Fighting Gentrification in Jamaica

nowhere in Jamaica as the average person the public has so much free access to this famous beautiful negrel beach especially my fellow Jamaicans who are living abroad I would encourage them to come and secure a little spots the land in the gril is getting expensive because the land never grow the demand grow real estate is the first step to Prosperity I know the importance of young people owning a people a real estate we've also seen this happen in other parts of the world with gentrification is there something we can do now before that waves hits to think about the average Jamaican and advise the average Jamaican at this point in [Music] time hello droppers and welcome back to another sit down with drop and if this is your first time visiting a special welcome to you my name is Win Wellington and here on my channel I help you move to and invest in Jamaica and today we have a special one I had the opportunity to visit a fellow family owning operated Hotel here in N Grill charella Inn and I sat down with the owner and founder Mr Daniel Grizzle Mr Grizzle is a wealth of knowledge and information he is one of the founding members of the Nill Chamber of Commerce a private sector organization that I don't know where Negril would be without Mr Grizzle is an environmentalist always putting the Grill's precious ecosystem and Forefront of development and any discussions that we have about the grill consider Mr Grizzle to be a mentor of mine and I'm delighted to share a conversation that we perhaps have if we were to break bread together or if I were to pop into his office one day and I feel very honored to be sharing this with you and that the fact that he was ready to do so and this is the second time we're actually sitting down and having a conversation on my channel if you're looking for a great hotel to stay on this beautiful 7M W sand beach of NR definitely consider charella in and if you live in Nill you probably already know that charella in is the place to go for Sunday morning breakfast is and if you haven't a pop by on a Sunday morning you perhaps will see uh myself and my family enjoying a great breakfast there and of course if you get any value out of the video today please hit that like button it definitely helps out a lot and if you're not subscribed please consider doing so so you don't miss out on great content like this in the future further delay please enjoy my wide reading conversation with Mr Daniel [Music] Grizz in regards to Negril and kind of where we are I've been getting in the last I would say two to three months and it started in the beginning of this year just so many more inquiries about people shifting their uh what would I say their consideration of investing in other parts of Jamaica either moving there or buying homes and their their thoughts and inquiries have now shifted to Negril and there seems to be this great understanding that Negril is up next so to speak yes and uh my question is is do you do you have the same sentiments do you feel that way now and what do you think about that I do feel that way and I'm happy about it because it's something that I really was pushing and hopeing for and for several reason there are some things we take for granted and don't really appreciate nowhere in Jamaica has the average person the public had so much free access to this famous beautiful niggr beach as you have in the gril you know during the 80s we when I says we talking through the chamber I was then the president of the chamber we had this really you know long battle struggle with the then chairman of the UDC famous Mr Vin lence to secure space along the the beach for the public because because we knew that this um community of Negril would have grown and we also feel strongly while we have our private property we also feel strongly that the citizens of Jamaica should have access to this beautiful beach because I remember myself as a child we used to come here for Easter and August holiday and I think we should always ensure that our people have access to our beach if you measure from where Cosmo's Restaurant was all the way up to ail it's all for the public that's nearly 1 kilometers of open beach for the public free access we managed to establish two bathroom on that stretch one down the side and one all the way up where Island Lo hotel we managed to get money from TP Deo to put that bathroom in it's important that our people still have free access to our beach yes when you says free free the bathrooms cannot be 100% free because they have to be maintained they have to be clean but it's there for people where for a small fee can access these bathroom it's important and I feel good to know that we have in a way achieved that and as for people coming to develop in nigil it's natural because nigil is a place where people people mix easily because of the physical layout of the beach if you have a little Villa up in the West End you can come and walk this beach you meet everybody local foreigners Rich poor we are all there's no segregation in this community we are really truly one and also you have such be beautiful properties on the west end with that beautiful sunset so naturally people especially people who are coming up to their retirement age to live in this environment to be in this area there is nowhere better and another important thing about people who come and live in these Villas and houses around here it's money being directly going directly to the people not through a government but it goes directly and the government benefits because they spend the money and everything carries GCT so it's a wonderful place for everyone and I'm so happy to see a lot of returning Jamaicans are coming to settle around here because they bring bring something special to the community a richness to our community and I also appreciate a lot of the guests who were in the 70s Young