Dear Editor,
Please allow me some space in your newspaper to address the Board of the Philipsburg Jubilee Library.
Members of the Board: On April 19, 2016, at 5:00pm, I received a disturbing phone call from my 13 year old daughter who visited the library, telling me that she was inappropriately touched by a young man who seemed to be ‘dirty, un-kempt and violent looking,’ while she was looking for a book for a report that was due at school.
I hurriedly left my job, which was fortunately a minute away from the library, to finally meet my daughter all alone and scared at the far end of the check-in counter at the library.
I immediately asked where the man had gone. Luckily for him, he had already left. I then sought the assistance of one of the administrative clerks, who then called the director so that I could speak to her.
Upon speaking to the director Ms. Monique Albert’s, she initially apologized about what had taken place but after several questions posed to her, she explained that this gentleman apparently was banned from the library already for touching someone else’s daughter. Yet somehow he managed to find himself back at the library, undetected by the staff and was able to yet again inappropriately put his filthy hands on my child.
My daughter who was so scared, walked away quickly towards the front of the library but was hesitant to react due to the violent look of this person.
When I asked Ms. Albert’s that “if this man was already banned, why was he still allowed to enter the library”? She responded that “there was no security at the time and that the security comes in at 5:00pm,” (at this time it was already around 5:15pm and no security guards were in sight.)
When asked, “what about the safety of our children who frequent the library from 1:00pm to 5:00pm when there’s no security available?” She responded that “security is very expensive and that this could have also happened on the streets”!!!
On the Streets? Well, Ms. Albert’s you are absolutely correct! The only obvious fact was that this incident did not take place on the streets, but within the apparently ‘not-so-safe’ walls of your establishment!
What an ignorant comment! It left me literally at a loss for words, not only from the lack of measures taken by the library’s director Ms. Albert’s, but also by her nonchalant demeanor and inability to establish a system that doesn’t really need to tap into the libraries finances to create a safer place for our children.
I am a mother of three girls, 6, 12 and 13 years old, who all frequent the library several times a month for book reports and/or projects due at school. Am I supposed to chaperone my girls to the library several times a week or shouldn’t measures be set in place that would allow our kids to feel and be safe?
Although I am aware that the library is a public place and banning someone from the library might not be such an easy task, I ask myself, is it that difficult to have professionals take affirmative steps to ensure the safety of our kids? Is it that difficult to have precautionary measures in place for all children and library patrons alike?
How difficult is it for a staff to be more alert of their visitors/patrons and surroundings and keep an eye out for suspicious behaviour? Especially dirty, violent-looking un-kempt individuals walking into a building and passing directly in front of the staff’s reception area. This incident took place in the isle a few feet away from the check-in counters, you are able to see directly in that area even from the outside on the streets!
The library environment can be compared with that of a school environment, it is a place where children congregate, do their homework/projects etc. all year round and Ms. Albert’s response to me is that this could have happened on the streets.
Although this incident was reported to the police and a complaint filed, it doesn’t change what has happened to my daughter, to those previous to her, and what will continue to happen to other young innocent girls unless serious measures are taken.
Should the situation get violent or someone’s daughter hurt before we act? Do we want another situation where a child was beaten on the streets almost to a pulp by some psychotic person as had happened a few years ago? Because as Ms. Albert’s put it, it could have happen on the streets also as if saying being in the library is the same as my daughter being on the streets. Again bringing us back to the safety of our kids at the library!
Who looks out for them, who cares about them, who will put their safety first?
Failure to take adequate action can cause far more damage to a situation rather than take simple preventative measures!
A simple and non-expensive measure would be to enforce a policy where all visiting adults are asked to register with a registered ID before being able to enter or access the library. This way any pervert who really isn’t there to do anything productive might think twice before entering, knowing his information has been registered and he could easily be pinpointed after acting out his sick fantasy with another one of our innocent children.
A few words of advice for the library’s director Ms. Alberts:
If you suspect and/or know that there is a safety problem, especially involving children, take personal responsibility for doing something to address it. This means speaking up persistently and widely until effective action is taken to fix that problem. Don’t just tell someone, even if that person is in a position of authority, and assume that your responsibility is at an end. Follow up to see what is happening. Realize that children and young people who are being targeted or abused need help and protection – and that anyone who is abusing them needs to be stopped.
I pray that the Board of the Library will take immediate measures to ensure and put the safety of our children first! Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Bertil Acuna-Lopez
Dear Editor,
On Saturday evening I went to the Carnival Village for the Night of the Hit Makers show.
