The Portmore Newsletter is now Online go to http://www.portmore.org/newsletters/2006-09.html or read it below... ================================= Portmore Website Newsletter August 23, 2006 Editor: Kennedy Reid Subscribers: 330 e-mail: webmaster@portmore.org Web site: http://www.portmore.org Phone: 876-320-7343 ==================================================== From The Editor ==================================================== Hello readers, Do you know that there is plaque on top of the Highway2000 bridge? Well view it on the album page of the site. They are constructing a Transport Hub by the entrance to the Highway where buses from Portmore will transfer passengers to other buses going to Half-Way-Tree or downtown. This is needed to reduce the high toll payments being made by the bus company. The Hub is opposite NCB in Portmore. Enjoy this newsletter. Kennedy ==================================================== Thank you - chantal wakefield ==================================================== Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 12:38:20 From: chantal wakefield thanks for trying to create a better portmore for us but we can do better if we work together has one like our ancestors used to and maybe things can be better for the people. ================= Webmaster's Comment ================ Thanks for your comments friend. Funny, I have been looking in the Archives and libraries and I can’t find the "good ole days' (laugh) Anyway, we must try... ==================================================== Emancipation Vigil - ortmore Missionary Church ==================================================== MEDIA ADVISORY WHO:The Portmore Missionary Church; WHAT:Invites you to attend and provide coverage for the Annual Emancipation Vigil; WHEN:Monday, July 31, 2006 at 9:00 p.m.; WHERE:The Portmore Missionary Church grounds 114 Cecille Avenue, Sector F, Edgewater, St. Catherine This year’s speaker will be Rev. Owen Watson of the Runaway Bay United Church. Rev. Watson will present on this year’s theme, “Living legacy…Honouring our Elders.” The night’s activities will also include performances by a wide variety of cultural groups and other local acts. Contact Information Mrs. Margarett Barnett Tel.: 988-1534 / 988-5151 / 939-4321 Fax: 939-2358 Email: info@cwjamaica.com ======================== WEBMASTER'S CONTRIBUTION ======================== Margarett, I am sorry I did not see that your e-mail was a notice with a time constraint! The vigil is a good idea. I see that Portmore Missionary is doing a lot of good work. I notice that a groups was started to meet the needs of Deportees - persons deported from the USA and Canada and are reputed to be the source of many maladies. We are all happy that a church has stepped in to help these people. Many have no attachment to this country. Please do encourage the members to keep on working. They are creating a better Jamaica for us all. Kennedy ==================================================== "Family Day" invitation - Oasis Chistian Community ==================================================== This month end Oasis Chistian Community is holding its "Family Day" at Medallion Hall hotel.... Saturday August 26, 2006 starting at 10:00 a.m. The whole family will love this time of worship, dance, movies, bible study and prayers. To learn more go to: www.occvision.org Kennedy ==================================================== Toll in New York - Conliffe Wilmot-Simpson ==================================================== From: "Conliffe Wilmot-Simpson" To: kennedyreid@yahoo.com Subject: New York City Bridges and Tolls Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 17:33:41 -0500 Kennedy, Please see link below. I found it very interesting. Regards, Conliffe Bridges and Tolls Some of the most memorable parts about driving in (and out) of New York City are the many bridges. "Many" is actually an understatement. In fact, there are 2,027 bridges in New York City. The Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges are the three suspension bridges in New York. Suspension Bridges are the medium to long span, high level bridges that are supported by massive wire cables that suspend between towers and vertical wire cables. Other bridge types in the area include Girder, Retractile Bridges, Span Bridges, Steel Arch Bridges, Swing Bridges, and Vertical Lift Bridges. The four bridges that see the most weekday traffic are the Queensboro Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the Manhattan Bridge. www.ny.com/transportation/crossings Another thing you will find plenty of while visiting New York are toll ways, toll bridges, and toll tunnels. These roads have a fee for use. It's best to ensure you have enough money if you plan on using these roads. The fee may be as little as a couple of quarters or as much ten or fifteen dollars. The New York State Thruway Authority has a wonderful Web site that can help you plan for these toll roads. On the following link you can enter your starting and ending points and it will give you the exact amount of your total tolls. www.nysthruway.gov/tolls/calc ==================================================== World Class Municipality - Delroy Dobney ==================================================== Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 From: portmo@portmore.org To: webmaster@portmore.org Portmore possesses tremendous potential to be a worldclass Municipality. We need therefore to be truly liberated from the current norms of our political system. We need to truly act in a manner that decpicts "from the people for the people" regardless of our political ideologies. Political Parties make mistakes and as such must be told so when they do. No politiocal party that covers their misdeeds in that name of saving the face of the Party is going to TURLY SUCCEED. Honesty and Integrity at all times must the mode of good governance. Delroy Dobney ==================================================== I welcome the toll, but - GB ==================================================== From: GB [Name Modified] To: portmore_newsletter-owner@yahoogroups.com CC: [List deleted] Subject: RE: **** SPAM **** Portmore E-newsletter : Walk Good Miss Lou! Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 15:58:24 -0500 Kennedy long time no speak. I have a couple of questions/issues. Firstly what is the current distribution numbers for your newsletter? Secondly what is the current count of visitors in total to your site and the average monthly? [last question deleted] I welcome the implementation of the toll road and have enjoyed its use so far. Like some of the citizens of Portmore, I would have preferred a lower toll amount, however in the absence thereof the rebate/refund offered by the operators of the toll after 10 trips, could have been after 8 trips instead, as not many persons will benefit unless they work 6-7 days a week or have business in Kingston and utilize the toll road on the weekend. In addition the Operators need to have a brochure explaining the rebate/refund as sometimes unclear information is communicated causing misunderstanding and confusion by residents using the tag system on the toll road. My understanding after questioning the staff there is that persons who have bought their tag at Portmore who use the tag through the Portmore Toll will benefit from a refund of $10.00 per trip within the week after 10 trips and $20.00 for each extra trip after the 10th trip within the week provided the following holds true A week is defined as Saturday 12:01am –Friday 11:59pm All the qualifying trips take place within the week defined above through the Portmore Toll plaza. Could you clarify and confirm with them and communicate to your wider viewers? I have noticed the work being done on the Port Henderson Road and it is a welcome improvement, however do you know if any thought was given to appropriate drainage across the business places into the sea? My concern is that the first heavy showers may destroy the road due to settlement of water for extended periods. Shouldn’t the road be higher than the business places on either side or at least those facing Port Royal? If so shouldn’t our Municipal Council restrict how high business persons can raise the level of their land along this stretch or will we invest in expensive infrastructure such as bridges culverts and drainage canals to alleviate this issue. I may have over simplified the issue but would appreciate your response and possibly that of representatives on the Council. The extended dyke road and the Waterford resurfacing as well as the Portmore Mall road improvements have reduced travel time significantly along each of these stretches. I look forward to their finalization. The Portmore Mall roundabout needs to be expanded however to allow four l anes. One on the left and right which should be median divided to allow those exiting into the mall or businesses on either side without delaying traffic wanting to go straight through to Edgewater or Independence City/Westchester. Can citizens of Portmore eventually lobby for a median divided filter lane starting from the Highway 2000 entrance ramp to the Caymanas Crossing intersection (assuming sufficient space is under the bridge for 3 lanes) If not that far at least from the overpass bridge to the crossing. We also need the median at Caymanas crossing going into Municipality Boulevard extended to the bridge to reduce turnarounds delays and indiscipline by taxi and bus men beating the traffic light. Call me at cell number below. GB [Name Modified] [Cell number deleted] ======================== WEBMASTER'S REPLY ======================== Dear G, Here is the answer to your questions... The Newsletter goes to over 330 persons via e-mail. There are 50-60 visitors per day to the site. In the year ending in August 2006, the site was visited by over 19,000 persons. The best I can tell the audience for the site are Jamaicans Abroad, Jamaican Students, and the more affluent Portmorians. On the other matters... If the Prime Minister herself could not get a lower toll, I don't think any effort on our part will make a dent. The operators wanted more! The agreement negotiated by the technocrats have handed us a real dish! While I agree that the road is wonderful and there are going to be many benefits to us, but I firmly believe that Jamaica should have invested in something else. If we lived in Brazil or Venezuela the road would have been a good investment through to the vast resources of the jungles, but what is Jamaica doing investing in such a road? We are wasting borrowed money and our pension funds when we have other needs! We need to train our people to meet the needs of the North Americans and get valuable foreign exchange. Increasingly Canada and the USA will need nurses, doctors, caregivers, engineers of all sorts. We need to train and send our people to earn these monies! Our students should be doing American examinations and not CXC and GCE! Our trained teachers should get American certifications and be qualified to go to New York and get foreign dollars! We should be getting ready for Cuban competition when that market opens up... our people should be sent in droves to learn Mexican and Cuban Spanish! Direct development of our people is where we need to invest! Not in expensive highways... as useful as these are. I hope the members of the political directorate who read this newsletter will answer your other issues! I know many of them do although they don't send many responses. One thing you could do is to visit the Municipal Council meetings on the second Wednesdays of each Month and talk to them! Kennedy ==================================================== Kick them out! - neville brown ==================================================== Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2006 13:34:51 -0400 (EDT) From: neville brown To: webmaster@portmore.org