now those teens can shoot planes out there, man, look here. I know. So we had to build stronger communities. So anyway, let me get to the show. Again, thanks to the domestic violence unit and especially to my good friend Ms. Kendra Wims, superintendent. And again Deputy Commissioner Anthony Rowan and Assistant Commissioner John McKenzie, and especially to the Royal Bahamas, the Rod Bahamas marching ban, which did an outstanding job. And then to Customs and Immigration, all those government departments that were there, who was to the symposium. I'd like to say thank each and every one of you for inviting me to be presentator along with other presentators which turned out to be very, very, very good. We get a good understanding on the way forward in the country. Go ahead. [00:20:40] Speaker C: The government has officially launched the Young Innovators Club National Pilot program in New Providence. The initiative is designed to challenge young Bahamians to identify real world problems, develop practical solutions and see themselves as active participants in the building of the future of the Bahamas. The program is a partnership between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry for Grand Bahama. Education Minister Chester Cooper says more than 100 students ages 15 and up will participate in the New Providence cohort. [00:21:09] Speaker B: This cohort is going to be impacting more than 125 young people. So young innovators today is about you. We are about building a culture of innovation across the Bahamas and it starts with you. I want every young person here to understand that where you come from, no matter how small, your job is to help to shape the future of our country. [00:21:47] Speaker C: The program is structured around five core pillars. Technology, Environment, Entrepreneurship, Arts and heritage, and maritime innovation. The New Providence cohort includes CR Walker Senior High School, Government High School, Windsor Upper School, Aquinas College and btvi. Today's launch follows the program's rollout on Grand Bahama on September 25. For eight weeks, they will gather information to examine challenges, understand the people affected, test ideas and create practical solutions. Whether the result is a technology tool, a business concept, or an environmental, cultural or maritime project, the purpose is the same, to turn ideas. The program will also be launched in Abaco and Exuma in the coming days. Prime Minister Philip Davis says investing in young Bahamians remains a top priority for his administration. [00:22:47] Speaker A: It creates a space that encourages curiosity and it expects some people to ask why and what if and yes, it is a place where young people can look at a challenge in their school, their community and their country and say, I can be part of the solution. [00:23:10] Speaker C: Reporting for the Guardian News Network, I'm Vonik Toot. [00:23:13] Speaker A: You know, one thing I like to do is I always like to talk about the programs that are benefiting Bahamians. And that's the key. You know, as a talk show host and the poison who live in the community and as a community leader and the poison who wants to see programs like this in the hands of Bahamians? I encourage programs like these from the government and initiatives like this. You know, it's a plus, you know, because at the end of the day they're still helping 100 some kids and he encouraging at us. That's what we have to do. But how are we going to be making it large scale? I mean, it's very difficult to get a large scale now. Okay, because you know, we could say this on the airwaves, but it's very, very, very difficult. But at the end of the day, you know, overall we have to find a way on how we can impact These programs, part of the nlicity community, get those kids, you know, mindset change. You know, there was a, There was a video that was playing with a little guy who stole a bicycle. We're going to comment on that a little later on in the show. I have a clip played by the Minister of National Security, honorable Master Rotor and he's talking about vigilante justice. And there were three incidents that happened where that happened. And then we had different response from when the kid stole the bike. He stood aside the bar by cookie bar. He waited till the older gentleman went inside the bar. When the gentleman went in the bar, he didn't even wait a minute and he just jumped on the bike along with his friends. So it was a group of them kids and I guess that was not the first bike they stole because each one of them had a bike. They had to be in planning it because you could see it was strategic. And you know, he jumped on the bike the minute the guy went in the store and they rode off on the bike. Then a video came out, I think, I don't know if it's the same day or the next day with the same young guy, a little kid, I don't know, look at the age of 7 or 9 or something like that young kid. And I think they caught him and they hice him up on a barbed wire fence and then he peed up himself. And then there's a third video of the same guy or somebody concerned citizen gave it an old bike. And we had a lot of different response to that. Some people saying why would you reward somebody for stealing the bike? Et cetera. So we can talk about that after we do these few clips. I'm going to leave that in the latter part of the show and then we're going to go from there. We can play the next clip, please. [00:26:14] Speaker D: So it's always good news and positive news to hear that unemployment is decreasing. That is a great thing because we are engaging so many opportunities to ensure that our citizens get jobs, get employment that also leads to long term careers. We have launched Opportunity Hub, which is an opportunity for us to allow citizens to get training, whether it's new training, whether it's retraining, upskilling. It's a very important component because our statistics have shown us that skills match is an issue. Jobs are available, but not necessarily for the skill sets that exist. And then you see where underemployment speaks to persons who have engaged work, but maybe not in their field or their skill set. So we're working as an administration, as a government to ensure that we're getting the skills to match the jobs that are available and we're preparing our citizens with skills for the jobs that are emerging. We are working even across borders to see how we can ensure that, that our citizens have the skills that match the highest level of employment opportunities. We don't only want to engage Bahamian citizens in entry level work. We want to see Bahamians engage at the highest levels. We're asking them, we're attracting them to come back home. We know that compensation is sometimes a challenge when people are working abroad or they have a very high level skill sets and they say the compensation doesn't match what they are looking for in job market. But we're working on that. [00:27:49] Speaker A: Yeah, that's Minister Schoolmate at C.I. walker School. Both of me and her graduated from C.I. walker. I think it's two years ahead of her. But we used to hein together, you know, wonderful, wonderful lady. Like I say, you know, listening to a lot of people who speak about her listen on airwaves, listening on the news. She seems to be a tremendously good MP now. She's not those deadbeat MPs so she's doing a wonderful job. She's talking about unemployment statistics where our government has done tremendously to get young people engaged in upscale Bahamas and many of the different programs. We heard the Prime Minister talk about the program they were. Now mind you me, all these programs are very, very beneficial. So I'm not going to knock down nothing as far as helping Bahamians. The only thing I'm saying is that how can we get it on a wider scale to really reduce the unemployment in this country? Because from my view, outside those programs there are still thousands of