Residents of Nelson Street and surrounding communities fear they will soon have to find alternative living spaces once multimillion-dollar projects planned for their area get underway.
They expressed scepticism with regards to government assurances that the planned construction of a $360-million African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Trade Centre and a Hyatt Hotel will uplift surrounding communities.
Instead, some long-time residents of Nelson Street and its environs told Barbados TODAY, they are convinced their community will undergo gentrification rather than transformation.
“I feel they are going to move out everybody from out there. That’s my belief,” said one Nelson Street resident, relaxing outside his house as he scanned the street he’s called home for decades.
“They aren’t going to repair no houses and let nobody live out here. They going to move them out.”
However, in a recent announcement, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said that Afreximbank will contribute $7 million to a soon-to-be-established Urban Transformation Fund, with an additional $2 million pledged by the developers of the Hyatt Centric Hotel, bringing the fund to $9 million.
The fund, she said, was to support housing, infrastructure upgrades, and community services for City residents near major development sites like Jemmotts Lane, where the Trade Centre will rise.
But one resident likened the present developments to what he said was past displacement of Church Village residents during the construction of the Central Bank.
“When those buildings go up — all 20 stories in the air — those people don’t want to look out their windows on no ghetto and rusty roofs and old houses. We can’t stay…That’s why when houses burn down ‘bout here, they say they can’t build them back,” he said.
“And even if they are going to rebuild, the houses are real near now… You’re going to hear from the fire department that they have to be a certain distance apart for safety reasons so everybody still can’t stay.”
Indeed, the incoming investment has aroused growing concern that more than just dilapidated buildings and the negative stereotype associated with the area will be erased, but also the people who have lived in the city for years.
“The name Nelson Street may remain,” the resident said, “but the people won’t.”
However, there are others, like 25-year-old small business owner Raschad Oliver, who view the looming changes as a welcome opportunity. He said an individual’s mindset would determine whether the changes are for the better or not.
“It has a lot to do with the people. If you put people that have a negative mindset in a good community like Husbands, the same crime and negativity will happen there.”
He suggested that the government should use the power of social media to connect and engage with young people around issues like urban transformation.
Member of Parliament for The City of Bridgetown, Corey Lane, acknowledged there were concerns, and promised outreach activities would be undertaken to clear up misconceptions. He said there will be future community meetings with planning officials and representatives of the Trade Centre to address lingering doubts.
“It’s my understanding that, like everything in life, some people support the development and some don’t. For those particular ones that don’t, my mission is to get as much accurate, truthful information and share it with residents,” he told Barbados TODAY.
Lane said while he does not have the final say on how the project unfolds, he does not support any form of gentrification.
“My commitment to the residents continues to be their long-term, sustainable development. What I like about this project is that, unlike some in the past, the developers are putting in funds to develop the neighbourhoods and not just the fancy buildings.”
He also dismissed rumours circulating in the community that Prime Minister Mottley had already received funds to remove residents.
“Oh dear. No. That sounds like rubbish to me. To my certain knowledge, that is absolutely not so,” Lane said.
“I encourage the residents to follow the facts, not the fiction,” he urged.
The Nelson Street resident, speaking to Barbados TODAY, noted though that fiction and fact are hard to separate when history has often confirmed their worst fears.
“That Trade Centre is going to be like a Vatican,” he added.
“Africans going to be in there and we out here. We’re going to have to get a pass to go in like how you do at the embassy. And the only jobs locals will get are as gardeners, security guards, and maids.”
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