fp Turks and Caicos

We all have come to understand a little better the importance of continued sustainable growth here. The abrupt turnaround in our islands has hit us all.

It is not over yet, and we must try to hold on until things ease up. How can we help encourage this comeback?

The first thing to realize is that Providenciales and the islands have something many people want, and if we can share that successfully, then we will bring prosperity back. All of us here in the islands need to do our part to make this happen.

What do we have that people want? It is not one thing but in fact a basket of blessings we have to offer. Different strokes for different folks, they say. We have location, the weather, the beaches and the ocean as our main attractions. We also have a lifestyle that suits many people.

We have a hospitable population that sees the value in foreign investors. We have beautiful resorts, shops and restaurants. We have reasonable infrastructure with airport, roads and hospital. We have easy access to the world with Miami just 75 minutes away and flights to many destinations. The list goes on!

So we have the tools. Now let’s work together to show the world what we offer.

The tourist is our key to success. The tourist must be kept safe and spoiled rotten! We all must make that little extra effort to make every tourist see that we care.

Immigration and Customs are the front line, and they are helping to get us off to a good start at the airport. The taxi drivers, the check-in staff and everyone down the line are our ambassadors, and our future is in their hands. The happy tourist will spread the word and eventually may become the next investor.

Sustainable growth means growth that feeds on what we have without exhausting the source. It will mean spreading development around the islands and working with our own island workforce first. It requires good development with limits on density and heights. It means diversifying our marketing to new countries and widening our client base.

It involves good long-term planning, spreading out development for years to come to provide jobs as required for our young people, even those just entering school. It should mean limits on such things as the size of airport in Provo — spreading the impact to the North Caicos airport for places like East Caicos or Joe Grant or Middle when they develop. We still need entrepreneurs with visions, and we need the guidelines to direct them to where they need to be.

We need a society here that can support itself with a diversified economy. That comes from an upscale level of services to attract the “big spenders” that will keep us going.

Our people need to be well-educated and good performers to take back the jobs here. We basically had most of this going for us at one time not long ago, and we can have it back. It will take time, and fine tuning will help to make sure it works better this time around.

The Turks and Caicos Islands are no longer the place where time stood still! We jumped onto the world economic stage several years ago. We cannot continue to do things the old way, and the old way did not work very well anyway.

We need to update our politics, our police, our attitude towards the environment and take things here seriously. We are not all going to make a million dollars and move to Florida. This is our home, so let’s clean it up!

• The future is a clean environment with clean streets and beaches.
• Stop littering and be proud of our country — our home.
• Good government for all of us — not just for some — for a strong future.
• Smile and welcome visitors.
• Stop crime by not accepting any crime in our society. Even speeding is a crime, and small acts of crime grow out of control quickly. Empower the police!
• Everyone needs to be price conscious — do not overcharge, and do your part to reduce the cost of living here.
• Buy local goods and services — keep our money at home!
• Investment and growth need a welcoming and stable foundation on which to build our future. Let’s encourage new incentives to welcome investors and retiring persons to come and live here

So it is imperative that we make our homeland an even better homeland, for our future is in new settlement and tourism. We want jobs, and we want our families to live here with us, and we want and deserve a nice place to live.

We are a small nation, and we do not need several massive developments at the same time — instead just enough to provide the employment and “taxes” to support us all. We must always protect the quality of life here and “level off” before the negative impact of over-development sometime in the future. Let’s all do our part!

Jim Brown has lived in Providenciales and worked in real estate in most of the Turks and Caicos Islands for 36 years. Contact Jim at the ERA Coralie Real Estate office, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 231-0587.