ORIENT BAY--Concessionaires of the new restaurants on Orient Beach, between Pedro’s and Kon Tiki, are up in arms over the amount of rent the Collectivité is charging them and refuse to sign contracts and take possession of keys until they get a meeting to discuss the issue with either President Aline Hanson or Vice-President Guillaume Arnell.
The tenants summoned the press to a meeting at the site on Saturday afternoon. They have been invited to sign contracts and pay the first month’s deposit of 2,500 euros on January 12.
“We cannot afford to pay the restaurant rent of 2,500 euros per month; it is very high,” said Leandra Carti from Chez Leandra. “That’s a big difference to the 450 euros we paid before. The buildings are made out of wood, there’s no roof over the decks and the bathrooms are in the wrong place facing the customers instead of being at the side or at the back.
“We’ve already lost almost four months of business in season because of the delays, on top of the seven to eight months last summer. The Collectivité has to do something for us, that’s why we are demanding a meeting. We don’t want a war or a demonstration.”
By contrast, Carti said, lolos in Grand Case pay 500 euros per month and they are open day and night, and lolos in Marigot pay between 400 and 600 euros per month.
The group indicated all of the original proprietors were retained, however, throughout the construction period repeated letters of concern to President Hanson, Vice-Presidents Arnell and Wendel Cocks went unanswered.
“Concerns were raised about the disparities in the building codes that were quite evident at the site, but no one would give us an audience,” said one of the tenants. “It seems the St. Martiner has no voice. The parking lot is not finished, there are no lights, the kitchens are made out of wood with no drains and the deck of each restaurant needs to be covered.
“There’s no access for a heavy truck to access the beach to clean and take away the Sargassum weed, and the access road to the beach is in a dreadful state with potholes. We don’t know what is going on and nobody official from the Collectivité is talking to us.”
One tenant even questioned “where the money went” on a project made entirely out of wood that cost, according to the Collectivité, 3.8 million euros.
Another complaint brought up concerned Kon Tiki creating another entrance to a new bar on their beach right next to the new units. The group fears this will attract more customers to Kon Tiki than to their restaurants.
District One representative Steven Patrick, who was at the meeting, said it was “irresponsible” of the Collectivité to be receiving “some 80 applications” when it was clear the original proprietors were to be given first priority to occupy the new units. On the 2,500 euro rent, he said this sent a message that St. Martiners were not wanted.
“The Collectivité should be helping the local population, not pricing them out of their daily livelihood. Are these people expected to join the unemployment line? We already have a poor economy,” he said.
President of True Hope for St. Martin Jules Charville agreed, adding: “government should be here to serve the population, improve the life of its citizens, but that’s not the impression I’m getting here.”
Phone calls to Guillaume Arnell and Wendel Cocks to obtain a reaction went unanswered on Sunday.
