Who Have The Electricity? Kelly Tomblin With Realistic Talk

     The head of the Jamaica Power Service (JPS), Kelly Tomblin, talking about electricity theft in Jamaica. Local solar production changes the paradigm - makes the electricity valuable to the community. Watch it be defended then.

New Day At The Electric Company?

Customer is king, says JPS

New CEO says JPS must address customer service deficiencies

BY CONRAD HAMILTON Observer senior reporter hamiltonc@jamaicaobserver.com

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

PRESIDENT and CEO of the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) Kelly Tomblin says that the company cannot go forward unless it addresses severe customer service deficiencies that have resulted in a breakdown in the relationship between the light and power company and its consumers.

Tomblin, who became the head of the electricity provider on April 2, said yesterday that poor customer relations have also affected members of the JPS staff — some of whom she said were no longer proud of wearing the company's logo on their clothing.

Jamaica Public Service’s (JPS’) new president and CEO Kelly Tomblin addressing yesterday’s Observer Monday Exchange at the newspaper’s head office in Kingston. Seated are JPS officials Winsome Callum, head of corporate communications, and Val Fagan, vice president generation expansion. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Winsome Callum, head of corporate communications at the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), speaking at yesterday’s Observer Monday Exchange. Also photographed are other JPS officials (from 2nd left) Val Fagan, vice president generation expansion; Kelly Tomblin, president and CEO; and Garth McKenzie, director Loss Control Division. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

Speaking at the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, the new JPS boss said that she would be focusing on the need to improve the company's bottom line, as well as changing the way Jamaicans view the electricity provider.

"One of the challenges I have is returning this company to economic health in the midst of a public relations storm, in the midst of a very real need to lower electricity prices. There are significant challenges on all ends of the spectrum for JPS," said Tomblin.

At the same time, she highlighted the need for the company to improve its financial performance. "Our banks loaned us money; they expect us to make a certain amount of money related to that debt, at a certain ratio. We are not maintaining that ratio. We are meeting with all our banks this week. So at the same time that I have an angry public, I have a situation where my banks are going to ask some questions, as well, about how much we are earning, how much debt we have, so that's a big challenge for us.

"There are a lot of things you can't control; often you can't control how fuel prices go, but you can control how transparent, how intimate and how open and receptive you are to your customers, and I think that should continue, no matter what challenge we face, and that's a real focus right now. I have found that you cannot do anything with your customers, you cannot do anything with the public, or any of your stakeholders, until you have cleaned your own house," said Tomblin.

The JPS boss, who was accompanied by other senior company officials, said the intense discussions that have taken place at some recent stakeholder consultations have resulted in her not being able to complete her prepared presentations, and have convinced her of the need to address the problem as a matter of urgency. She said over the short term the JPS will be spending time listening to both consumers and staff, some of whom, she declared, are emotionally affected by the treatment meted out to them by irate consumers.

Tomblin disclosed that as a result of recent interactions with JPS customers, she has already effected a change to the company's disconnection policy. "We hear stories of people standing with their cheques telling the persons that I have paid, and the response is, 'I am sorry, I have got a cut-off notice'. There is the whole idea that we may have to cut somebody off, but let's look at their credit history. We just recently changed our policy, because I have heard from some of the most esteemed members of our community, and a lot of people who paid their bills every month had their service cut off because they were two days late," said Tomblin.

She noted that the problem of rapid disconnection was being influenced by the presence of independent contractors paid on the basis of the number of disconnections they effect.

Director of the JPS' Loss Control Division Garth McKenzie, who was among the JPS officials at the Exchange, acknowledged that the previous disconnection policy was not good for business. "We pay out exactly what we take in reconnection fees to the contractor, so it is not like a bank fee, it really is a pass-through; so there is really no way to increase disconnections and become more profitable. Disconnections make the customer more annoyed with the JPS," he said.

"In the US, which is where I compare it to, if you pay late we charge interest, so you have another tool. When others charge interest, we have one tool... disconnect, so I think that's challenging," added Tomblin, as she disclosed that JPS employees, particularly customer service representatives, were being empowered to make on-the-spot decisions on customer-related issues that previously had to go through the chain of command.

"When you sit there talking to the customer, I have to emphasise... that's the president right there. When you're talking to the customer and you have to make that decision, do I disconnect, do I treat him nicely," said Tomblin.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/VIDEO--Customer-is-king--says-JPS_11417243

Restorative Justice

Restorative justice - http://www.restorativejustice.org/

Revised Victims' Charter coming

BY KIMMO MATTHEWS Observer staff reporter matthewsk@jamaicaobserver.com

Saturday, February 04, 2012

JUSTICE Minister Mark Golding says plans are under way to launch a revised Victims' Charter.

