SEE FOR YOURSELF
Photos
Proposed Site (800x600)
Maps

1966 Survey

 

 
READ IT HERE
Objections to

Ministry of Housing and Environment

EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment)

NRCA (Natural Resources Conservation Authority)

 

John Maxwell's columns
Where will the children play?
The battle of Hope Gardens
An offer they couldn't refuse
No mek dem tek it!
Hoping against Hope
Transparency and Hope

The struggle continues (Jan 12)

 

Releases

Mona Heights Citizens' Association

Birdlife of Jamaica

 

Protest Letters
Daphne & Peter Abrahams
Gloria Escoffery

Stuart Lacy of Wildlife Jamaica (avifauna survey)

 

Et Cetera

Satire by 'Cher'

 

 
WEB REFERENCE
External Links
An Opposing Viewpoint

 

Contact information
The Principals

Add your $0.02

 

BACK HOME
 

Publicise your protest
Sign This Guestbook


Guestbook by GuestWorld

View The Guestbook

 

updated 2000-03-13

CONTRIBUTE CONTENT
You asked for it, so now we have a guestbook. Read the comments, or add your own. If you want a map, press release or other ammunition to be posted on this site, please send it here.

Scroll down to read the highlights, or go directly to any page by clicking the links at left.

Aerial photo of a section of the Hope Estate.

© Government of Jamaica

Take a closer look at this photo or compare it to a map (1966 government survey) reproduced in Alan Eyre's "The Botanical Gardens of Jamaica".


UPDATE:
We win round one.

Prime Minister PJ Patterson announced on Tuesday, January 11, that with regard to the proposed housing scheme in Hope Gardens, "no such development will proceed as of now". He did not say, as we hastily reported earlier, that "no houses will ever be built" there. Read More...



Read the detailed objections from Vivian Blake, QC, OJ, and John Maxwell, CD.

TO MINISTER DOUGLAS
...it is our contention that the enterprise known as the Hope Country Club cannot be in the public interest and must be in contradiction to every pledge the Government, its Ministers and you as Minister of Housing and Environment in particular have made to safeguard the environment and national heritage. Read More...

TO ESTECH'S EIA
The [Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed Hope Country Club] is hereby challenged by the undersigned as being inadequate, irrelevant and misleading, and constitutes a dangerous basis on which to make any decision concerning any development on the lands at Hope, St. Andrew.... Read More..



Read the releases

MONA HEIGHTS CITIZENS' ASSOCIATION
...this area should be left for expansion of the zoo [and] car parking area. Space should also be left for further expansion of the University of Technology [to] be integrated with surrounding gardens and parks... [We have] far too many absorption sewer pits serving housing developments in the Liguanea Plains. Read More...

BIRDLIFE JAMAICA
BirdLife Jamaica is the only local organization specifically interested in the conservation of Jamaica’s birds and their habitats. Whereas the organization has not taken a public position on the development itself, BirdLife ... has noted that it finds the results the faunal survey surprising. Read More...

CHALLENGE TO AVIFAUNA SURVEY
...at the site of the proposed Hope Country Club Development ...I recorded 17 Species, or subspecies in my brief [90-minute] survey while the professional survey done by ESTEC recorded only 7, including the Turkey Vulture; I found 4 endemic and they found only 1; I saw over 70 individuals, they reported approximately 10.
Read More...



View some of the email sent in protest

PETA-ANNE BAKER, DEPT. OF SOCIOLOGY
At a time when most metropolitan regions are attempting to protect and expand their green spaces, we seem to be determined to limit ours. In doing so we are ignoring the wealth of research which demonstrates clearly that there are not only ecological benefits to be derived, but also that the mental health of us humans is similarly benefitted. Read More...

GLORIA ESCOFFERY
The most urgent need is for this short sighted, in a sense criminal abuse of political power be terminated before the developers are allowed to interfere with the environment and destroy the natural landscape background which is one of the greatest assets of Hope Gardens. Read More...



For a dissenting opinion (in support of the proposed development), we invite you to visit the Gleaner's website where a December 15 article states:

...the reality is that the Hope Gardens site lies idle and is unlikely to see much happen to it unless the development goes ahead. Read More (link opens in new window)..



For those who came in late, we've archived recent articles by John Maxwell who has been writing on this issue since November.

 

(BACK TO TOP)



LINKS TO ALL THE PAGES
Photo of Proposed Site (800x600) | 1966 Survey Map |
Objection sent to the Minister of Housing and Development
| Rebuttal of Estech's EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) | Objection made to NRCA (Natural Resources Conservation Authority)
| Common Sense: Where will the children play? | Common Sense: The battle of Hope Gardens | Common Sense: An offer they couldn't refuse | Common Sense: No mek dem tek it! | Common Sense: Hoping against Hope | Common Sense: Transparency and Hope | News: The Struggle Continues
| Press Release from Birdlife of Jamaica | Memo from Mona Heights Citizens' Association | Letter from Stuart Lacy of WildLife Jamaica | Letter from Gloria Escoffery | Letter from Daphne & Peter Abrahams
| Satire by 'Cher' | An Opposing Viewpoint from The Gleaner | Protest Letters | Email Us