young individuals who are not trained, want to be trained, just don't know how to be trained and it's very difficult. So we need to find a way on how we can impact the least vulnerable. I know we have these programs, but there are a lot of people, you know, who are not going to go to these programs even though these programs are beneficial because they think it's just too much red tape. So we have to try find ways on how we can make it accessible, more easier for people, persons in the community to really have access to this information. How we could get them, how we could get them to really be involved and be interested to be a part of these programs. You know, we have to be able to track as well. So centers like the Urban Renewal I think can be that vehicle. But what I'M seeing from the urban rural centers which I work with officers in the urban renewal centers on a minimum basis. They don't have the power, means they don't have the funds. You know, even though they are doing some programs, they are less, less effective. They have to find a way to give proper funding. All centers to basically deal with their community. You know, they're going to have to see how they can ship millions in there. But if millions have slipped in urban renewal, it has to be accountability to make sure that the hoses are repaired, that, you know, the area is maintained, you know, and then information that all governments department have to be accessible to urban renewal. Like for instance, the Ministry of Health has some updates on some new medicine and some new diseases breaking out. We need to get the information in the community. Urban renewal could be that vehicle, but again, it's not being used properly. It has to be community minded. It has to be community minded as well. Along with the police and the administration staff at the centers. And it has to be where the community is put first and the community can give some ideas on what need to happen. Could sit around the table and help make decisions. And that's what we need, you know, and right now I don't think the urbano departments are fully optional and are really able to help in the capit. In the. Or should I say in the capacity. It could function. It is not. I'm not knocking and I'm not saying they're not doing none. But listen, all homes can be fixed in the community within the five year period. All abandoned lots can be cleared down. As far as I can see, RAD programs can continue through the whole community within that four year period where we have the community working with urban renewal and, and the Ministry of our Environment to eradicate all sports where residents who come and identify sports where there are a bunch of rodents or a bunch of vehicles and point out and simultaneously we could be able to deal with the community at a time, you know, and I think that's our biggest problem. We have to be able to have that organization functional for the Bahamian people, you know, access to. Like I said, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Social Service, you know, elections and funds are there and you don't have to wait six months to go fix a house, okay. Or to put speed bumps around or there's a particular resident living in the community who has abundance of old cars and a lot of garbage and it's affecting the community. We can't even get that done when you go and report the urban renewal. They have to go and call the Ministry of Health and it takes must be about six, seven months. That don't make no sense. We need action. We want when two or three community residents complain and say, hey, manage, your yard here is full of trash. This yard, yes, holding all dialect vehicles and all the rod and roaches and centipedes coming to this one yard here. And this is so idle community, you want this gun. So urban renewals should have access to call the Ministry of Health. They come immediately. They assess the situation. They go to the residents who own that particular yard and tell them if it's not the standard where it has more than one car and it's bulk waste there it has to go. You give them, tell them, excuse me, this is not acceptable. Let them know what the law is. Tell them it's got to be gone within three days time. If they don't remove in three days time, then the Ministry of Health would come along and clean up the whole yard and give you a citation. And if you was there to put any more garbage, even though this is your yard in this job, we'll give you a citation. Simple as that. And that's what you have to do. And I think urban wood can actually be that beacon. But I don't know. I don't know. Okay, we can play the next clip. Please [00:34:42] Speaker E: record Visitor arrivals are not translating into better living conditions for Bahamians or sufficient economic opportunities for local businesses, according to Bahamian economist Therese Turner Jones, who questioned how much of the value generated by tourism is reaching the wider community. Turner Jones said the government continues to celebrate rising visitor numbers, particularly in the cruise sector, without sufficiently examining the industry's socioeconomic impact. The socioeconomic impact of these high numbers of visitors is not translating into how people feel as Bahamians living here where this industry has dominated for so many years, she told Guardian Business. I don't know how much longer we will continue to sell this myth to Bahamians that tourism is what's carrying this economy. Her comments follow. International Credit Rating Co. S&P Global Ratings latest assessment of the Bahamas, which pointed to strong cruise tourism and large scale family island investments as major contributors to the country's economic growth. S and P expects the Bahamian economy to grow by 2.5% in 2026 after expansions of 4.2% in 2024 and 3.8% in 2025. It noted that total visitor arrivals increased to 12.5 million in 2025, compared with 11.2 million in 2024, with cruise passengers accounting for much of that growth. However, Turner Jones said headline arrival figures do not reveal how much visitor spending remains in the Bahamas or reaches Bahamian workers, entrepreneurs and communities. She argued that cruise tourism has limited economic spillover compared with the stopover segment, adding that its contribution cannot be measured solely through government revenue. They seem to have bought the cruise business as the savior of all things in this economy, but it's not, turner Jones said. It's just not. She said the government should examine the industry supply chain impact, including how much tourism demand supports Bahamian farmers, manufacturers, retailers, transportation providers and other locally owned businesses. Turner Jones also questioned whether enough tourism revenue is being reinvested in the public infrastructure and visitor assets required to sustain the industry. We're not investing in infrastructure inputs and assets the way we should, she said. She pointed to the condition of downtown Nassau as an example of the disconnect between the country's record visitor volumes and the quality of the tourism product. Turner Jones recalled recently walking through parts of downtown Nassau after her vehicle was towed from East Hill Street. She said the experience exposed broken sidewalks, poorly maintained surroundings and an environment that would not necessarily make visitors feel comfortable. When we talk about tourism infrastructure and what would make for a pleasant experience, I don't find anything about Bay street pleasant, she said. We haven't spent a lot of time reflecting about our product, what it is we're offering and what that experience is like. The country must move beyond celebrating arrival records and more closely evaluate visitor spending, tourism linkages, infrastructure quality and the sector's effect on household incomes. She also questioned whether senior tourism officials are considering the indicators used internationally to assess