According to Golding, Cabinet submissions are being finalised to seek approval for the adoption of the amended document.

The revised charter, he said, will provide a more balanced framework to guide the development and implementation of policies to safeguard the rights of victims, accused persons and convicted offenders. The current Victims' Charter was developed in 2006, after islandwide public consultation.

He was speaking at a press conference Thursday to launch Restorative Justice Week at his ministry in Kingston.

He said, as it stands, "our justice system defines and treats crime as an offence against the State and its laws". This definition, the minister pointed out, was geared at attributing blame and punishing the offender, not solving problems and restoring broken relationships.

He also said that it was not sufficient for Jamaica to build a safe and just society blessed with social cohesion.

According to Golding, for the justice system to meet the aspirations of the people, the people must be placed at the centre.

He said that as Jamaica celebrates Restorative Justice Week a number of activities would be unfolding which would be geared towards heightening public awareness and understanding the roles and functions of the justice ministry.

"Restorative justice seeks to bring the needs of the people to the centre of the justice system so that, ultimately, the justice system will be perceived as responding to the all-too-common cry of "we want justice," said Golding.

The minister said Restorative Justice Week, which will be observed February 5-11, represents a fundamental and progressive shift in how the Government responds to criminal violence.

Victims are provided with the opportunity to obtain validation of their experiences, while offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions.

Golding said by focusing on redress and healing broken relationships, tensions are defused, communities are strengthened, and incidents of retribution leading to a destructive chain of crimes, reduced. He said this will also result in a reduction in the backlog of court cases.

Restorative Justice Week will be celebrated under the theme 'One people, One Spirit, One Justice'.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/pfversion/Revised-Victims--Charter-coming_10689549#ixzz1lVXjPZjt

Downtown Kingston On The Move

‘D Brown’ fest for this Sunday

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

DOWNTOWN Kingston comes alive on Sunday for third annual Dennis Brown Day celebration.

The event will take the form of a free concert and street lyme at the intersection of North Parade and Orange Street, from midday until 12 midnight.

Performances start at 6 pm and will feature reggae's top acts including Beres Hammond, Stephen Marley, Damian Marley, Freddie McGregor, Ken Boothe, Tarrus Riley, Cocoa Tea, Big Youth, Half Pint, and Jimmy Riley, backed by Lloyd Parks and the We the People Band.

The focus of the event will be at Orange Street — where Dennis Brown was born and spent his formative years.

The organisers intend to establish Orange Street as a musical heritage destination that will attract thousands of visitors from around the world.

In addition to the stage show, there will also be food and craft vendors primarily from the downtown Kingston area. There will also be informational booths from various service organisations, along with a host of recreational activities for the children.

The event was made possible through the Dennis Emanuel Brown Trust in association with JaRIA, Leggo Records and Sound and Pressure.

Dennis Brown was born on February 1, 1957 and began his career in the late 1960s at the age 11. From those humble beginnings, he went on to become one of reggae’s biggest stars. He died on July 1, 1999.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/-D-Brown--fest-for-this-Sunday

Downtown Kingston’s rebirth

Sunday, January 22, 2012

LAST Sunday, I made my way from Rebel Salute in St Elizabeth to the Kingston Waterfront. I was responding to an invitation from Dr Dennis Howard for what was described as Rhythm and Brunch.

It was a wake-up call and enchanting experience.

The East Car Park at Victoria Pier was transformed by the team of Jackie Tyson and Dennis Howard through their From Thought to Finish — Jahmento, creating an environment which saw some of the leading figures of our national life chatting and mingling. Dennis and Jackie promised it will be a monthly event. My hope is it will be held with even greater levels of frequency.

If residents of uptown were looking for an excuse to venture downtown on a Sunday afternoon, they have certainly found one.

What Howard and Tyson have demonstrated through this venture, which is supported by the Urban Development Corporation, is that the vision of having our waterfront and its environs becoming an area bustling with commercial and entertainment activities is indeed a viable option.

My hope is that the sterling efforts of Tyson and Howard will now be the catalyst for the staging of more culture-based activities in the area.

The timing is auspicious for such ventures as downtown Kingston is now enjoying a boom in real-estate activities, thanks in no small measure to the citing of the Digicel corporate headquarters in a region which had suffered much by way of urban decay.

