Letter of the Day | Jamaica doesn’t need just free, but clean and properly managed beaches

THE EDITOR, Madam:

There have been media reports on the recent movement towards making all beaches in Jamaica public beaches. There is a lot of emotion, mostly on social media, as well as some well-written articles in the local press and many articles in The Guardian newspaper in the UK. In Jamaica, the movement is led by the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JABBEM).

In my opinion, the JABBEM is going about this the wrong way. The Jamaican government has listed more than 70 public beaches. Instead of demanding access to beaches that are private, JABBEM should be lobbying the government to properly open and manage these public beaches. The government should run these public beaches in the same manner that Emancipation Park is run, properly and well policed. The public beaches should have lifeguards, clean toilets at all times, bins for waste, and staff to enforce the use of the bins and to keep the toilets clean.

There should also be a charge to maintain this. We are willing to pay to park at the airports, which are public. Maybe the hotels and the Tourism Enhancement Fund could contribute to the upkeep of these public beaches.

Perhaps we should bring in a training team from Japan, whose fans clean the area around them after football games at the World Cup. Certainly no training from The Guardian newspaper in London, which is not the cleanest city and does not have the cleanest public bathrooms. Maybe we Jamaicans have received, and are still receiving, models from the wrong parties.

More beaches that are not properly managed are not the answer.

CONCERNED CITIZEN