the competitiveness and sustainability of tourism destinations. Turner Jones expressed concern that the Bahamas was not World Economic Forum Travel and Tourism study despite being one of the Caribbean's leading destinations, can you imagine a tourism destination of our size not being included in the study? She asked. It's embarrassing to me that the Bahamas is not included. Even if you're low down on the ranking, you want to be included relative to your peers. She noted that the World Economic Forum's assessment examines issues beyond visitor arrivals, including infrastructure sustainability, biodiversity, natural assets, energy transition and the conditions needed to support tourism's long term development. She said participation would allow policymakers and the public to compare the country's performance with competing destinations and identify areas requiring investment. Turner Jones added that tourism must create more experiences and opportunities that encourage visitors to spend throughout the economy. The country's performance, she said, should ultimately be judged by whether tourism growth improves wages Supports local businesses, strengthens infrastructure and raises the standard of living for Bahamians, not simply by the number of people who arrive. [00:38:46] Speaker A: That lady is completely right. I've been saying this all alone, all along racket 12 million. Okay, now let me go back to my good friend Ms. Pierre. Global rule. This is not a knock or a talk at all. When government gave all those statistics, right? Unemployment, that's from the government side. This lady, Ms. Turner Jones, she did all the background checks. I know as a Bahamian, I know as a young man growing up in the Grunstown community, how close I was to Bay Street. And I was one of the manufacturers of the tourism industry. I could buy my Clark shoes, my legions, my shirts on my lunch money by just going downtown, diving for quarter. Okay? So I was benefiting towards the ministry. A young guy like myself. We could go out on the weekend, just say a sad day early, [00:39:51] Speaker F: and [00:39:52] Speaker A: we could go and we die for quarters. And we could come back with 15, 20, $25 in our pocket. That was plenty of money back in the day day. And you know, you would save up. And then some days, you know, when school was out on summer, we would die for quarters, just. But every day, sing song for quarters. And then some of us would be cat of tools around, walking to different shops that we didn't know, that they didn't know about. And many of them, when they were leaving, you would have the technology. I'm talking about color tv, talking about cameras, video cameras, the latest tennis, latest jeans, whatever it is that Miami or Fort Lauderdale had. And the guests that came in the grandstand community, especially to the Francis hotel, because I was living next to the Francis Hotel. And we used to have visitors come over the hill and stay in the Francis Hotel. And most people were selling souvenirs, people at the convenience store and basically stuff like that. Coconut tart and stuff like that, selling coconut water and stuff like that. Inside the community, all of the shops used to be making money on. All the shops used to make money. So it was a bowman. Bowman thing for us growing up. We really didn't. We really. We had so much different trades and jobs. So they mean we had so much different trades and jobs. We could sell coconut. You can die for quarters. You could have been selling stew, fish stew, conch. You could be in tailoring. You had a grocery store, you had a B and B. You know, we had a lot of a B and B where we had white American and black American was staying in France hotel. We had a few a B and B in the community. And then, you know, all of that stopped. So what exactly Ms. Turner Jones is saying is actually true? Yes, we have a record breaking 12 million tourists come to our shore, right. And yes, millions of dollars are being spent. But Bay street don't even have signs pointing to where Fort Felton Castle is. Okay? Bay street during our bathrooms where the tourists could use that they could go in when they're walking around base. Bay street don't really have parking, which I don't think no cars to me. Besides, a few months ago I was going up Great Cliff Hill. Coming off there was this elderly cup on a wheeler born tourist who was going up blue roads to get something to eat. You know, that's the regular thing. Go on the beach. After coming off the beach, go to McDonald's, stop the Dunkin Donuts and then walk over Blue Road and then turn through and come up Market Street. On my journey there was this guy, wheelchair Bond and he was trying to get up to the peak to Great Cliff on the side of the road. He was in wheelchair. And when he reached a certain point in between, halfway up the hill, the sidewalk was all cracked up. So he, he was on, he was on the right hand side. Traffic coming, traffic coming down two way. He's on the right hand side. His wife can't really keep up with him because it's all, it's like a remote control wheelchair. So he's little ahead. So now he has to make a decision. He I on the left hand side across from him going up on the left hand side. He is coming down to the little pump. So now he had to take a chance coming on the bump. So I had to run across the road, okay, slow down traffic, right. And get him to come on the left hand side. I had to slow down traffic because how his wheelchair was going on the road and cars coming down, they could hit it. They could, they could hit him. They could hit him coming down. So I had to slow down traffic and let him go on the left hand side, climb up the hill and then reach up the hill. I had to slow down traffic again and put him on the right hand side. But he couldn't go on the right hand side because the sidewalk was all cracked up. Like the lady saying that all over Nassau downtown. So that needs to be a whole beautification of downtown Nassau and over the hill because I feel that with John Canoe. I feel that with Junkanoo and with Bay street walking distance and with the 12 million visitors who I always tell people, our customers, if we could get overnight stay here again in the country. If we could develop the communities of Mason Edition Grandstand and Fort Charlotte, the beginning, end and we could rate grand spaces where we get up, the guests don't come in the community and stop to a few stalls and interact. We had guys from doing souvenir where they have their own little jungle rush out through Pacific Corner and a few people have a stall set up and everything is protected. The community is working as one. Everything is cleaned up. I think we could see a better harm. I think unemployment will go down tremendously in this country because now we have 12 million visitors. But that 12 million stayed on the ships and spending money downtown. The majority of them start to come to Mason Edition, go to the junk crew shacks. Taxi drivers would be bringing the water to the spots that selling little stew, fish stew, gunk. Might want to go to the barber, might want to get a hairbread, might want to get some baked bread or coconut tart or they might just want to see some birds. They might want to see the pot cake dogs. You know, tourists are very inquisitive. You know, the teens that we take granted, they love to see. That's the thing I get to understand what we take for granted. They love to see. You know, they want to go to the churches, they want to know the history. For instance, you know, I have the Martin Luther King site around the corner. I only have a poster. And if you see how much people that stop and come to Lewis street and take a poster of just a sign of Dr. King staying here. And then we have the next one, Dan Feuder, a mural of Dr. Robert Love, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mary Mattoon and our very own sir Stafford officer, Sir Randall Fox. And the amount of guests that