I was happy to see newly installed Minister of Culture Lisa Hanna, who seemed so at home on the waterfront, as hers will be a critical role in realising the economic possibilities of this area so vital to our national development.

Based on her public utterances, my opinion is that she is sufficiently seized of the opportunities and will make the appropriate interventions, fully cognisant of the role which culture must play in the new economic thrust being espoused by the new administration.

Watching the many individuals drawn from different parts of the adjacent communities engaged in the disassembling of the props and equipment last Sunday, I could not help but remark to Howard about the possibilities for employment which culture and entertainment present. Here were a number of persons not formally employed to Howard or Tyson simply walking up after the event and getting a job. As I have often said, many of those who reside in those areas we pejoratively refer to as garrisons and who seem averse to standard modes of employment, are only excited at the prospect of being engaged in cultural ventures. If the Jamaica Emergency Employment Programme (JEEP) is to create a significant dent in the levels of unemployment currently plaguing our nation it will definitely have to navigate the contours of our cultural landscape.

I am one who certainly believes in the role of government in stimulating the economy through employment creation measures. However, I think it is important to caution those who view government as an ATM (to use the words of Trinidad PM Kamla Bisasor) to think instead of the types of collaboration which involves investments from both the private and the public sectors in economically viable culturally related ventures. I believe that as a condition for investing in festivals and other commercially driven cultural and entertainment projects that the government should ensure a financial return on its funds. This is the only way the government will be able to provide sustainable support for the cultural sector. We will be severely challenged to do otherwise in the tight fiscal space in which we operate.

I am one who strongly believes that the government can be instrumental in encouraging the financial sector to become more engaged in the funding of cultural production. We need to see the traditional holders of capital come to the realisation that the cultural industries will provide us with significant economic growth providing we make the requisite investment.

I was reminded by my friend Fae Ellington that one has to be careful in the conclusions one reaches in the prediction of cultural and commercial outcomes. Many of us will recall that it was thought that the motion picture business would have been upended by the advent of television. True television did bring about some changes in the industry, the Cineplex is just one of the many responses to this development. However, television is now one of the major income streams for the motion picture industry.

Fae informed me that Stages Production, which is renowned for what has been called roots play, has now acquired a theatre which will be putting on not just the Shebada and Delcita-type forms of dramatic entertainment but some of the traditional fare which we thought had been displaced by the more grass-roots offering.

The success of the roots play, it seems, will now save traditional theatre which it was thought to be displacing. Think on these things.

cpamckenzie@gmail.com

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Downtown-Kingston-s-rebirth

Solar On The Move

This is very encouraging -

Largest solar plant to be built in #Jamaica

Published: Wednesday January 25, 2012 | 9:22 am

TORONTO, Canada, CMC – The Toronto-based Solamon Energy Corporation says it plans to build the largest solar power plant in the Caribbean.

The solar company said that the programme, to be built in Jamaica, will cost in the region of CAN$450 million or US$444.2 million.

When completed, the farm will “enhance and improve the nation’s energy infrastructure, as well as serve as a beacon to attract additional investment in the ICT (Information Communications Technology) and greentech sectors.”

Solamon’s senior vice president, Ainsley Brown, said the farm would represent one of the region’s first strategic private-public partnerships.

“In order to implement a solution of this magnitude sites, several parishes are being considered as future homes of one of three 50-acre plots that when conjoined will provide the Jamaican people with 60MW of clean electricity,” he said.

“This programme represents a comprehensive approach to renewable energy development, energy diversification, job creation and training for the 21st century,” Brown said.

“Its success will necessitate a level-headed and like-minded approach at the table, as we are offering to tackle and deal with all elements of risk cooperatively and openly examine the implications of carbon credits, fuel or foreign exchange savings, in order to share the greater benefits of solar with our partners, and the communities they serve over the lifetime of this deal.”

Brown said the mega-project would create many new jobs for Jamaicans, and with the completion of a requisite light manufacturing plant, will establish the island as a “bona-fide greentech hub.”

In addition to generating solar electricity and, thereby, reducing for future generations of Jamaicans an “imposing reliance” on fossil fuels, he said the new revenue from the sale of carbon credits will be directed toward establishing employee training and certification programmes, “required to build this and many other similar facilities across the Caribbean.”

“I believe the utility should not be the only one to benefit from the nation going green,” Brown said.

“JPS, as it currently stands, benefits from green initiatives, from not having to produce that energy, as well as the fuel-saving and foreign exchange saving, without passing anything onto the green investor or the customer at large,” he said.

