Dear Editor,
Over the years while travelling I have always visited museums when possible. By doing this I have found out that, "What be is not "what is". In museum or musea one can see 'what was till what has become'. In so doing I have also visited authentic black museums in the USA and found out that a whole lot of inventions were made by slaves but patented by their owners. One of the reasons a lot of inventions are not registered under the original inventors' names. One could conclude hereby that the slave was very smart.
Accepted, because it took intelligence and insight, but I believe that necessity urged the creativity. They found ways to make tools to lighten their work. There are so many examples of taking credit instead of earning credit, but this letter is not about black history nor promoting blackism, it’s about forgetting the politics and political power. It is about making use of the urgency to rebuild Sint Maarten and being creative.
Use the urgency and necessity to be creative in the name of general interest and applying emergency measures. It is about the insensitivity of the businesses and especially the hardware stores. Irma came, did what she did, and left the whole of St. Martin upside down, and every, yes, every hardware store, both Dutch and French literally jacked up their prices by at least one hundred percent.
What made me write this letter to you so many months after Irma is the fact that two young people came to me and wanted to know, "If Holland could bring building materials to Sint Maarten in those war ships just like they bring the police cars too, because our mother used up all her savings trying to repair our house, and we still got a whole lot more to fix".
This hit home, because just everybody else, I too am experiencing the same thing. No question that there will be bureaucracy involved, but we know that our long but not so lost sister Suriname has a lot of wood. I also know that where there is a will there is a way, And I also know that there are still important ties between the ex-kingdom partners, so I think that that is also one of the avenues that could be used to get where we want to.
Take it or leave it, but the only thing is done on the part of government is that they are sitting with their arms crossed while the insurance companies are shafting everyone, even our own airport. There is a lot of millions floating around, which because of political power struggle and arbitrariness cannot reach the people and Mark Rutte comes to Sint Maarten and tries to insult the intelligence of the people by praising our elderly, who, everyone knows, need to be attended to themselves, but the Prime Minister does not let the people know why he came.
I do not believe that between the lines he is telling government that the elderly are doing more for themselves than government is doing for the people. So, then I must ask myself, is it Irma, is it the unscrupulous business owners, or is it the different governments, who is really the enemy to the people in this case?
When we put two and two together and we know that many ex-and present politicians have all kinds of business permits and are renting them out, and we know for years now that absolutely nothing is being done about price control, would not a chunk of those relief monies be indirectly going back to the original permit holders? So yes, am I for meticulously control of those moneys. And since that question from those two young people I would even say bring the material. We import everything anyhow. so why not see what for instance Suriname can do for us. Cut out the greedy, overzealous, inconsiderate middle man. That suggestion from those two young people sounds more and more like the way to go.
Necessity urges creativity. If this is not in the general interest of the country, what is? One of my father's philosophies in life was to educate through sayings and proverbs, and he would tell us to pick sense out of nonsense. One of his sayings was: the only people you should get even with are those who help you.
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
There is a need to clear up the difference between the terms dump and landfill. Minister Lee had already mentioned this in one of the morning briefing sessions that are aired on the radio.
In both Thursday’s and Friday’s, The Daily Herald, the articles pertaining to the dump use the terms dump and landfill interchangeably. Perhaps it would help explain the cost of getting rid of the dump and replacing it with a controlled landfill (and the obvious benefits of doing so) if the people of St. Maarten understood the differences between the two, and the terms dump and landfill are not used interchangeably.
The difference between a dump and a landfill:
A dump is a hole in the ground with trash simply piled in it. A landfill is a sophisticated, engineered construction project that makes use of the latest science to protect the environment.
Landfills use science and engineering to prevent pollution, help the environment and protect our health. Trash is covered at the end of every day to prevent odours and to stop it from flying away.
Landfill gas is created when the buried trash decomposes. This landfill gas is collected in pipes and recycled into electricity and fuel. (several offers were made to the SXM government to do this in the past several years; all were refused for reasons unknown).
Materials that may be dangerous, such as hazardous or radioactive waste, as well as batteries, are not allowed at the landfill. Certain materials, such as glass, tires, and green waste are recycled at landfills.
Billowing, thick black clouds of toxic smoke blanketing large parts of the Dutch side, forcing people to stay in their homes with the windows shut for days on end, as well as large numbers of tourists fleeing the boardwalk to get back to their cruise ship will hopefully be a thing of the past soon. That is up to the government of St. Maarten to decide.