comes to Lewis Creek just without alone. It's crazy, you know. So I'm trying to work and see how I can work with the government and see how I can turn it into a museum for the country itself and for the community. Because guess what? It's bringing visitors in. Listen, you know, listen, you know, every day you get 30 taxi drivers that just comes to Lewis Creek just to stop that assign on Lewis Creek. Those two signs from Lewis Creek. And these are two things I created just to test the water. You know, I have a Dr. Martin Luther King cytch Lewis Creek that I have established. I'm the founder of it. Me and the late, great Dr. Rita Pratt information. Dr. Rita Pratt. And we work together as partners to get all the information and to get it to be a historical site. Work with antiquities in monument work with the US Embassy, and we were able to make it a historical site. You know, Ms. Regent Pratt passed away, but now I'm working again to see how I could continue to modify it to make it a destination for tourists. And when they come to Lewis, we did stop to a few stalls because I'm getting my restaurant together. I'm helping to build a few stalls around the community. You know, like the conch stall, little souvenir stalls. I have a few girls who want to do some braiding here. So eventually, you know, one step at a time. This is the blonde, you know, come off from the old city market. So this is the blonde. To create our economy in the community, for the guests that comes in our community on a regular basis, we have guests walking through Lewis street just about every day. We have long lines of tourists that lives Bay street, that walks through Lewis Street, Hay Street, Market Street, City Market, Blue Hill Road. That comes on a regular basis, people. Yes, on a regular basis that comes in. So it's not about safety no more. It's about development. Okay? If we could develop some things right now, those guests, instead of them just walking through, they'd be stopping, mixing and mingling, and this would change the trajectory of our country. So to Ms. Pia Global, I agree with you that unemployment dials on the government side. But for me, as a guy who live in the community that sees people asking for work every day for persons out there who are completely dead, like they don't know where they're trying to find no type of empowerment, I would say that, you know, we have the improve. So we have to listen to what Ms. Jones is saying. We have 12 million visitors, and if we could start to get them to start staying overnight, if we create green spaces in these communities that are. That are closest to Bay street, because I live in Grandstand, and Grandstand is Bay Street. I live in Nassau. Fort Charlotte is in Nassau. Mason Edition is in Nassau. Okay? We're in Nassau. We are the city. We actually are Bay Street. So why can't we be developed so that we can be able to make some good money out of them? 12 million visitors that comes to Ash or their customers. You know, if we could get at least 2 million of those visitors to come till 5 o', clock, and then if we were going overnight stay, and we could get a million of them to stay overnight or 2 million to stay overnight, you know what that could do, and you know how much people that can empower. You know, just walk right to your front door and you Making money because the taxi drivers in the community would stop to you because the tourists want interaction, they want to stop the junk knew shock. They want to stop the central food fair, they want to stop to the local bars, they want to stop the local barbershops, the cosmetology shops, you know, or the little coffee shops, they want to stop. You know, so we just have to create, you know, we have to think out the box. And I think that's the only way we're going to be able to bring down unemployment and give those people out there who are, who are dead, you know, they're being trying so hard to look for work, confined work whenever they go there, you know, so they're dead. So let's encourage them, you know, and we could do this, man. You know, we could do this. You know, ours are people, but we have to understand and we have to see where we need to focus. You know, this lady, Ms. Turner, telling the truth. We have 12 million visitors coming to our shore. Is that really benefiting people? Around 12 million visitors come to our shores and they say they spend anywhere from between, let's say 20 million. The $20 million they spent, you know, where they spending that Sheraton, McDonald's, Huffers and Sons, you know, so. And you know, a little million or two come over. You know how the million or two come over? Let's have a million or two come over. 17 million or 18 million will stay down. Because when the tourism goes and they spend a credit card, they're going to tickies, they're going to fish fry. You know, their business is on the outskirts. Those businesses employ a lot of Bahamians. So in between, those Bahamians get tipped and they get paid taxi drivers, you know, who driving around the tourists, you know, they get paid. And if you drive taxi drivers going home, they stop in here, they stop in a giant up in my mama's convenience store and they spend a little 10 year, 120. Yeah, they stop into the super value and then all the people who come in from work, you know, they live in the innocent community. So they coming around, they spend it. So they're creating the economy off the tourism money. But are we renovating? I think that persons living in Mason edition, persons living in Grandstand and poisons, living in Beantown, should only have American money in their pockets. Just like harbor island, just like Spanish. Well, you know why? Because we are right close to Bay Street. There's nowhere in the world if the tourism industry was benefiting Bahamian people. There's Nowhere in the world. Me living in Grandstand ain't having no American currency in my pocket every day because I am in Bay Street. We don't have no American currency. So it's not benefiting us. The tourism industry is not benefiting us the way it should be. We're going to take this call. Go ahead, caller. You're on inside the MCD call you there. [00:53:11] Speaker F: Marta Scrooge, how you doing? [00:53:13] Speaker A: Hey, what's in, boss man? Mr. Darnquest. [00:53:15] Speaker F: Well, you're talking some good things, man. You know, I'm here to help you. The president and founder of the 242small business association in resort. [00:53:24] Speaker A: Yes, sir. [00:53:26] Speaker F: What you were talking is a lot of sense because we could create a strategic plan and have tourists come from all over Nassau from different areas and have heritage sites, cultural sites. They could co mingle with the locals and everything, and then we could take it into a serious economic zone. But there must be a strategic plan to show the benefits. Because like you said before, safety is not the issue no more. Because when I was talking with, if I got the part, the gentleman from, from. From the church who got sick the other day, what his name was a CB Boss, huh? [00:54:08] Speaker A: CB Moss, Right. Yes. [00:54:10] Speaker F: Because he wanted to do something like about 15 years ago, something like this. [00:54:14] Speaker A: Yes. [00:54:15] Speaker F: But he couldn't finalize on it. [00:54:17] Speaker A: Yes. [00:54:18] Speaker F: Because he approached me with it and I thought it was a good site. But it was, you know, to him it was, you know, I mean, I don't know if I was beyond the scope, but I really was, you know, wanted to help the inner city community because employment, I mean, and you could produce so many stuff that you got heritage trail and connect the toys and [00:54:44] Speaker A: walk in bread and yell. [00:54:48] Speaker F: So it's an excellent idea and you know, I'm willing to help you, buddy. [00:54:52] Speaker A: I know, I know. I'm coming to you very shortly. I'm telling you now, I ain't long now we done working together, but