The company said it is “excited” to deliver turnkey power plants using renewable solar energy as a resource to Caribbean and Central American countries, and develop mutually beneficial and long-term relationships around the world.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=34798

Maroons Celebrate Independence

LEGOs On The Move

The power of learning -

LEGO yuh mind!

Published: Wednesday | January 25, 2012

Martin Baxter, Gleaner Writer

In the basement of a Jacks Hill address is a workshop envied by children the world over - more than 35,000 LEGO pieces in all shapes and sizes, meticulously categorised in order of colour and function.

Every few minutes, a youngster from Campion College comes and retrieves a single LEGO piece and takes it back to his work desk. This young man, 11-year-old Dylan Chin, is building a robotic car and using LEGO as its structure.

"This is what an axle is," he explained, giving The Gleaner a lesson in this seemingly sophisticated form of child's play.

"It allows you to put pieces such as gears, wheels and axle connectors on to them, and connector pins are used to join the beams, which are the main hardware of the robot that keep it together. So these pieces are essential for a robot because, without them, the robot would not stay together, or it would not be able to run as smoothly on the board."

In this basement, which is fitted with blackboards, a comprehensive inventory area and a work table, LEGO is no longer just a toy; it is the building block of life.

Empowering lives

Youngsters use the multi-coloured blocks to learn the complex study of robotics, creating their own designs and bringing them to life with the NXT LEGO brick. Fully programmable, with motor, sensor and USB ports, the NXT LEGO brick becomes the brain behind the robot and the bridge between designer and the design.

Dylan is one of 10 youngsters packed into the basement of Marvin Hall, founder of Halls of Learning, a Jamaica-based organisation dedicated to empowering the lives of people through education. The youngsters are participating in one of Hall's 'LEGO Yuh Mind' robotics workshops, offered as a summer programme, after-school activity and inner-city outreach.

Hall, who has a background in teaching, mathematics and computer science, is using the LEGO as an educational vector that can be embraced by all due to its simplicity. He said that for the next generation of Jamaica's engineers and scientists, LEGO is the perfect start.

"Children have an innate curiosity regardless of their background," said Hall, whose voice had to compete with the shrills of excitement from the children.

Building life skills

"Regardless of their class, once we put them in the experience, then as time passes, they become more and more experienced. Generally, the difference between someone who has never had a robotics workshop and is now 18 years old and someone who has been having a robotics workshop since he/she was eight is just two different levels of outlook on life and solving problems of thinking," he said.

"And it's not necessarily that Person A is brighter than Person B, it's really just what kinds of experiences they've (had) and how that positions them to solve problems in the future."

And this can be seen in the aspirations of some of the kids that make up the 'LEGO Yuh Mind' advanced after-school class.

Dylan says when he grows up he wants to be an aerospace engineer. Twelve-year-old Nathan Campbell, who attends Jamaica College, says he wants to be a robotics engineer. "I want to build cars and planes," he told The Gleaner.

"It is about inspiring the next generation of inventors, engineers, scientists, yes, but not everybody is going to become a scientist, okay?" Hall added.

"In another way, it's about developing a set of lifelong skills, you know. Your logical thinking is applicable in any field, your problem solving ability is applicable in any field, your sequential thinking, procedural thinking, your creativity, your ability to work on a team with people."

For more information about 'LEGO Yuh Mind' robotics and an exclusive interview with Marvin and his team, log on to www.jamaica-gleaner.com/videos.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120125/lead/lead3.html

Shade Grown? Or Growing Shady?

Coffee farmers seek Government stimulant

Published: Thursday January 12, 2012 | 12:42 pm

Several acres of Blue Mountain coffee- file photo

Jerome Reynolds, Gleaner Writer

The All Island Coffee Growers Association is calling for newly appointed agriculture minister Roger Clarke to immediately move to save the industry.

Association president Derrick Simon says the industry is on the brink of seeing the lowest coffee production in decades.

Simon says the low price per box of coffee, reduced markets, unfavourable weather conditions and farmers turning away from the cash crop are affecting the local coffee output.

He says the situation is further compounded by a severe berry borer infestation which he says has been ripping through coffee fields.

The coffee growers association president says based on his calculations he expects output for this crop season to be the lowest in recent years.

It is for this reason he says coffee farmers want the Government to indicate its position on the future of local coffee.

Recently, Christopher Gentles, Director General of the Coffee Industry Board, told the Gleaner that the projection for coffee production had been revised downward from a high of 234,000 boxes to about 150,000 because of issues affecting the industry.

jerome.reynolds@gleanerjm.com
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=34508