Dear Editor,
On reading a letter sent to you with the heading "Don't miss the simple solutions," I was wondering whether that letter was to really get the pedestrian crossings painted or if it was directed to those of us who write to you regularly.
Let me say this. Writing to you is not an obligation of anyone so no one decides what should be written or not. I do not react to individuals because I maintain that everyone has a right to his/her opinion. Even when my name is mentioned in letters to you, if no further explanation is necessary, I do not react. I do not question peoples' reason for writing or not writing.
By now I think that government is aware that government is responsible for the maintenance of the roads and the signage. I have written many letters to the editors of newspapers, but I have never written anything about boating or the lagoon, which I very well can because I was among the first members of the Maritime Police and even before that dealt with several cases in Great bay and the lagoon. But let bygones be bygones.
Maintaining the painting and signage on the roads are simple things and should be constantly done for the safety on the roads, but in all fairness, just like those thousands of drivers who use the cell phone while driving, not paying attention to the process of the traffic, too often drivers are confronted with pedestrians who go along their merry way disregarding the traffic crossing the street while talking on the phone.
I write about a lot of things but not simple things that are obvious; those I leave for knit-pickers or those who want a stick to beat a dog. I get on the phone or go personally to those involved. Incidentally, about two months ago you could have noticed workers painting the border around the sidewalk by GEBE yellow. That happened within a week after I spoke to the gentleman in charge of that department by GEBE. MP Maurice Lake could attest to the fact that during his tenure as Minister I pointed out several places that needed to be painted and he had it done.
I am a sticker for doing the little things. Let me repeat myself for the umpteenth time. In issuing permits to businesses, government should "make a deal" if not make it a condition that those businesses should maintain the roof of a school or paint it, maintain a section of the road, etc. I know that painting is an essential part of boating, so probably the author of that letter could consider the maintenance of some street markings since this is low hanging fruit in the long process of making St. Maarten as great as it can be.
Russell A. Simmons