now I'm getting financially set on some dance and one more month and me gonna be doing some things. Yes. [00:55:03] Speaker F: So whenever you're ready to develop. Because we see when you develop this. [00:55:09] Speaker A: Yes, sir. [00:55:09] Speaker F: It got to be a 20 year plan. It can't be no two or three year plugin. [00:55:15] Speaker A: No, no, no, no. [00:55:15] Speaker F: And it got to be done in processes and stages, you see? [00:55:18] Speaker A: Yes. Let me ask you, Mr. Jonquist, do you believe this is. Do you believe this is. Do you believe this is a good idea for us to really benefit on tourism? Let's strategize and let's build some let's like so when. [00:55:30] Speaker F: So you and I could always in the new year, whatever. Sit down and give up a team. [00:55:36] Speaker A: Yes, sir. [00:55:37] Speaker F: I said so we can have everybody to talk to the mp, talk to the government and then. And private and public stakeholders. And we can have public and private sector partnership takes too. [00:55:52] Speaker A: Yes, yes. That's very important right now. [00:55:54] Speaker F: Yeah. I'm building health. So you have the numbers and everything. So you can just contact me and then we can sit down and man, you know, it's. And you know, I knew I talk about your restaurant and things almost finished one month that you can tie in all type of different food. Jamaican food, Cuban food, every. Because, you know, a lot of tourists have different nationalities. [00:56:14] Speaker A: Yes. [00:56:15] Speaker F: So you could track them with food and music. [00:56:18] Speaker A: Yes. [00:56:19] Speaker F: Bands playing in the road too, you know. [00:56:21] Speaker A: Yes, yes. We could do so much. So much we can do. You got to be fair. [00:56:25] Speaker F: So take care of yourself, buddy. And then, you know, you know, I'm here, you know, I had help, you know, and you know, you and I go, mom. [00:56:33] Speaker A: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Tarancress. And see, like I say, you know, great minds thinking like, that's Mark Twaincrest. He has been doing a small business development plan for many years. He's helped hundreds and thousands of in the country help them in that business plan, help them get their business license. And he's still doing it and he's still willing to help. But like I tell people, we have 12 million visitors visiting our show as an accomplishment, but that is not reaching thousands of people. Are there American money in Bientown? Are there American money in Grandstand? Are there American money in Mason edition? Nope. The only American money we get is the horse and carriage from the taxi drivers that come over the hill and spend their money in various different business establishment. And that's how we get American money. That's crazy, eh? That's crazy. And yet still we have Junkanoo, right? We have Junkanoo that has so much ways of making money. Okay, you don't believe. So just imagine if you was a Junkanoo guy instead of you pacing all. Yeah, you decide to say, you know what? I got patience, concentrated. Give it a brand, set up my stall and sell them. That means now when the tourists come walking through, they know about John Canoe or you teach them about John Canoe or they know about John Kanu. When they come to the Bahamas, you sell your Junkanoo suits. You know, you can sell your shirt for a little hundred dollars or be cheap or whatever, pay something nice and you get different sizes there. You have kids sizes. You get your hat, you get your jungle hats. And us creative. Now when they come walking through the community and they see that he said, man, this junking room, blah, blah, blah. Then you have a manufacturing plant, huh? Look at my boy Bobby. You know, after one family lose two. Junkan Uber rates. And me came second twice. I told you, I listened to Bobby came in the park last Sunday and he was pissed. And he said, you know what? I ain't tired this chunk Ruby. They cheating all the time. Blah, blah, blah. [00:58:42] Speaker F: This. [00:58:42] Speaker A: He said, man, why using my talent like that no more? So he come up with his own plan. So he said, you know what? I don't care. I patient for anybody. So this young gentleman, he. That's the brother of Stephen, you know, Stephan has passed away. He was the young gentleman who lost his life. He's actually in my family. He actually lost his life. Accident in Florida where a guy was running, evading police and slammed in this car. He was pronounced dead. He was buried about a week ago. That's Papi's brother, you know, and very nice. But two of them, Arnie Winstefford, he ran into airbrush business, one of the first airbrush guys in the country. And he. He didn't have to work for nobody. But those two guys used their Junkanu skills, okay? And they became thousandaires, you know, and very successful. Now Bobby is a creative arts guy for all the Junkanoo groups and people from around Junkanoo groups, whether it's Saxon roots or hotels and stuff like that are having events and they need like a off the show or they need a costume. They go to Bobby because he has made himself a manufacturer, a company, and bappy make thousands of dollars off junk. And people from around the world comes. There's junk roo shark, and they just look around and tourist comes there on a regular basis. And that's right through Taylor Street. That's two corners away from Lewis Creek. So you can't tell me this can't work. Barber's does it, you know. So if you use the Junkanoo shacks, for instance, for people to come in, tourists, taxi drivers bring them. They look at the jungle Shack, see what's happening in Jungle. Shang might get charged $2 and stuff like that. Give the taxi drivers $2 or, you know, something. I don't know, just for bringing them, you got to get the taxi driver something. Just like if you want a restaurant in the community and you tell the taxi drivers, look here, bring some tourists Here, you know, and I'd give you incentive. So if you bring like two tourists, you know, you say, I give you only $10, you know, because they bring two tourists and the tourists spent 150. Why can't you give the guy $10, you know, so you encourage him. That's how you. That's how you work together. So taxi drivers just bring in people in different spots in the community. Horse and carriage guys now could be riding to the community and stopping, taking their breaks when they dropping tours off. And still could be walking, still wait on them because they're in the community. We can get back to the will. Tour guides can be up and down from Bay Street, Fort Finn, Castle and stuff. We could create so much. Tall guys, girls could really help. Guys who of jet ski motorbikes and stuff like that. People who would probably want to do a bicycle tour guide or motorcycle tour guide or the motor scooter tour guide through all the community, stop in the local churches and stuff like that. So many things can be created, all right? I worry no crime. Ain't no one stupid enough to borrow no tourists, okay? Tourists is partial to these communities on a regular basis. And ain't no one stupid enough to think but they're gonna rob no tourists. So in your mind. But safety, safety issues. Safety issues for Bahamians. We kill up one another. We don't bother our tourists, okay? In fact, Bahamians scared. They even bother with tourists when they're over the hill. Tourists walk through the community on a regular basis. And we every day, you understand? No one is bothering them. Only unless they after. They're always looking out for them. Ask them, you all okay? You know where you're going, you want directions, okay? And especially my community, which I [01:02:24] Speaker F: program [01:02:25] Speaker A: them to allow the tourists to come in the area on a regular basis. Because I tell them, say one day, if God permit that I live, I'd like to help turn this into a business establishment for you next generation. You