A concerned citizen
Dear Editor,
Citing high fares and inconvenient flight connections, many regular visitors are not coming to the island this year and may not come even next year.
The airlift to the island has been drastically reduced after Irma. The few airlines that are flying to SXM are charging very high fares.
The airport is in shambles. It is operating out of two tents but yet PJIA authorities have not reduced their charges for the non-existent services they are currently providing to the airlines and passengers.
These exorbitant airport charges are inbuilt into the price of the ticket.
It is easy to blame airlines for the high prices to fly to this island, but how can we expect them to reduce their fares if PJIA is not reducing the airport usage charges for airlines and their passengers.
How can we expect others to help us, if we are not willing to help ourselves?
Charity begins at home. Let us be charitable to ourselves before we expect others to be charitable to us.
More visitors will come to this island if airfares are low. The hotels and other businesses will rebuild faster when they realize that more tourists are coming to the island and subsequently the airlift to the island will increase when the hotel inventory increases, which in turn will increase the revenue of PJIA and all other businesses on the island.
The entire economy of this island and its prosperity is dependent on the ecosystem of cooperation.
I hope someone in charge is listening and will set the ball rolling.
Juggie
Dear Editor,
It is human nature not to look at oneself first. We often neglect our own power of responsibility. I have never depended on government to tell me or to show me how to pick myself up and engage in volunteer work, work with young people, Carnival, etc. I am a citizen of this country and I always knew I had a role to fulfil to my community. It is a life principle I relay to the youth I work with daily.
The common phrase that we only "give someone their flowers when they are dead" predictably is being repeated often the past 48 hours after the passing of well-known folks. In most instances, government is the target, the entity that failed to recognize our people.
While not dismissing anyone's opinion, I do believe that some of it has merit, it is not entirely true that flowers only appear when people leave us. What is closer to the truth is that as a community, we only pay attention to the flowers when the person has left us. That's the other side of the coin.
There have been several organizations, government included, who have recognized numerous people and given them their flowers over the years during several events. The Carnival Foundation for example, of which I'm a proud member, has honoured more than 20 cultural icons over the past five years alone. Not just for their work for Carnival, but for culture in general. Who remembers these folks (all are alive) and did you pay attention?
Have you read all the stories? Followed the coverage? Took part in the nomination processes? Attended any of the events? Or did you scroll or flip past it and paid more attention to "click bait" items? When government asks to submit nominations for youth prizes or cultural awards, do you nominate anyone? Have you gotten together with some other like-minded people to determine what you can do as a citizen in recognizing our people and enhancing their importance to our cultural psyche? Or did you talk today then return to your routine the following day until the next opportunity arises to talk about flowers?
The honouring of people is not an exercise that exclusively belongs to government. As citizens we too have a role to fulfil to our community. We too can and probably should collectively decide to recognize our heroes and fete them the way we think they should be feted and remembered. We too would have all failed our community with our inaction, just as much as those at whom we are pointing fingers.
We have a responsibility to St. Maarten as her citizens. The strength of our communities was cemented through the actions and initiatives of our service clubs and other citizen groups. We stand on the shoulders of those people who never waited on government to show them the way. Lately we have become trapped by social media, preferring to stay in this box and shout, rather than climb out and get to work.
The Amazing Roland “Paben” Bryson and the Dedicated Roy Marlin never waited around. They got up and they served in their own ways; one through culture, the other through public service. The best way to remember them is to get up and serve. Lay praise on them yes, recall their accolades, absolutely, but honour them by following their example of doing for country.
We do our island and its heroes injustice if we continue to neglect the power of collective responsibility (in all aspects). If you, as a citizen of this country, feel that something more should be done to honour our people, just do it. Start tomorrow.
Michael R. Granger
Dear Editor,
In the new building codes, can we please ban the use of Spanish tiles! Yes, they look great and sexy but they are not a product for any hurricane-ravaged territory.
I made the mistake of using tile on my own home. Apart from having to replace almost my entire roof, when I looked over at my neighbors my tiles had become missiles and caused much of their damage – their house looked like I had used a machine gun!
Please folks, anyone renewing their roof – if you want the Spanish tile look, use the fake panels; or after the next hurricane, risk the wrath and scorn of your once-friendly neighbors!
Name withheld on author’s request.
