Flipping Grand Bahama

After reading the "Bend or Break" Speech I have had two responses that made me really wonder. The first said that Mr. Pindling was wrong to give such a speech.  "But that is not what destroyed Freeport. The Hawksbill Creek Agreement is the finest development agreement every written, in my view. However, after Wallace Groves, a lack of imagination and skills, together with a relatively low bar of the concept of "success" the owners of the Port concession set about milking the local population.  "If the Hawksbill Creek Agreement was being run right, Freeporters would pay nothing for Business License Fees; the profits from utilities would have been used to promote Freeport. Look at what Andrew Young Jr. did for Atlanta, that what Freeport lost with the aid of both political parties!" Very interesting concept, especially considering that to this day the Grand Bahama Port Authority says the stagnation of Freeport came because of the speech. Anothe...

After the "Bend or Break" Speech Following the famous or infamous "Bend or Break" speech by the then Premier and later first Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Sir Lynden O Pindling, there was a lot of movement in Grand Bahama and Freeport in particular. It is said that the Sir Lynden knocked down the gates the bounded Freeport from the East and the West allowing "dark" Bahamians to travel in and out of Freeport not only during the day time, but also during the evening. A number foreign investors then decided to leave the island and the country. Some without closing businesses or selling. What was left was the hope of a flourishing Freeport continuing at a sluggard pace. This pace through the years seemed to have dropped off but the "hope" of the Magic City, still persisted. In the 1980's there are a number of persons who are still very, very hopeful and even came up with papers on how we can better this island and the economy here. ...

I have been checking on this last post to see what response I got because it was such an important speech. It was "the" speech that is said to have decided the fate of the island and the country. What I have discovered is the root of the evil that plagues our land ... politics! After re-posting and re-posting this blog I found that the only remarks made came from persons who were of the Progressive Liberal Party and that anyone of any other persuasion I suppose did not want to read, agree, make comments because they would fear how they would be perceived. I have spoken to persons who said that they felt Sir Lynden Pindling was only looking out for the people of The Bahamas at the time this statement was made. It was further said that he began with good intentions and this was most appreciated as they then went into the "bad" of his later years. I say the "evil" that plagues our land because the negativity of the people to me is THE mean cause of Fr...

Flipping Grand Bahama: "Bend or Break speech" : "Bend or Break speech" On July 26, 1969, Sir Lynden O. Pinding, then Premier of The Bahamas, delivered this speech duri...

"Bend or Break speech" On July 26, 1969, Sir Lynden O. Pinding, then Premier of The Bahamas, delivered this speech during an inspection tour at the official opening ceremony for the new Bahamas Oil Refinery Company (BORCO). This speech in history has been called the "Bend or Break Speech" and has long be said by officials in Grand Bahama to be the reason the lights went out at the "Magical Fair" that was the spark called Freeport. Here is the entire speech: “I am certainly delighted to be here this morning because what I see beginning on this site is not only the erection of an oil refinery but also the real true birth of a petro-chemical industry in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas Islands. I am delighted to be here because, if the industry develops as the proprietors hope it will be and I hope it will, not only will The Bahamas be able to meet from within its shores its own presently small needs of kerosene, gasoline, diesel and oth...

The Magic City This was the name of Freeport, the economic capital of Grand Bahama (the capital is really West End.) This is a photo (complements of OldBahamas.com) showing the historical moments when 250 acres of pine barren was leased for 99 to begin a planned city headed by Wallace Groves and Sir Charles Hayward. From here on for about 20 years there was an unprecedented growth - a huge boom on this island. One of the missions was the construction of a deep water harbour which since then has expanded on several occasions. Of couse that also meant that they had to build homes and hotels in this area. The water supply to this island was/is more than capable of supplying over 50000 people and the Grand Bahama Port Authority (the company named to carry out this agreement) tried all they could to bring in just that amount. This agreement was signed in 1955 with amendments made throughout the years. The magic was seen and felt in the construction of many hotels and most f...

So... this is my island. An island in the sun. A place where I (think) belong. After spending eleven years away from it it has always been my dream to make it better ... in aspects. I was thinking while taking my morning walk about what have I done in the past three years to try to do any of that and even to ask.... if I want to make it better, what do I think is first of all wrong with it? To answer that, first I need to place everything. Grand Bahama Island is the northern most island in The Bahamas archipelago and features something none of the other islands have, and that is a company regulated section of the island which is known as Freeport/Lucaya. As with the other islands there are many settlements, but Freeport/Lucaya sits as the mean hub of the island and was created by an agreement, called the Hawksbill Creek Agreement back in 1955. This agreement has a life span of 99 years and will be done away with in 2050. On this particular topic we will go into details in u...