know, I rich, I struggling. But day by day, step by step, if I still living. Because, you know, tomorrow's not guaranteed to no man. So you just got to pray and hope that the father allows you to live to see the next day so that you can fulfill, you know, your dreams. My dream is just to fulfill it so that I could be able to help a lot of young people in my community. Because I know with the tourism industry and with small business places like Mark twainquest, I know we can be able to change the directory of how our country goes economic wise, you know, okay, we have one more clip. Let's play the last clip. I think the matter should be handled by the police. [01:03:34] Speaker E: While I can understand there are segments [01:03:38] Speaker A: of the community who are concerned about, [01:03:42] Speaker E: you know, deviant behavior, especially as it [01:03:45] Speaker A: relates to children, I do not encourage the public to take matters into their own hands. [01:03:53] Speaker B: We could do the wrong thing sometimes [01:03:55] Speaker A: for the right reason. We have had instances, and from what I see, saw, you know, that could have gone in a different direction. And so while I support discipline, I support respect. I think it should be proportional and I discourage vigilante justice. [01:04:14] Speaker E: We see what is happening on our streets to our young men, and that [01:04:18] Speaker A: is not a direction I would like [01:04:21] Speaker B: us to go to. [01:04:22] Speaker A: I think. Yeah, that's Minister Mahasarudo. He's a very calm minister of national security. Don't jump on any and everything. Like I said, there was an incident with a young kid who was accompanied by some young boys. They ran a local bar. And there was a video showing where a gentleman who parked his bike outside, and then he went inside. And then the video shows that these young kids, I don't know, they could be anywhere under the age of 10. You know, I think two or three of them had bikes. And then one in particular didn't have no bikes, if I was saying. Right. So as a gentleman ran inside, like this was premeditated. Like, he had this plan. And when the gentleman went inside, as soon as the gentleman went inside, he jumped on the bike and he pedaled off. And, you know, that's just the first footage. So many people were saying, wow, a little guy like that, you know, and how he did it, it was orchestrated. You know, he wait for the gentleman to come. He's waiting for somebody to come buy us a bike. His intention was to steal because he wanted to. He wanted to be with his friends who had bikes as well. But we never knew. We would never know if they themselves went someplace else and stole a bike. Just like how they stole a bike from that particular gentleman. And the sad part about it is there's two sides or three sides to the story. Some people are very dangerous. You don't know if the gentleman who went in that store, what type of mood he was in, you know. Cause he could have had a really bad day and seeing his bygone, he could have completely reacted in a different manner. Because the first thing when he comes outside, he says, hey, hey. He can look around, he can see people standing outside. Hey. And he might know some people around. And he'll say, man, he wants you Move my bike, right? And then, you know, I'd go, someone say, man, that same little boy man. And they say, who little boy? And I'd say, right around the corner, you know, facing him, I go mess him up, you know, and then I could go look for him and then catch him and mess him up. Second part about it is that the little boy has a mother, has a father, okay? And then just saved this guy to catch this little guy, which he did. I. I assume it, you know, put his hand on him, right? Because the guy stole his bike. The guy stole his bike. But then he could really take it a level where he's so frustrated, you know, never know what was going on in his life, you know, how his day was going on. You know, he might have guessed rock the little boy, right? Which in he is in the right. But he also. First thing you're supposed to do is go report the man. Say go report this man to the police. But you think a big grown man is gonna go to the police because someone steal his bike from in front of the bar? You know, Not. Not so. Not so. Not so. Not so. We gotta find a way to deal with it. Either we can let the bike go or we're gonna look for the poison. We get the bike, and if we don't find the boys when we get the bike, then so be it. And if we find the poison to get the bike, you know, it's going to be a problem. But, you know, that might be the sensible thing to do. Go to the police station. It's the right thing to do. But the time and the pettiness of the motto. Even though he ain't a petty motto, most people would not even think about going to the police. All they say, let me go look for this bike, you know, and then you catch this little guy and you hit him. And then his mom or father come down and they say, why you hit my child? You know, and you trying to explain to the man, the guy, but why you don't come come to me? You could have come to me and blah, blah, you know, so we could have gone that way like. So I understand exactly what Miles the road is saying. He is not right for what he is saying, you know, and then let me give you the next, next scenario. I mean, the second video. But I got stolen the first video. Second video they show, well, I don't know who it was who ended up catching up with the young kid. They heist him up in front of Koake and, you know, they humiliate Him. And then, you know, he peed up himself, you know, so peeing up himself, you know, that means his mom was not there, his father's not there. They probably catch him around the corner because like I tell you, he's on the camera. People know one another, people know who your mother, daughter is. So they tracked a guy, went and tracked him down and brought him right back to the same sticker spot where he stole the bike. And then I don't think he put his hand on him, but he just was teaching me the lesson. Now there's many different comments. People saying, man, you know, you should not do it. You should do it. So he tie up a little boy there. Little boy pee up yourself. You know, that is a preventative measure. But also it could be, again, you didn't go into the mother, you didn't go into the father again, at that particular moment, that person was not really thinking about the mother or father. All that poison thinking about is how they're going to get the bike and how they're going to punish him. So they're not going to put their hands on him, but they say just where he steal it. They're going to embarrass him and put him over there. So they've kind of forgot about the mother, you understand? And then in the next video, probably the mother said the video, you know, come talking. And then she responded, she said, you know, there's ways to punish a kid, you know, so she's a mother, she will defend her kid even though her kid is wrong. But she did not defend her kid. She said that he was wrong for stealing, but there's other ways to punish him. So as a mother seeing a kid up there, or as a father seeing the kid up there, you know, things could have gone bad. And then when you really find out that the kid steal the bike. So Emmerdale, in between sensible conversation came about. So I think that was one of the reason the person went and bought a bike for the kid. I don't think they were rewarding him for stealing the bike. I think what happened is, man, they understand the mother, Satan, that's my son. And you could have come and talk to me. And then there's a right way of doing things. So even though everything was meant for, I mean, in my observation, was meant for it to be a good gesture, there were mistakes made and it was corrected. And I think when we saw the bike, there were many people saying, man, you can't reward a personal steel. And I agree with