Cleanup on aisle Waterfront Drive
For at least 18 months, the area between the children’s playground at Queen Elizabeth II Park and the apartment building to the east has been overgrown with all manner of forest growth, which has effectively made Waterfront Drive in the McNamara area not very “waterfront.” When cruising past the Sea View Hotel last week, however, a Beaconite noticed that views of the sea have once again been restored. He marked the situation when his eyes were drawn to the nearby marina from the road. Delighted at the recent work done to reduce some of the overgrowth, he gazed at the sailboats floating in the water from his newfound perspective. Hopefully, work on the nearby playground will be complete soon too, allowing the facility to open to the public again for the first time in years.
Cruise ship visit
It was a Beaconite’s first time on a cruise ship when she boarded P&O’s Iona with her colleague on Friday. Though the pair were the first members of a group arriving for a plaque-exchange ceremony, the boarding process took longer than she had expected. After the reporters were asked multiple times for their passenger cruise cards, which they of course didn’t have, security officers finally confirmed that they were indeed cleared to step on board as visitors. So they went through security, handed over their identification cards, and received visitor passes. Then they were left standing near the gangway unsure of where to go. While the reporter had been concerned that they were late to the morning ceremony in an unknown part of the ship, she soon learned that they were in fact early: The rest of the visitors had not yet boarded. That should not have been a surprise, given that events in the Virgin Islands frequently start late. Eventually, everything turned out just fine: Soon enough, the two reporters found themselves with the governor, government ministers and other officials waiting to be directed to the part of the ship where the ceremony was held. They all made it to the event, and many enjoyed a tour of the ship afterwards. Beaconites are glad to see visiting ships taking security so seriously.
Messy, not Messi
When it comes to the government’s own goal over the long-awaited increase in the minimum wage, Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley admitted it was more messy than Lionel Messi. Snatching back the (pretty minimal) minimum wage hike from $6 an hour to $8.50 an hour just three days after it was introduced on Nov. 30 did not exhibit the finest political footwork, a Beaconite would surmise. In a recent interview, Mr. Wheatley acknowledged that the situation was “messy,” but at his first press conference of the new year on Friday, he said he didn’t know if the move had caused trust issues with voters. “You have to tell me if I have trust issues or not,” he said. “I can’t speak as to what’s in other people’s heads.” With the first increase in the wage since 2016 suddenly shelved, Mr. Wheatley knows he’s approaching half time — mid-term — in the electoral cycle, and he needs to score.
