Early last year, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments and Aviation Chester Cooper invited Downtown Nassau property owners and other stakeholders to a meeting to ask them to partner with the government or face the consequences of their unwillingness and inaction to reform our historic capital city.

Cooper came off as both a friend to the business community and a man who meant business.

"I come in peace," Cooper notably said.

He later continued that the government was no longer interested in downtown partnerships that no longer "bear fruit".

There have been multiple efforts by multiple administrations seeking to reform downtown, but it seems no matter what is offered, many property owners have little interest in meaningful reform, even now, with the increasing number of visitors coming from expanding cruise berths.

As an over $200 million investment in a new Nassau Cruise Port is soon to be completed, a massive $300 million US Embassy nears the end of construction, a new Central Bank of The Bahamas soon to go up next to it, and the cleared eyesores of the Churchill Building and the old General Post Office, there is no reason for the storied city to come off largely unimpressive and poorly maintained.

The deputy prime minister aptly described the area as a depressing focus of constant complaint by Bahamians and visitors alike.

It remains an embarrassment, to this day, even under his watch.

Coming through a dazzling new cruise port, passengers will still have to traverse a dilapidated downtown to get to Junkanoo Beach or Paradise Island.

"There is no chance that we allow the status quo to remain," Cooper said last year.

Yet it does.

He added, "Always, we will try to work together to move our nation forward. But governments have a responsibility to act in the national interest, even if that is not to the liking of a few."

Last December, Cooper said his ministry, along with the Ministry of Works, demolished five dilapidated buildings east of East Street where property owners were not compliant with his and the Ministry of Works' requests.

He said he hopes that his ministry does not have to continue the demolition process, but said they "have the will where it's necessary to do so".

After Cooper spoke earlier last year, Attorney General Ryan Pinder said the government is preparing a suite of legislation to establish a public-private partnership to govern the City of Nassau and spur faster refurbishment.

But we have had no recent updates on those efforts.

Cooper said late last year that he hoped the increasing visitor numbers would lead to greater investment in downtown.

But we have seen little appetite for that from many property owners.

Cooper also spoke to increased safety and "working together to put in place strategies to ensure less vagrancy, to ensure more law and order".

He pointed to more police presence as an easy fix to some of those issues.

However, we commonly see vagrants and those whose minds are addled on the sidewalks of many streets that intersect downtown and on Shirley Street.

We are unclear why reforming downtown appears beyond the scope of government.

For an administration that has recently said it may garnish rent, due to property owners who are delinquent in their taxes, we find their light touch in this matter curious.

The legislation Pinder spoke of is overdue. Downtown should not be that hard to manage, at least not for those who are willing to make the tough decisions as they did with Bahamas Power and Light, the pharmacies, the retail grocers and the petroleum dealers.

It seems that there is one set of rules for one set of businesspeople in our society and a different for another.

Nassau Cruise Port recently reported it has seen passenger movements of more than 157,000 since the year began, achieving a one-day record of 26,410 passengers last week, up from a record day a few days before.

The record pace is expected to grow to more than four million cruise visitors this year.

Do we really want to risk more of our international reputation with millions more visitors because we have a downtown that is not only not awe-inspiring, but indeed off-putting?

As it stands, the growth of cruise arrivals is far outpacing the development of the city that greets those passengers.

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