Subject: Message from Front page why is the government milking the poor people of portmore. for a first class road that they should have in the very first place. come election time lets kick them out ======================== WEBMASTER'S REPLY ======================== Truthfully, I think the government was trying to help and not to hurt the people of Portmore; they just made a real mess of it! Of course, people will say this is a partisan point of view since I am a member of the PNP! But di truth is the truth. I believe that if they could have found a way to keep the toll lower they would have. The fact is that they are locked in solid agreements that can not be broken. If they follow the demands of the people of Portmore they will end up in deep... fat! All of us will end up paying through our teeth in taxes. We just have to hope that the benefits preached by Minister Pickergill do come true... an right quickly! Of course, on election day the people will render their verdict. ==================================================== Proposal for Portmore Toll - Jerome Moodie ==================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2006 From: "Jerome Moodie" Subject: My proposal for portmore toll To: "Kennedy Reid" Better Toll Rates for Portmore Dear Kennedy Reid Greetings. I have a proposal for the PCAC and all who are concerned about the present toll rate. I am proposing that we lobby the toll operators and the government to offer packages to persons who are willing to buy T tags for a month, three months, six months and a year. For example; Class of Vehicle One Month Package Three Month package Class 1 $45.00 per Trip $40.00 per Trip Class 2 $75.00 per Trip $67.00 per Trip Class 3 $113.00 per Trip $100.00 per Trip Class of Vehicle Six Month package One year package Class 1 $35.00 per Trip $30.00 per Trip Class 2 $58.00 per Trip $50.00 per Trip Class 3 $87.00 per Trip $75.00 per Trip The T Tag card would allow the driver to use the other toll stations with whatever discounts that are presently being offered at those locations and without the weekly time restrictions presently associated with the Portmore T tags. The fact that these amounts would be pre-paid into the coffers, would be beneficial to the operators as they can invest these amounts for periods that best suits their loan payment schedule. Future change in the US dollar exchange rate could be mitigated against by purchasing US dollars earlier with the pre-paid amounts as well. Secondly, the more attractive rates produce a real saving to the commuting public and in fact will increase the volume of traffic on the toll road, thereby further improving the revenue intake. I do ask that you forward this to the PCAC and all other concerned Portmore citizen groupings to pursue. This present toll rate is just ridiculous and this is only the beginning. Hoping to hear something on this soon. Thank you so much. J.C. Moodie ======================== WEBMASTER'S COMMENT ======================== To me, your ideas are very good! However if the end result is that the Operators get less money then I doubt it will be accepted. Dem seem very happy with the level of returns so far and demand will increase come September school and October rains! Best Regards, Kennedy ==================================================== [--------------------THE END OF ENTRIES-------------------] ==================================================== Legal Notices - Please read 1. This newsletter makes NO guarantees of accuracy nor authorship. 2. The contents of this newsletter do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher, and do NOT represent the views of any Political Party or Community Organisation. 3. Commercial publication of this newsletter needs the express consent of the webmaster in writing. 4. Copy Rights are owned by Kennedy Reid General Notes - Please read 1. Please copy this newsletter to as many persons as you may, However, please do not alter the contents. 2. To read our past newsletters go to http://www.portmore.org/newsletters/index.html 3. This newsletter is an open forum so please feel free to send us your contributions. We do NOT edit your letters, but may delete sections that can not be published. Deleted sections will be noted. Private e-mail addresses are deleted from letters and, if you ask, we will delete your name also! The Webmaster may comment on your contribution, but reserves the last word for you. Write to webmaster@portmore.org or rhouse@cybervale.com 4. Comments made in this newsletter should be taken in a light manner as the style of this newsletter attempts to be humourous. ==================================================== [--------------------THE END OF ENTRIES-------------------] ==================================================== Legal Notices - Please read 1. This newsletter makes NO guarantees of accuracy nor authorship. 2. The contents of this newsletter do not necessarily represent the views of the publisher, and do NOT represent the views of any Political Party or Community Organisation. 3. Commercial publication of this newsletter needs the express consent of the webmaster in writing. 4. Copy Rights are owned by Kennedy Reid General Notes - Please read 1. Please copy this newsletter to as many persons as you may, However, please do not alter the contents. 2. To read our past newsletters go to http://www.portmore.org/newsletters/index.html 3. This newsletter is an open forum so please feel free to send us your contributions. We do NOT edit your letters, but may delete sections that can not be published. Deleted sections will be noted. Private e-mail addresses are deleted from letters and, if you ask, we will delete your name also! The Webmaster may comment on your contribution, but reserves the last word for you. Write to webmaster@portmore.org or rhouse@cybervale.com 4. Comments made in this newsletter should be taken in a light manner as the style of this newsletter attempts to be humourous.