I wanted to see Tsunami, the band from Aruba perform, so I got into town early as they were the first performance for the night.
To my horror, when I got into town, I noticed that all (and I mean “all”) public parking facilities were closed, including the public parking on the Clem Labega Square.
Dear Editor,
LIAT Airlines has been a vital factor in the commercial and tourism life blood of the Caribbean for decades. However, the company has now had three CEO’s and two Acting CEO’s in the last seven years, evidence of LIAT’s challenges.
Commentary on its unfathomable financial strategy, its lack of published accounts and its, arguably, unnecessary and hugely expensive fleet replacement is already well published. The perception over many years of poor operations management, ineffective marketing and gross over staffing has made the LIAT brand a liability, rather than an asset, in the international airline world. I will not add further here to the list of woes.
Given the ongoing expansion of three competitor airlines in the Eastern Caribbean, it is possible that LIAT will soon succumb to private sector competition or, maybe, a merger can save it. In any event, one significant challenge remains for LIAT and its competitor Caribbean based airlines.
To quote David Evans, LIAT’s newly departed CEO, “I can give you many examples of journeys around the region where the tax on the ticket is the same amount as the ticket.” Evans continued, “We will sell you a ticket for US $100 dollars in LIAT but you will actually pay US $200 for it because the other $100 will be tax. That’s an extreme example but by and large 40 to 50 per cent of all the tickets that we sell, that proportion is the amount of tax so that’s a major issue.”
The tax situation Evans refers to above is one of the more obvious examples of Caribbean governments targeting the “stay-over” visitor as part of their attempt to balance budgets in these continuing difficult economic circumstances. The various airline ticket taxes place a significant financial burden on business people travelling between the islands and on tourists from within and outside the region. The result is that the volume of Caribbean inter island air traffic has declined steeply over the last decade and the law of diminishing returns surely applies to the associated tax revenues.
A similar situation exists with Caribbean hotels, where several governments in the region have again increased hotel occupancy taxes, imposing a direct additional cost for those same “stay-over” visitors - business people and tourists. Hotel room taxes now average well over 10 per cent across the Caribbean. Given the very high operating costs of hotels, particularly for smaller properties on the smaller islands, any additional occupancy tax cannot be absorbed within their room rates. The overall tax burden is part of the reason why there is a significant lack of re-investment in many Caribbean hotels with a consequent reduction in their level of competiveness in an ever tougher global market place.
Under financial pressure, many governments have reduced their tourism boards’ destination marketing budgets, which also most directly impacts the smaller hotels and the smaller islands. By contrast, Sandals remains successful because of its high budget direct consumer marketing and its economies of scale, although even that company has had to implement some cost reduction strategies over recent years.
At the same time, on most Caribbean islands, hotels represent the largest percentage of private sector employers and, consequently, drive the largest part of income tax revenue and national insurance contributions. The hotel sector is also a significant generator of government revenue from import duties, corporation tax, property taxes and VAT (where applicable). “Stay-over” visitors spend significant amounts of money on hotels and restaurants – revenue which is quickly and widely dispersed throughout an island economy. Many economists might argue that, as the largest earners of foreign currency in many islands, hotels should enjoy greater fiscal benefits as an “export” industry.
With justification, Caribbean governments will argue that they are under enormous pressure to balance budgets and need to increase tax revenues in order to provide an adequate standard of public sector services to their citizens. However, there is one obvious target where tax revenue could be increased from a sector of the tourism industry, other than the “milk cow” of the Caribbean’s hotels and airlines.
That sector is the cruise line industry, which currently makes a much lesser direct economic contribution in most islands than the local hotels and airlines.
Cruise lines have transformed their business model in recent years – larger, more cost efficient ships with more onboard facilities and lower ticket prices. These changes have resulted in 82 per cent of the discretionary spending of a cruise ship passenger now being captured onboard. That change, combined with shorter stays in ports and lower budget passengers means that many cruise passengers avoid hiring a taxi ashore and they spend much less money in island shops, bars or restaurants. Over the last two decades cruise lines have increased their share of shore excursion prices from 10 per cent to 50 per cent, resulting in a further decrease in local island company revenue.
Through this transformation in their business model, cruise lines have become hugely more profitable, operating high occupancies on a year round basis – winter in the Caribbean’s high season, summer in Alaska or the Mediterranean. Cruise ships operate in a virtual no tax / low tax “offshore” financial environment with lower build costs and operating costs than an equivalent Caribbean resort. However, no Caribbean government in recent times has increased the level of port taxes on cruise ships.
