Press Statement
Progressive Liberal Party
PLP Expresses support for the Urban Renewal Commission
13th July 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Progressive Liberal Party congratulates the government on and unreservedly support the recent creation of the Urban Renewal2.0 Commission. We believe this policy making body is a truly nationalcommission because it encompasses broad representation from civil society thatwill ensure the relevance of its policy formations in this all important fightagainst the scourge of crime.
The commission provides the necessary structure to facilitate the proper function of the program and to insulate it from politicalinterference, a charge that has dogged the program in the past. The PrimeMinister reiterated his commitment to the program’s independence when he said: “So I am going to demonstrate my commitment to the programme by creating it butstepping back.” We in the PLP applaud this approach.
The Prime Minister was also determined to ensure thatthe face of the community was represented by Urban Renewal 2.0 when he said “wereally wanted to demonstrate that if we could find someone who has been exposedto public life, who has had the experience of dealing with the inner city, whohas had the experience of dealing with the young people and who has apersonality capable of adaptation, being able to adjust to circumstances thatare changing,” then the program would have achieved that objective.
Cynthia “Mother” Pratt and Algernon Allen met those lofty criteria and the PLP fully endorses their leadership appointments.
We concur with the Prime Minister that Urban Renewal 2.0cannot be relevant and therefore cannot succeed if it is administered with atext book approach. The education and knowledge that the police officers acquirecannot be gained through any class room, college or university, but through their daily experiences in the communities they serve. These experiences must be accurately reflected in the public policies that govern Urban Renewal.
According to Prime Minister Christie, if “thestrategies, the policies, do not embrace knowledge of what is happening, andtherefore if you do not have public policy being informed properly andaccurately, it is not relevant to what is happening. So we have to become relevant.”
The PLP believes that the Prime Minister has taken thecorrect structural, functional and philosophical approach to Urban Renewal 2.0and we are confident that with the full partnership of the community, thepolice and the broader civil society, The Bahamas will succeed in breaking theback of this insidious twin called the scourge of crime and social decay.