Abaco has seen many changes over the past 150 years. The Elbow Cay Light Station was a major event imposed on Hope Town residents in 1863 by central authority. The residents did not want it as it upset their lucrative wrecking business and they sabotaged the construction. The authorities were more concerned with international shipping interests than the individual interests of the Hope Town residents. The lighthouse was built. Time changes perspectives and the residents there are now proud of their lighthouse.

Industry came to Abaco in 1905 with the Abaco Lumber Company mill at Wilson City. It is reported that they had 540 employees in 1912. This site is now just a name on the maps. As the lumber was cut within the 12-mile distance that their train track allowed, they migrated to five other Abaco sites, Norman’s Castle, Millville, Cornwall One, Cornwall Two, and finally leaving the Cross Harbour site in 1943. Little remains of their legacy except for a few houses that can boast of being built of native Abaco pine.

Abaco’s next developer was J.B. Crockett, who established a several thousand acre farm south of the Marsh Harbour airport in the mid-1950s. Scott Mattson Farms of Fort Pierce bought this in 1958. Our current Haitian population started as farm labour with this farm. Most of the larger farming efforts on Abaco can trace their roots to the Crockett farm.
Our two airports opened in the late 1950s giving Abaco people more exposure to the greater world.

The Owens Illinois pulpwood operation at Snake Cay began construction in 1958 with timber being cut the next year. The arrival of 500 employees with a weekly payroll to spend and the instant arrival of a supermarket brought a surge of economic activity. The major legacy of the logging operation is its extensive road network.

Except for the lighthouse, none of these changes created any resistence as jobs were needed, Abaco was under-developed and the changes were welcome.

Major development in Central Abaco is now viewed with some scepticism. The economy is good, jobs are plentiful and our residents are now beginning to view their surroundings in a new light. Progress is wanted but with reservations. In the farther districts of Abaco, development is generally welcomed with less criticism.
Physical changes are easy to see and grasp. The most obvious change is when land is cleared, cement is poured and construction follows. Contractors love it. The labour force views development as a stepping stone to a better job and prosperity at the local level. But sometimes neighbors would rather see it happen somewhere else.

Those who abhor change either complain constantly or take active measures to reduce the effects or to stop progress altogether.

Less obvious changes involve new laws and regulations or the implementation of Local Government which is an evolving system.

Changes as a result of thoughtful planning are easier to accept but the thoughtful planning part is harder to cope with. Our Local Government system is not particularly good in this respect. In fairness, Central Government often falls short in this department, also.

This brings us to central government’s role in the developmental process. Back in 1863 government decided that a lighthouse in Hope Town was in the best interest of the country and the residents there would have to get used to its presence. There was no consultation nor were options offered the local population.

This was government’s practice into the mid-1990s. In 1996 local government was instituted in the Family Islands, giving a measure of decision making to the local people. Locals were told they had the option of approving or turning down development. Interesting scenarios have evolved as central and local authorities wrestle with who has the final say on development.

It is becoming apparent that this approval process needs to be a cooperative effort. Central government still retains the right to decide on major issues and projects, using a broader perspective of the overall benefits. Criteria considered would include the creation of jobs, the impact on the economy, the revenue to the Treasury from duties and taxes and fostering the general expansion of the Bahamian economy.
However, within the approval process by central government there now appears to be an effort to get constructive local input as well as possible conditions imposed on the project in question.
Changes are coming faster and faster, and we must be prepared to suggest modifications and be willing to negotiate and compromise to make proposals acceptable.

Even within the Local Government Councils, Boards and Committees, changes are coming. The general population is starting to hold both the local and central government to a higher standard and require more public notice on what is happening within their communities.

Government agencies are particularly bad at expanding or relocating without public consultation. They seem to believe they are exempt from public scrutiny. Current examples include the recent well field expansion in Central Abaco by Water and Sewerage, BEC’s proposed relocation and expansion and two garbage transfer sites.

Water and Sewerage located the new well field for Central Abaco along the road to Spring City. This was convenient for them as they did not have to construct roads to a remote site. However, that is the direction that Marsh Harbour’s growth will occur. How soon will businesses spring up along that road? The original well field along Don MacKay Boulevard to the airport has been compromised for years as the entire area has been developed with many businesses and schools.

Presently, BEC is considering a new generation station inland from Wilson City. On the surface this location appears to be a reasonable choice. However, artifacts in that area indicate that this was the location of the worker’s village for the Abaco Lumber company 100 years ago. This is only a minor problem to the BEC expansion as there is ample forest land adjoining the area that the corporation can consider.

The two sites for transferring trash, one on the road to Cherokee Sound and the other in Little Abaco, were chosen arbitrarily with local consultation only after construction began and an ensuing public outcry. In this case, consultation did not alter the plans and many people have good reasons to be upset with these locations.

Abaco people are become more enlightened on the role the environment plays on our economic and physical well being. They are realizing that protecting the environment is crucial to our tourist-based economy. Politicians and their attendant ministries are giving much more attention to consulting their constituents on major issues.

Accepting change is an evolving process. Elected officials in some local districts are beginning to interpret the rules more liberally and are realizing they have more influence than initially thought with central government if applied thoughtfully.
A problem with the present system is that it is beset with a lack of continuity as the three-year term of office is often succeeded with new representatives who must learn their responsibilities from scratch.

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