Dear Editor,
Let’s start with the big one – Both sides have always recognized the need for an incinerator plant, which independently neither can afford. Positioning an incinerator plant for both countries to use would be the single ‘best’ shared investment solution, so at the top of this list.
Both sides need a prison – combined we are only 36 square miles, how many maximum security prisoners do we have between us? Or, are we going about this the wrong way? Should we under a partnership agreement with St. Martin export our serious criminals to the Guadeloupe penitentiary and in return offer our prison converted to a minimum security halfway house, where minor offenders can work (for minimal pay) during the day, clearing the dump, cleaning roads, or as labourers on construction sites learning a new trade for after their release?
Both sides need help to restructure their tax and immigration systems – so why can’t every resident on the island have ID cards which are linked not only to their immigration status but also to their tax records, so that if they are not both immigration and tax compliant they can be caught at routine traffic stops or at the airports on departure or arrival?
We had that tax system 20 years ago, who can forget the requirement of re-entry permits and confiscated passports! But, an ID card linked to the tax system would be so much simpler.
Both sides have horrendous traffic congestion – isn’t now the time to introduce a luxury tax on car imports of 50%, a gasoline tax of $2 per gallon and (lets go one step further), a $10 per day additional tax on all rental cars. Obviously this would only work if both sides of the island were to agree and make it law, but apart from generating tax revenue and reducing traffic, this would also stimulate the public transportation and taxi operators.
None of these car taxes are new to the Caribbean, most islands charge up to 100% luxury tax, gasoline is $5-$7 a gallon (and more across Europe), and where in the world can you rent a car for less than $100 per day, certainly not in any other Caribbean nation.
Both sides should provide ferry services – between Philipsburg and Marigot and branch out to all accessible hotels and beaches; apart from providing an additional form of public transportation, the ferry rides could be promoted as an island tourist attraction.
Come on St. Maarten/St. Martin. It’s easy to get buried by the problems and most of the above I am sure have already been discussed and considered, but when it requires legislation for both sides of the island to benefit, only together can we find the solutions.
Name withheld at author's request.
Dear Editor,
Today, Thursday, November 23, 2017, I witnessed a very troubling situation which resulted by the inability of the current government to manage the people’s health insurance. This way of working by incompetent and negligent people produced this situation.
Dear Editor,
The answer to that has to be nobody and everybody. You want to say “the poor” and the uninsured, but if you own a home, any type or size of home, you cannot be considered “poor” – you own a home; and if you are going to reward the uninsured how will this encourage anyone to insure in the future?
As a homeowner, you should be able to put up your home as security to replace or rebuild your roof. If you have no insurance or the insurance funds are not enough because you want to build back a stronger or concrete roof, then monies from the recovery fund of Holland could very easily lend you those funds secured by a first (or second) mortgage over five, 10 or 20 years, at a very low one per cent annual interest rate.
Authorization of these loans could be fast tracked in days through local banks and notaries much the same way as the normal procedures for a mortgage; at reduced fees which would also be paid by the recovery fund and added to the balance outstanding. Repayments can be postponed 18–24 months based on an as need basis, and of course the funds would have to be paid directly to the contractors on a draw- down basis to avoid any suspicion of misappropriation of funds.
Now, take this same procedure and apply it to small business (as long as the business owns the real estate to guarantee the repayment by mortgage). Step this up to the major hoteliers, who are in a greater predicament because they drive our economy; everybody is in the same situation.
So, can we all agree that everybody is entitled to a roof big and small, rich and poor, and nobody is asking for it to be free. They all just need help. If Holland is providing $500m, and we can show them how they would receive their money back, who is to say they wouldn’t lend us more? Or help us again in a future catastrophic event.
Name withheld at author's request.
Dear Editor,
Good day, Minister Christophe Emmanuel. Allow me to bring this matter forward.
Dear Editor,
There was an interesting article in the paper yesterday concerning the observation by the police that “people are more violent than normal” since the storm and somehow this is surprising. This was followed up with some psycho-babble from the police psychologist who attributes all this to some mysterious transformation that occurs in the event of stress or disaster.
Really? Is it all that complicated and mysterious? I don’t think so. You fundamentally have two groups of people in this world. There are those that believe in the rule of law and decency and those that don’t. There is nothing you can do about those that don’t except, perhaps tie cement blocks to their feet and drop them in the ocean.
For the rest of us we have the police and the judicial system to rely on for our safety. So what happens when the police and judicial system abdicate their responsibility to protect the law-abiding and responsible citizen? Then the citizen is charged with the simple responsibility to protect themselves using any and all means possible.
If a person is drowning and the lifeguard if off having drinks with his girlfriend does the person just say, “Oh well, I guess that’s it” and just drown? No, they fight for their life. And with all due respect to the police and their psychologist, that’s what people are doing now. They are fighting for their lives, often with no support or response from police or anyone in authority.
An example, if I may. Several weeks ago I had occasion to have several young punk looters trying to gain entry to my property. The dogs held them at bay but in the meantime I called 911. In a nutshell I described the situation as one of imminent danger to the operator. She said police were “just up the street.” No one ever responded even after a second and third call. Fortunately, a neighbor came home and changed the odds and the thieves fled, but hung around for a long time at some distance and still there was no police response.
So what does that lead me to believe? Simple. It tells me in no uncertain terms that I and thousands like me are on our own and that the next time they show up I won’t waste any time calling 911. I will respond myself with all available force no matter how badly off that leaves the looters. There will be no mercy or measured response. If they come again then they come at their own risk.
And that, Ms. Veltman, is not some deep and mysterious psychological change that takes over people and makes them more aggressive. It is a simple proactive self-defense mechanism that people adopt that keeps them from becoming victims when the law fails to protect them.
Do I think the police are doing a bad job? Good question. All I have are my observations before, during and after the storm. How many police uniforms did I see when I watched 1,000 people loot the Great Bay Hotel for days until there was nothing left? None. It wasn’t until well after all the damage was done weeks later that the first officers showed up and chased people away ... for 10 minutes.
The first officers I actually saw doing police work were road controls checking for tinted windows ... a well-known and critically important function after a natural disaster and resulting humanitarian crisis.
During the LA riots some years ago there was lots of TV footage of whole city blocks of looted and burned buildings. Interestingly there were small groups of properties left untouched. Why? Because the owners of those properties (primarily Vietnamese immigrants) had stood guard with shotguns and M-16s and the looters knew that going there would be a very very bad idea. And they were right.
Ms. Veltman, I suggest to you that it is not the citizens that need a psychological makeover but more likely those charged with the responsibility to protect them. Those who were supposed to run towards the gunfire because that was their job instead of heading in the other direction with their eyes closed.
Steven Johnson