And Hip they are now mature retired business executive they too are coming to settle here at least to be here for six month of the year and I think you know the way Florida developed during the 50s where all the rich people from the north came and create a big boom in Florida I think that's what is happening here I think that what is going to happen and I would encourage especially my fellow Jamaicans who were living abroad in Canada United States in England I would encourage them to come and secure a little spot because land in the gril is getting expensive because the land never grow the demand grow and that means price goes up so it's a golden opportunity for my fellow Jamaicans who are living overseas to come and secure a little piece here in the grill so one of the concerns that I've been getting a lot and maybe not in particular in the grill and it's more of a concern is that the average Jamaican is getting left behind or is going to be left behind because of the rapid development and it's most in particular when I talk about these new I would say maybe luxury condos and apartment buildings that are going up in in Kingston and seemingly moving to the West here in Neil as we hear rumors if you will about new develop vment that are coming and so we've also seen this happen in other parts of the world with gentrification in major cities and the average American or New Yorker from what I'm what I'm referring to gets gets left behind and they are not perhaps privy to such opportunities and my question is is there something you think that we can do from now before this big wave that we're anticipating to happen is there something we can do now before that waves hits to think about the average Jamaican and maybe advise the aage Jamaican at this point in time well one other thing I would like to see more happens because to a degree a certain amount has already taken place for instance you go over to whiteall and you see there are some beautiful Villas there these were acquired by ordinary Jamaican because since Independence we have created two outstanding institution and it so happens strangely one was by the People's National Party president um Prime Minister Michael Manley and the other was by Edward seaga and it's like a signed to us that these two inst institution which is heart for training young people and the nht which is an amazing institution it has allowed Ordinary People to become landlords to become homeh holders and I think we need to encourage our young people who are working and contributing and maybe even though the government has done a lot to make it easier I think there are more can be done I think we're fortunate to have the state owning still lands in and around nigil and we must encourage them to make it available to our young people because real estate is the first step to prosperity when you want to move along your business you go to the bank and the first thing they're asking you for what's your collateral and basically they mean your land title and I would take this opportunity to say I'm saying so because I have have privileged from that fact when I came to Jamaica first it's slightly going off but but I think it's important to say this we purchase farmlands just outside of Negril in Green Island area from the moment we purchased that land until this day I've never held the title in my hands the title is the lawyer office to the bank where we borrowed money and everything and every property we own it was because of that piece of land wow wow right so I know the importance of young people owning a piece of real estate and I think our government our state can even do more to ensure that we own a little piece of this land because if we do not make a greater effort very soon exactly what you just said the genfic will take place you cannot stop it what you can do is make sure more of us be part of it and that as well as our financial institution needs to be a little more lenient to our fellow Jamaicans when they need to borrow money this ridiculous say that you are quick to lend us to buy a motor car but not as quick to lend us to acquire the piece of real estate at an affordable interest rate I really feel strongly about us owning and the more of us who owns you will improve the whole social environment and more people will be be having a more prosperous and a happier life my name is Danielle Grizzle I'm the managing director of charella in which is a familyowned and managed small 59 bedroom hotel situated right in the center of the famous negrel Beach and I would like very much to invite you all to come and experience what life is like here in charella Inn to be part of our extended family several of the rooms are just open overlooking the beautiful Caribbean Sea and you have tall waving coconut trees to welcome you and keep you cool on the beach and you have a warm and interesting staff here ready to keep you comfortable to make you feel at home and to enjoy that you stay happy and [Music] peaceful with all the exciting things coming to neg grill that we hear about um is there something imp particular that you are most looking forward to happening to negr well I tell you the most important thing and what I'm looking forward to happen to n we were promised to have some self-governing not a complete um Parish like Port Moore but to have a a a a town manager we need to take a little bit more of the responsibility and the ability to direct Our Town Negril has got a lot of potential but like all potential like all asset if you do not manage it properly then it becomes a problem so what I'm looking for the minister of um local government promised us to help us to achieve some form of self-government which to have a town manager to someone who we can go to we can p out we can take care of some of the small things not necessarily things to do with tourism as such but things that will affect the life of people