Dear Editor,
I am very disappointed in those involved in laying out the bus stops along Walter Nisbeth Road. In my opinion to lay out a bus stop does not take rocket science. Just material and space. I am sure that there is more than enough space along Walter Nisbeth Road, especially on the pond side, to lay out a decent bus stop.
Article 18 of the traffic ordinance states that it is prohibited to stop a vehicle within five meters of both sides of a signboard indicating a bus stop unless otherwise indicated. Meaning if another distance (10m) is indicated then it is not allowed to stop within 10 meters of the sign.
Even though there is ample space on Walter Nisbeth Road to lay out the bus stops in a responsible way, and not against the law because certain Ministers say so, I believe that there was never any intention to lay out those bus stops in the correct way. Absolutely no consideration was taken to lay out those bus stops the way they should be laid out, taking the traffic law into consideration. Not a brain surgery, just a measuring tape, some stakes, either cement or pitch, your bus stop sign and you gone clear. You do not need a bus stop hut, those are not mentioned in the traffic ordinance.
If it is not irresponsible then those involved do not care, because the bus stop signs are right next to lamp posts, next to snack trucks, even though there is ample space to make inlets so that the buses can get off the road to let out or pick up passengers.
Neither was space for that five meters on either side of the signboard taken into consideration, Where there is an inlet the inlet is barely three meters wide, but extra effort was made to assure that those bus stop huts were placed along the road, whether they are a confusion or not.
Since we are talking about article 18 of the Traffic ordinance, there are at least 15 places mentioned in that article where it is forbidden to stop with a vehicle. In my days I would have field days with those gypsies stopping any- and everywhere along the road. I would have grossly contributed in paying my own salary.
Again I have to repeat: Public transportation should be in the hands of the public. The fate of those without transportation should never be left up to the bus permit holders. There is no getting away from this.
Those politicians who have been in government for years, no matter which party, are all responsible for the mess that the public transportation is in presently. Nine governments in nine years and every government has used the public transportation to get voters to vote for them.
Nobody protects anybody forever, so we hear these things all the time. I came and met that saying “the longest rope has an end,” but I have experienced many situations which have proven it true. Another way to say that is that “the pitcher goes to the well so often ’til at last it comes up broken.”
Another politician was arrested and charged. Are we aiming to break and set a world record?
Between Curaçao and Aruba there are about eight baseball players in the major leagues and they are at the top in their positions on their teams. To me relatively that is number one in the world. But that is a very positive thing.
I can make the same comparison with our St. Maarten politicians and people in government when it concerns the amounts of arrests. Relatively it is also number one in the world, but that is a very bad and negative thing. So I would suggest for us to undo those wrong things and let us begin by showing maturity and, for instance, tackle the public transportation.
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
Thank you for another very read-worthy Teen Times edition. Please allow me to respond to one of the articles, in particular the one about “local inspiration Dr. Jonas Wilson”.
Dr. Wilson returned enthusiastically to St. Maarten in August 2018 as medical doctor and biomolecular engineer, ready to serve his homeland and welcomed with open arms by family and friends and an article in The Daily Herald, but will soon leave our island a major illusion poorer and frustrated.
How can it be that a small country continually loses inspirational young professionals because they feel stagnated by our poor Governmental “organization” at all levels (executive, legislative and implementing).
As the new leader of the Party for Progress (PFP) Melissa Gumbs explains: “St. Maarten is faced with many issues that have not improved due to a start/stop attitude that has been present from before 10-10-10,” which (I add) has been compounded by the fact that we are a multicultural village, expected to take country responsibility with growing pains that are inflated by political egos that favor talking and (as Teen Times describes) a crab mentality over structural, long term planning and effective, pro-active action.
Let’s face it. Any country that is financially broke and needs foreign financial assistance to pay the salaries of its civil servants, has politicized the re-building of its most important tourist gateway (the airport), approves governmental budgets 8-9 months into the year with, according to its own audit chamber, poor if non-existent accountability while having expensive governmental executive changes on a yearly basis is bound to float around as a lame duck and obviously “pray” to powers with more structural and organizational experience or, in worst case, others with criminal intentions.
We can blame the Dutch, but more realistically we should look in our own yard that is riddled with poor structure and inconsistent implementation of regulations, if implemented at all or often colored by favoritism and nepotism. We often lack the guts and out-of-the-box thinking to create progress and stability while many are afraid to take responsibility and rather point to others to take the lead. We feel stuck to antiquated rules and keep saying, “Well … this is St. Maarten,” expressing the feeling that we can’t expect much better.
Coming back to Dr. Wilson, who will be leaving St. Maarten soon due to his frustrations with the government apparatus and, as he states, “reverse culture shock,” archaic rules and regulations at the level of the national legislature.
Born on the French side but raised in Cole Bay, having Dutch nationality and permanent resident status, his Saint Martin-born parents living on the Dutch side from before his birth, according to literal interpretation of our country ordinances he should be seen as a “son of the soil”. Even according to our constitution he should have all the rights to be treated equally, but he was confronted with personal interpretations of ordinances and was not accepted as ‘real’ local.
Our governments, even in our constitution, have never formulated in detail who should be seen as a son or daughter of the soil because no one dares to take the risk to either include or alienate the many persons who have over decades contributed to the development of this country.
Despite handing in all the required documents, it took him more than 6 months to obtain a ministerial decision (MB) to work as house officer in our hospital.
Reading through the Teen Times article, hearing from colleagues and nurses at the hospital and from my own conversations with Dr. Wilson I have to deduce that he is not only an excellent physician, but has outstanding social and communication skills extremely important for progress in our Health Care field.