you guys fully. I Think what happened in between is that the guys felt, you know, that the kid learned his lesson and he wanted a bike just like any other kid. And they felt that, you know, they were wrong. They supposed to first contact the mother before they even apprehend the kid and put him up on the barbed wire and he peed up himself. And they kind of felt bad with that as well, because we as behemoth, too, were no doubt just a little body. And he's wrong. But it's our culture. We have to change the mindset of that. Imagine that kid, you know, already know how to strategize and to wait on somebody to put on a bike. And then when you turn your back, he runs and gets the bike. But the thing this kid didn't understand is that you don't know who you're messing with. You don't know if that person. How bad the day is going. Even though you're a kid. Some people lash out, you know, because they're mad. And right now, a lot of people are going through mental health issues in the country, and they'll take their. They take their stress on that child. So it's very dangerous as well. So, you know, I'm glad it was resolved and I hope that, you know, we find. Educate our kids. See, that's what I'm. That's why I'm saying you could see the drift of how our nation is going when you see simple stuff like that. Take a grown man's bag and steal a grown man's bag. You never know what he could tell him to be. Now, mind you, now, the lesson they put on him, he ain't gonna do it no more. Trust me, he ain't gonna do it no more. Because in his mind, right, in his mind, he saw what happens when you do wrong. So he's gonna resist that. So that's a good lesson for him. But I'm glad it worked. I understand the mother's point of view. I understand the guy who stolen. And if he was the one who hooked him up on the fence, he himself felt that when he saw the little guy pee of himself. And then probably when the mother. Again I repeat it, probably when the mother come and start to talk to him, you know, she was frustrated. And then when she really found out the story, like her son stole his bike. And then, you know, he said, I put my hand on him. I just ice him up. Yeah, I know who he was. And stuff like that. And then, you know, she'd say, But I said, mom, you know, you could come to me and blah, blah, blah, you know, and yes, he's wrong. Then, you know, everyone had a conversation and then they come to agreement. My boy might say, man, you know, I feel kind of bad, you know, we didn't punish him, you know, I think he learned his lesson and now they bought him a bike. I don't think they bought him a bike as a reward. I think they bought him a bike, you know, because they felt it was the right thing to do, you know. So altogether, it takes a village to raise a child. And I hope that as we socialize more, as we have community meetings, we could come up with alternative solutions for small stuff like this. How we could solve problems like that. When a kid steals, how the community going to respond? Not willing justice. Let's call the mother. Let's find who the mother is. Let's see if the mother willing to listen. Because we still have people when their children are wrong, they don't want to listen to nobody. They find, they say the children right, you know, and make the situation worse. So even though you want to talk to an individual, they so stuck in their ways that there ain't nothing. Even though they child wrong, there ain't nothing. They just can't on bar just to make a point. So, you know, it's very difficult. So that's why we have to invest more in our community, so that we can change the mindset of, of our citizens, our citizens in this country. Let me tell you reason why. There was an incident by I think a particular school where we had a mother and her two daughters actually involved with a physical altercation with a police officer. The mother started the fight and the two daughters then jump in to fight the police officer. Seriousness of the charge, the lack of no respect for the law. Seeing red and white means the officer, female officer, wearing red and black and white. And that is a red sign. Putting your hand on a police officer is like six months to a year in prison. And I think it's like over anywhere between $5,000 fine or $10,000 fine you could get for putting your hands on a police uniform. So automatically it's automatic jail time putting your hand on a police officer, okay? And if you have children willing to do that and it shows you, [01:15:35] Speaker F: we [01:15:35] Speaker A: have to teach our kids integrity, honesty, you know, because we are headed for a rocky, rocky road in this country, you know, because when you see young people, you know, that's young people. That's a little boy. Then we have those girls. Then other scenes where we see Iran at Other schools. So all this is an indication of the directory of where our country is headed. We have to be able to change the mindset of the generation of kids coming up in our country. There's no way in the world we're going to be able to reduce our murder count in this country to keep it under 100, to see if we can do what Jamaica is doing. Jamaican President Andrew Holiness has programs in place where he has reduced the murder rate in Jamaica. [01:16:31] Speaker F: He, [01:16:34] Speaker A: I think Jamaica is averaging close to about 16, 1700 murders per year this last three years. 600 murders, I think, per year or something like that. And he's looking for 100,000 people. He said Powell county, it was 50 murders, he said. Now he has reduced that to about 15%, 5%. So you can imagine you make an average of like 16, 17 murders every year, close to 2,000. Their share alone, they'll reduce it to 600. That means that that prime minister is focusing on what needs to be focused on in this country and that's infrastructure. That's a tourism product that Ms. Turner Jones talked about. If we could get that development and inner city community in Bay street where we get our overnight guests and those 12 million visitors to spend in the hands of regular Bahamians over the hill and downtown, it would create an economy that would be sustainable. It would reduce unemployment tremendously in this country. And a lot of people will be self sufficient and solve a lot of their problems in their homes and in their community. Because now, like again, economy is there. We have a board we work in with the mp. We have a board of business poisons. We could fix some things, you know, with government assistance or without government assistance, we could make some things happen in our community. And we need to build stronger communities. And I think that's what we need to focus on. So again, I'd like to thank Ms. Turner Jones. She gave a good explanation on why Bahamians are not benefiting from the tourism industry in the country. And again, [01:18:41] Speaker E: I, [01:18:44] Speaker A: I personally know that the tourism ministry, if we were to be creative about the tourism ministry [01:18:58] Speaker F: and [01:18:58] Speaker A: how it could affect the human lives, it would transform our lives. And the fact of the matter is, I believe our government don't know how to. Okay, watch this. Let me show you something. It takes a visionary. If I wanted the tourists to come in my community right now, besides me having my little green spot means my business establishment. First thing I do, the parks, local parks, at least have at least 10 or 5 stalls on it with 5 set of people from the community. And then some few other small stalls around where we be open from anywhere from seven to five o'clock in the day. The local parks in that community. And then specific persons who go through the besieger part of the community or you don't want to be part of the community, you just need a spot. And if it's accessible and available, you could get it. And it has to be transparent. It has to be where everyone gets treats equally. There's no biasness in it. And