living in the area like we need more schools place of Early Education because our business cannot grow if we cannot get educated people to work with us so as business people we have to be more take more an interest play a more active role in providing in quality not just put up a building and call it a school but providing quality education for our young people so that's what I would really like to see we if we deal with those things the others will fall in line much easier and as far as the infrastructure is concerned one of the thing we're pushing forward they have identified the land for it we need a great we need a more modern upto-date seage treatment plant we do not wait until we have outgrown what we have then we are panicky to find one the time has come and when you look and the future and the way the area is developing we will outgrow our CA our present system so it's important for us to start talking about it we have been talking about it we want to see some action there and I think basically the negral community we must realize my vision is politicians does not lead they follow they follow the trend we as the Community member we as the business Community must take a more active role we must be more not just look and what's affecting directly our business but how the community is developing where it's going how it's growing we cannot leave it up to politicians it's our responsibility and speaking of kind of not waiting and also being given these promises of things to happen I want to talk specifically about the fruit and vegetable market the Negril Beach Park and those things have not moved forward in the last few years do we have any timelines on when those things are going to take action we've been promised that it should start within this financial year so we got about five months left okay okay right what happened is we do not want just a little space and a few little thing we want a mad Park we want nothing less than what is in Montega Bay that's right we deserve it the people in neg deserve it and we are pushing for that we as I said they are they're in the design stage but we should see something being done within this financial year so we will be keeping their feet to the Cal with this one it's too long in coming and it's right in our town center and what do you think or how do you how do you feel like having a park of the caliber of uh a Harmony Park in Montego Bay like what do you think the effect that will have on the on the community what the effect it will have you know the way we treat and the kind of life we have exposed to our young people determine the kind of adults we will have and I think by having a park like that where grandparents can go with their grandchild kids can go and play that's where you learn to socialize right that's where you learn to to be part of a community so I think it will have a huge impact and the social behavior and lives of our people we need it and we really it's long overdue our community is growing where does our you know there is this song by um forget the name of the singer where does our children play we we should be playing that song we have nowhere for our children to play and we have that piece of land by the Sea Perfect Situation middle of town but just an empty space is not enough we need and we can afford it it's not that we can't afford it we don't suffer from lack of money we suffer from poor management we suffer from not having the will to get things done money is not our problem so we must stop using not having money as an excuse and we cannot just blame our politician we must take some of the blame because we have allowed them to get away too easily we have to be out there we have to pressure them we just don't want premise promises we want action and thank God these days access to the media is better than it has ever been and we will be using that to get our message and use it to put our pressure on our politician we love them but they must deliver I don't know if you have the answer to this one but I remember with the the shared user path on the other side I understand when it was first being built that it's actually supposed to go all the way up to real what is happening with that do you know what is happening with that it's you change regime and everybody come with their different what is most important for them and we need to get back that on the table and one of the reason why I see how much the little shared area has done for us and there are two things that has saved lives in NR if you remember there was a time where almost every week somebody get killed yes I do one is the rumbling strips and two is the shared Park uh that we have with people can walk without competing with motor vehicle so it's important that we finish it and get it done because of all it has saved lives and life is important absolutely totally agree um is there anything else that you want to share with us or the public well one of thing I would like to share to your listeners is one we have had a little Hospital open and working here in Negril and believe you me it makes us all sleep a little easier it's a great contribution to our community because people will get ill you will have accident and it's nice to know that there is somewhere where you can get at least some emerg emergency treatment that's one big positive to our community and I would like to say thank you to the people who have done done it and let them know we have welcomed them and we also want to give a big shout out to all those people who are thinking of investing in Negril Negril is a great place the community and the Chamber of Commerce welcome you all please contact us if you have any query if we can help the chamber will be more than willing to play AP part

Channel: Throp

Views: 44,323

Keywords: jamaica

Id: AQbfWMNvNuw

Length: 26min 34sec (1594 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 25 2024