I’m also aware that, although he had not finished a specialization in the field, his intention was to serve our community as a general practitioner. Far-reaching plans with one of the clinics were made to be trained by two family practitioners, both with 35 years of experience, both trained as Dutch general practitioners. The training was anticipated to give Dr. Wilson the best possible opportunity to familiarize himself with our local health care field and the multilingual/multicultural as well as organizational aspects that come along with it. Agreed it would not be exactly similar to a Dutch or UK training and wouldn’t give him a diploma, but it was envisioned and planned to be close to a local equivalent.
Government has given physicians permits to work as general practitioners who have no formal training as GP but have worked at the Emergency Room for a number of years, while working at the ER obviously trains you to work in emergency care but doesn’t necessarily train you to work in family practice where the approach is much more geared towards long-term medical support, psycho-social problems, preventative health and interpersonal (family) relations.
Our government, however, thought the planned extensive GP training for Dr. Wilson was not sufficient and will only accept an official training abroad. Mind you, a training in Holland or the UK as alternatives would train the young physician for the typical Dutch or UK health care situation but would not help this physician to adjust to the local insurance and health care practices.
In the coming 1-5 years 11 of the 23 general practitioners will retire in St. Maarten. One would think that keeping capable and interested local physicians on-island and training them locally would make sense especially because it will be almost impossible to obtain sufficient replacements for the GPs retiring, most probably creating a shortage in General Practice the coming years.
Several of the current GPs have already indicated that they will just close their clinics and leave patients to seek alternative care, creating a gap in continuity of especially chronic care. That at a time when preventative and cost-effective chronic care will become more important to keep health care cost controlled.
Government seems not to have a plan how to anticipate to this looming health care gap.
We’re losing locals and there are insufficient local doctors in training to replace those that will retire. It’s sad to see a young enthusiastic local physician leave our country frustrated, but fortunately for him with excellent prospects elsewhere, so with little inclination to come back to a poorly-organized country unless St. Maarten really makes some effective changes, cleans up its yard and makes use of its local talent.
Gerard van Osch, MD
Dear Editor,
Please permit me to express my views as a young person who is into research and understanding the dynamics of politics. I learned that unlike Aruba and Curaçao, St. Maarten did not make the number of seats in Parliament match that of their former Island Council upon attaining an autonomous status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands on October 10, 2010.
Unlike Aruba and Curaçao which consisted of 21 Island Council members, St. Maarten had a total of 11 Island Council members, but chose instead to have a parliament of 15 seats based on the population size. An 11-seat parliament would have been extremely hard for new parties to reach the seat quota which is the total of valid votes divided by available seats. This link between the size of Parliament and the size of the population can be seen in Article 8 of the Dutch Municipalities Act, which states: “The size of the Municipal Council is determined by the population of the municipality”.
Article 45 in our Constitution also clearly states that Parliament will consist of 15 members if the population is 60,000 or less, but it will be increased to 17 members if the population is more than 60,000. Article 45 further states that “An increase or reduction in the number of Members of Parliament arising from a change in the population of the country first takes effect on the next regular election of Parliament.”
In June 2010, St. Maarten had a total number of 53,653 registered inhabitants; therefore, it satisfied Article 45 of the Constitution. But recent updates show that St. Maarten now has a total of 61,723 registered inhabitants. Based on Article 45 of our Constitution and Article 8 of the Dutch Municipalities Act, our parliament should increase by two members at the next “regular” elections, bringing it to 17.
So I would like to know if this increase in the number of seats in Parliament will take place after this election or will it be overlooked because of snap elections?
Article 59 of the Constitution instructs that a new parliament must be in place within three months after the dissolution of Parliament on September 23, 2019; hence the initial date for Parliamentary elections being November 25. This would have seen a new Parliament installed by December 23, 2019.
Since, according to the former prime minister, there is a lack of alignment between the electoral law and Article 59 of the Constitution, the elections date of November 25 has been thrown out with a new one set for January 2020.
At this point, we the people of St. Maarten need an interpretation of the word “regular” from the architects of our Constitution as we move forward in electing the 10th Parliament in as many years. Do we stick to 15 seats or has the time come for us to increase by two?
Omar Ottley
Dear Editor,
Bonaire, an island in the Southern Caribbean, is lobbying the United Nations and the World to re-list it on the Non-Self-Governing Territories List of the United Nations protective list.
Dear Editor,
Now grant me the pleasure of indulging us St. Maarteners that in Aruba funny stuff happens too. This inspired innovative individual managed a sincere portrayal of grief and in such found me.
Up he walked to my bar today, carrying a heavy tome of important-looking data, claiming to a meeting with my boss for a long-promised donation intended for his dying-of-a-hole-in-the-heart granddaughter. Now strange really, whose boss is ever around on a Sunday? However, being boring as this Sunday was I lent an ear and heard such, along I played.
Him claiming because of the party in government, the MEP, in Aruba, they decided not to give his granddaughter any AZV insurance for a life-saving operation abroad solely because he was from the opposing party the AVP.
Wow, okay, on he went how everyone knew him and how he found God after addiction issues and was sent now as a messenger to help his granddaughter.
Still no clients in, boring day as I mentioned, I asked further. Out came the phone video with a toddler in a wheel-walking kiddy thingy, cute as a button, obviously ill though.
However, he didn’t have time to hide the headline. This was a sick kid in Atlanta. I had seen the video before. Feeding the story, I said, “Sorry I don’t have any money, but come tomorrow, call my boss for a meeting or talk to his wife.”
“How much is a glass of Merlot?” he suddenly asked. “Well, sir, it is $6, great wine, good price,” I answered. “Ok I’ll have one and deduct it from the donation your boss will give me tomorrow.”
I’m so not kidding you!
I sent him to the Chinee and told him they had little Merlot bottles for Aruba florins 4.50. He happily replied, “I know I go there all the time,”
A great laugh on a boring Sunday!
M.I.A. Roos
