Woodward ‘Woody’ DaCosta West Bay independent candidate

 

By Tad Stoner
tad@caymannetnews.com

Declaring a unique focus on original Cayman core values – a pristine environment and people – independent candidate for West Bay Woodward DaCosta has vowed to pursue sustainable development and zero-based budgeting to regain control of government.

Offering a fresh insight into Cayman’s economic, employment and immigration problems, Mr DaCosta, a businessman and lifetime resident of West Bay, said he would create “a working contract with the people of the Cayman Islands”, starting with a reduction in a broad range of government salaries, first with the Legislative Assembly, and extending to the judiciary.

“MLA’s salaries are way too high and, with the judiciary, they are costing something like $2.6 million per year. That needs to be reduced. That’s crazy,” he said.

“I would look at all aspects of the economy, at every department, how they are operating, and I would get away from traditional budgeting. I would start a zero-based budget and line items.

“You can’t just say that last year we had $500 million and then automatically tack 10 percent on top. That’s’ not going to happen. The Cayman Islands needs to be run like a business, and I am the CEO and am responsible to you,” he said.

To combat crime and preserve border security, Mr DaCosta said, “The first thing I’d do is install closed-circuit TV along as much coastline as possible, and hire retired police officers to staff the control rooms, giving them a whole new sense of purpose and fighting the trade in drugs and illegal firearms.”

If Mr DaCosta’s prescriptions appear ambitious, it’s because he believes balance needs to be restored in a society overtaken by greed in a short time, moving the Cayman Islands away from its core business of good people, Caymanians and expatriates, supporting a modestly prosperous economy.

“The Cayman Islands really were the ‘islands that time forgot’ with crystal-clear waters and beautiful beaches and people. It was a place like no other,” he said, explaining that people lost sight of basic elements as property values soared and money poured in, boosting modern development.

“It’s just not the same place. People sold their places and look at the monstrosities along Seven Mile Beach.

“The financial-services industry came in, and people lost sight of those values. People left and they didn’t come back. You get into a vicious cycle,” he said, that also breeds crime, produces immigration, border and housing problems.

“The first thing I’d do is create a trade school, “Mr DaCosta said. “I said a long time ago that the only trade school we have now is Northward Prison, and people wind up in there and lifers teach the new arrivals about crime.

“We have a lot of young people who could be plumbers and electricians and masons, but they go out and can’t get a job and they end up standing on street corners, being treated shabbily and waiting for hand-outs.

“I would empower people with a vocational school and make sure they have a chance in their own homeland,” Mr DaCosta said, pointing to the expatriate community and its obligations to train Caymanians.

“Most people that come here to work are very reasonable. They come, give it a couple of years to see how things go. It’s a good place, but no one thinks they are entitled to a job, so I don’t understand what the big thing is about the rollover policy,” he said, alluding to the seven-year residential limit on expatriates.

“Now, you can go to college and get a bachelor’s degree in four years, and get a masters degree in another two years, maybe four years. Are we saying that we have [Caymanians] that can’t be trained to take over a position in seven years?”

Mr DaCosta offered an example that, in one activity, would raise revenues, boost employment, address housing needs and improve vocational training.

“Some years ago, the government purchased a little mini-hotel in West Bay that they were going to convert into a training school. What happened to it? In our plan, though, we could use it as a training facility. There is enough room, in one part, for the hospitality industry with enough still in the other for vocational training.

“The kids enrolled there could go out and, for example, build a house from the ground up, a house that, when it’s finished, goes to people who are in need. The kids get real-world experience. It soaks up unemployment and the needy get a home. It’s so simple,” he stated.

“We must strike a balance between quality and quantity, and we have to return to our core values. Our forefathers created a country out of beautiful waters and beautiful beaches.

“We can’t go backwards, that would be silly, but I want to see sustainable development. We have to go back to the basic, true values of the land the people,” he said.