then, you know, you build some spots on the back, some little small stalls. That's the first step. And allow the taxi drivers just to stop some souvenirs, some food until 5 o'. [01:20:09] Speaker F: Clock. [01:20:10] Speaker A: I just one incident. I see the park here on top of Bayantan that is empty. I look at it, it's bathroom. I see, wow. I see people don't know what they have here. I said this right here, I'll turn this in a mini fish fry. And I'd get like 20 residents from the community to come and set up their stores on a regular basis. And the park is essential. And then it has a spot where you could do karaoke and baming music. So you could get Bahian singers to come down there. Business owners who they have these stalls they could collect revenue from, they're making for the tourists now. They could pay these singers to come and do their pacific songs on a regular basis. Local b aiming singers. And you could create your own tourism park. When I look, when I look around in the inner city community, I see things that can be transformed into something great. But imp is them. They have no clue. Our governments don't have no vision on how they can empower the people or how to create stop shops meant for tourists to come and stop and spend. I see it, I can look at the box. That'd be one of the first things I do. Quite a few stalls there, A lot of people tax drivers, stop there, help establish small businesses throughout the regular communities. Soy yards, they're little stores, you know, Some could be cosmetology, some could be fingernail stores. You put those particular stores because tourists want to get dollop. They want to get their tool polish, you know. And if you could grade these spaces in the community and they want a map and the taxi drivers can stop each one, each one of these spots means they have these spots marked down. And the taxi drivers love that because they say, okay, we're going, okay. He has a bar, okay, across the road there. That's the guy, he sells Coke and water, gin et Cetera down the road there they do cosmetology, you know, they do Brady up the road here they do music, you know, like breaking scrape. Up here has a little donut spot that sells donut and coffee. You know, tourist has a lot of sport. You have the church here, we have the junk food shot that you could go visit. So all these is tourist attraction. So the taxi driver have so many different spots to stop to. And then we have the tour guides who would be established to carry tourists from one spot to the next either by bicycle, by walking or by scooter or by taxi. It does not matter. All that's creating the economy. It's that simple. Okay, it is that simple. It ain't no big deal to get the tourists to come on the hill. You know, our government is just lying to it, you know. But this lady, this lady Turner Jones, she see the vision just like how I see the vision and the vision out. If we want to stop unemployment in this country and reduce unemployment in this country is the fact that we're going to develop the inner city community with creative ideas on how we can get those 12 million visitors to start to spend American dollars in their credit cards in the community. And last the day people in grandstand have American money. That's the people in Mason edition have American money. And last the people in the brink of being than for a child that has American money. The tourism industry is not benefiting the Bahamian people. All those numbers are just for business establishment downtown and for those who work downtown and those business establishment. For the rest of us, it's not really benefiting us. Like Ms. Turner Jones states, You know, and I know it. So we want to see the Fort Fort Fort Charlotte, the Fort Hill. I can remember when we talk about idea Rachel on the show, Donnie Johnson was the minister of youth sports and culture. I'm one of the reasons now they have all those names by the sports center. Me and Nate, when me and Nate, my good friend Nate used to come on the show, he still does, but he hasn't been on but the two within a few years. But when we talked about putting the names of athletes on the sports center, they eventually did that. We talked about developing Fort Charlotte. Danny Johnson, when he was the minister of youth sports and country, he bring me a book and he said, this is your idea. He said, this is your neat idea. You all talk about the names getting put on the sports center. And that's how the sports center get all those athletes name Rick Fox and Sampathy and the Fangs and there before exhibition because we said it, Rachel. And then we talked about development the Fort Fincastle. Danny Johnson, he developed Fortune Castle stalls. At that particular time, Fortune Castle was making close to $1.2 million off the stalls and tour guide on the Fortland Castle. So you can't tell me it can't wait. You know, if we grade a little small scripts like how we get to fort for one little yard or one little script, some stalls souvenirs in each part of the community where it is maintained by the community with the local law enforcement officers in partnership with the community walking along with the community patrolling the areas where the tours are. We have the cameras just for safety precautions. We know all of the people who live in that community. We report many illegal activities because we definitely know what happened to the tourists. We can make this way. That's the caller. So we're completely out of time. I hope you enjoy the show. And again, I want to give a special thanks to my good friends, Deputy Commissioner Oblis Anthony Ferguson. We did a lot of work. See people who know Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ferguson. We did a lot of work at urban rule about 15 years ago. Him and Mr. Stephen Dean, retired police Superintendent of Police Stephen Dean or esp. We did a lot of work to get our deputy commissioner anti rule. I want to give a shout out again to Assistant Commissioner of Police Ms. Janet McKenzie. And I want to give a special shout out to to my good friend, I think, Ms. Brims. Yes, Kendra Rims. She is one who's leading along with Ms. Kinsey the domestic violence of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. You know, there are departments in the Royal Bahamas Police Force that are doing an excellent job. You know me, I talk about the corruption and we need to fix it. But there are many good police officers doing a very, very good job in this country. Programs especially this is one of the most powerful and it's one that we should pay the most attention to because I think that domestic violence and child abuse should not be excluded from one. So again, I want to give a shout out to the domestic violence unit, standalone unit of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Ms. Janet McKenzie, Ms. Kendra Wims. Ms. Deputy Deputy Commissioner of Police Anthony Rolle, the Royal Bahamas Police Force band, the immigration department and the customs department and all of the persons who attended. Okay, one more person. I want to give a shout out. Pastor Leonardo Allen and Ms. Sherman T. Adley, I think. Yes. Okay. And I hope you enjoy the show. I'll see you next week on Inside Innocent Players. Drive safe. The life you save could be a very own. I'm Valentino Braun, AKA Scoot your Scrooge, host of the talk show Inside Inner City that will mass every Friday at 6:38pm we talk about programs and initiatives that can help shape and better our country and I hope you enjoy the show and I'll see you next week with a God spare life. Good night everybody. [01:28:50] Speaker B: Right between west and Augusta where them two roads meet there's calling Wilkerson street manners and respect was like a sign blind check it seems the ones that come in after quick to disrespect you see this life in the ghetto never easy so many hungry days break tell him grievy way I doing the best I can Trying to turn my dollar to 100 rack.