I am honoured to make these remarks this evening about the Urban Renewal programme in Fox Hill. I am very concerned about the fact that the urban renewal effort appears to have been abandoned.

Let me say before I begin that I regret very much the outcome of the election and the fact that as part of the leadership of the country for and on behalf of the PLP we were not able to bring home the bacon one more time.  This is not a time for holding our heads down, however.  It is a time to be resolute and defiant and strong and I wish to encourage the PLP to find its voices and bellow with all of them and let them be heard.  I pledge to work with all my strength to return this party to the government.

That is why I consider this evening so important. Urban Renewal is a signature project of the PLP and in particular the leader of the PLP Perry Christie.  I heard of the astounding results that it had accomplished in Farm Road and I wanted the programme to come to Fox Hill.

It started in Fox Hill because there was a series of homicides in that area that seemed tit for tat and I wanted some outside social force to come in see if it could get to the bottom of the problems.   The office opened and was headed by a dynamic Inspector Richardson who led the team up until last Friday.

On Friday last, he was unceremoniously pulled from the office and sent to the Fox Hill police station.  I have been told that his duties will continue to be the same but he will no longer be allowed to operate from the Urban Renewal office.

Urban Renewal had a component from social services, from environmental health and from housing.  You could see the difference in the community.  Houses were built from scratch and repaired for those who could not afford it.  The senior citizens were organized into a group for their benefit and well being.  Programmes were organized for young people.  More was to come and it is a shame that the FNM has now decided to stop and dismantle the programme.  It should be reversed.

That is what I mean by the PLP finding its voices.  There must be something that we are willing to fight for and not give any quarter.  Too many times, we want to find the compromise or the easy way out.  This programme helps with the alleviation of crime in our neighborhoods and is in line with our commitment to the millennium development goals one of which is cutting poverty in half by the year 2015.  We must not let the programme die.

I will certainly do all that I can to bring it to the attention of the public that a serious mistake has been made here in dismantling this necessary programme. It is part of this effort in this FNM dispensation to make people apologize because you are interested in helping the poor.  The poor are not a priority for the FNM. The rich are a priority.   We have to help the poor and some how we have to get our brethren who have elevated themselves to accept that this is their obligation as well.  Each of us is only one step away from it and so the social safety net must be in place.  Only the PLP can fight for that and truly believe in helping the downtrodden and the poor.  This is not an acceptable message to FNM, but it is theme which we must keep close to our chest and work to achieve.

I thank you very much.