AN ARMED 21-YEAR-OLD attempted to make his way onto the compound of the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Courts, a schoolgirl was the victim of a hit-and-run, and police did a walk-through of Brittons Hill.
A fire affected three homes in Eagle Hall, vendors continued to battle police for space to sell in The City, and several people collapsed and died.
But the rapid build-up of sand at the Careenage, which has resulted in the formation of a beach in Bridgetown, was one of the main events which captured the attention of readers over the past week.
Here are their views on the phenomenon.
Kammie Holder: A blessing from nature. Unfortunately we are so damn negative-brained we don’t ever look to see how we can work or exploit what is seen as negative. The remedy is simply pouring water in a bottomless bucket – dredge and re-channelise the Careenage as a precursor to bringing life back into Bridgetown and the Pierhead Project.
Brimstone: What ever happened to the Bridgetown Development Plan covering this same area inclusive of the car park to the fish market, which should have included our heliport?
Deva-Alexandra DeBeauvois: We’re on an island surrounded by water; beaches are a natural phenomenon. Who’s to say that there wasn’t a beach there 200 years ago? A lot of the City was filled in, the Deep Water Harbour and Spring Garden. Nature has a way of reclaiming what’s hers.
Dora Parris: Better stop messing with nature. Where will the Barbadians run to? In the hills. What hills? Remember the tsunami. Leave well enough alone. And build decent sidewalks, and ramps for wheelchairs. There are enough beautiful beaches in Barbados.
Bruce Mackie: This sand exists because of coastal planning toying with the rest of the coastlines by putting down groynes and breakwaters which change the flow and subsequently the deposits of sand. The question we need to ask is: which beach is now losing this sand as it creates a new one?
David Ross: Dredging that area is as old as the Jolly Roger. It just wasn’t done as required in recent years. I guess you can tell workers hold strain but not nature.
Deigo Martínez: If the entrance closes, the water in the Careenage and lower Constitution River will stagnate and breed mosquitoes. Also the water will rise in the lower course of the river, leaving Bridgetown more vulnerable to flooding.
Kani Buss: Move sand from one place, it will find somewhere else to settle.
Wayne R. Pilgrim-Cadogan: If they continue messing with the landscape, soon we will have beaches where they are not supposed to be and no beaches where there are supposed to be.
Ziggy Blessed: Please find out what is causing it. I am sure we got marine biologists and geologists working for Government.
• Sherrylyn Toppin is THE NATION’s Online Editor.
