The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation and Member of Parliament for Exuma and Ragged Island made his contribution to the 2023/24 budget debate in the House of Assembly on Monday.

During his presentation, the Hon. Chester Cooper spoke to the restoration of downtown Nassau. He said, “drug peddler, hackers, hagglers, prostitutes, harassers, thieves and troublemakers are not welcome downtown. There will certainly be a zero tolerance downtown and the mission of police is to remove them. Please understand to seek to complain to me or anyone in this administration about it, you’ve been warned.”

Cooper went further stating, “we will ensure that vagrants receive the care they need and they will not receive that care wondering about and sleeping on the streets or derelict buildings. We can do better as a country to support our vulnerable and we will. We’re working with the Department of Environmental Health Services to manage rodents as well. So those big pets we sometimes see running around on Bay Street are no longer welcomed. We’ve allocated $1 million in this budget for downtown beautification.”

The Minister also said there are plans for more pedestrian side streets to showcase local music, art, culture and vendors and the closing of Prince George Wharf to regular traffic at certain times of the day.

The post Restoring Downtown appeared first on ZNS BAHAMAS.