TALK BACK: Readers peeved at ‘check’ on parties, limes

Some online readers are concerned that promoters are having challenges obtaining entertainment licences to hold parties and limes across the island during the festival which officially started on Saturday.
The Town Planning Department has already confirmed that some of their applications have been turned down, while some have been approved.
At a meeting last week, promoters called on the department to produce a list of locations which already have licences.
This story has generated much feedback on our website and our Facebook page.
Catherine Rock: “Why wait until so close to the season to decide on these restrictive practices. Surely there were 12 months since the last season to meet with shareholders and discuss these issues and inform them on what the unacceptable venues were. Why not publish a list of approved and unacceptable venues?”
Jennifer Dear: “The average person doesn’t realize the financial spin-off from just one event – the venue owner makes money, drink distributors make money so their staff stay employed, the companies who sell plastic cups, ice companies, security companies, lighting companies, bartenders, food vendors, deejays, VAT, the police. . . . These are all people who get a pay cheque and are able to pay their bills, send their kids to school and so on.”
Olutoye Walrond: “Somebody – or bodies – has obviously decided that there is too much feteing in Barbados and has appointed himself Public Guardian-In-Chief. It’s not difficult to find these kind of people in our post-colonial society. They are all over the place seeking to control every minute detail of our lives. And then we boast about our democratic traditions.”
Kenneth King: “We seem to have these problems each year, when problems of such an important level should be discussed long before. Our country is changing – if it’s for the better, I cannot say – but we have limited venues in our country for events . . . . We cannot block every party on the island, stopping people from earning a living and also making a contribution to our tourism . . . .”
Frank Husbands: “These ‘promoters’ should have been liaising with the National Cultural Foundation and all other relevant authorities to ensure an overall professional approach to the festival and its mosaic of [events]. The people seeking to put on these for-profit fetes remind me of the calypsonians. Only on the approach of June do they make haste to come up with a hurriedly put together package for profit by July each year.”
Summer Rheigs: “No fetes or limes? Is this for real? Why am I coming to Crop Over if there are no fetes or limes? My good Bajan friends, can you all tell me what else there is to do besides stay in the hotel and sleep if all the fun and nightlife is taken away?”