The very low port taxes currently levied in the Caribbean total only 12 – 15 per cent of the cruise ticket price and that percentage total is shared between the governments of all the islands visited on any particular cruise itinerary, say, 3 per cent per port. Compare that low percentage with the 100 per cent tax burden imposed on almost half of LIAT flight itineraries and the average 10 per cent+ for hotel room taxes per night.
Three multi-billion dollar cruise line corporations own over 80 per cent of the ships visiting Caribbean ports. They are tough negotiators and employ skilled public relations people. Every Caribbean government would need to come together, maybe through Caricom, to negotiate higher port taxes but the cruise lines can afford to pay more. Ports in Alaska, New England, Canada and Bermuda have all negotiated higher rates in recent years. On New England / Canada cruise itineraries, port taxes can represent up to 33 per cent of the cruise ticket price.
Today, around 60 per cent of the world’s cruise ships spend the winter in the Caribbean. In spite of the cruise lines’ bluster, currently there is no alternative to the Caribbean for them - a winter cruising area with a high level of differentiated tourism infrastructure and port facilities, located close to North America and Western Europe, which are the major outbound cruise markets.
No sane person wants to see cruise ships leave the Caribbean but the cruise lines could, and should, make a greater contribution to Caribbean government tax revenues. A rebalancing of the tax burden would assist the Caribbean’s own airlines and hotels to improve, expand and achieve a greater level of economic sustainability.
Robert MacLellan
Editor’s note: Robert MacLellan is Managing Director of MacLellan & Associates, the Caribbean’s leading hospitality and tourism consultancy since 1997. He has a Master’s Degree in International Hotel Management and previously held board level management positions at major companies in the hospitality, cruise line and property industries. MacLellan is a regular speaker at the CHRIS and CHICOS annual Caribbean hotel investment conferences. For further information contact Robert MacLellan:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.machospitalityconsultants.com
Dear Editor,
A few very important and pivotal Questions: a.) When were the Calendar Dates for Carnival 2016 approved by the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation and the Government of St. Maarten? b.) Was the Date of Sunday, May 1, 2016, taken into consideration as the day when most Church Denominations are at regular Sunday morning Worship, having traffic congestion and excess management and movement of People as a major problem ? c.) Was the Church Community approached in a timely manner to discuss this particular date of Sunday, May 1, 2016, knowing that it is the planned date of the Grand Parade? d.) How could this have been overlooked by all Parties involved, having faced similar experiences in the past? These are some of the main questions that could have been answered and resolved, avoiding another major matter affecting the Community of St. Maarten. Who can we really blame for this? In analyzing it all, it demonstrates again neglect by all concerned.
Ac
Dear Editor,
Universally it is an accepted concept that governments are instituted to foster and regulate the development of a country by legislation and standards that allow those, who work diligently and aspire to do so to reach their greatest potential. Unfortunately, no one seems to have let our government- past or present- in on this country before self-ideal.
Don’t be fooled that politicians use the saying more or less as cliché their actions speak volumes. It would seem that before 10-10-10 and after our people continue to have the unenviable task of trying to get our government to offer a path to a better future and hope that our children would have a country to inherit or call their own.
We have seen and heard of the many abuses of the working class in this “country” and strangely enough, government seems at a loss at how to attack the pressing issues. As we are aware, unemployment is very high and unscrupulous employers and investors hire and fire at will. There continue to be no intervention from government unless it’s to favour the employer in the case of the casino, and now the ghost companies that are supposedly losing money to people choosing to save a buck by purchasing online.
Government is aware and has been aware of the instances of TELEM, a government- owned company using all kinds of creating and illicit means to circumvent our labour laws and employ illegal outsiders. This very action doesn’t only prevent our people from putting food on the table, but also robs government’s coffers of much-needed revenue.
In the past, a group of Surinamers were recruited and brought in to do work that locals could and should be doing, but the taxpayers’ company refused to grant locals the job. Though under another administration, the company is busy again according to the SMCU union, only this time they are using Jamaicans. As our hotelier friends and financiers do regularly.
And I am told immigration and labour inspectors are giving the union the royal run-around. Don’t be fooled, that is not by error or a result of departments not knowing their areas of competence. I submit that the minister in charge allows this to happen so the company can carry out the project without having to employ locals, and later put it in a study to see what went wrong.
I am at a loss for words on how else to make it clear this government and those before it don’t care for our people. Examples abound with the school bus drivers, the teachers, casino workers and many others. Since only the people can save the people, maybe we should consider action to correct what is an ongoing dereliction of duty on the part of government.
Before they succeed in putting us all on the beggar line or worst, let’s take concrete action to secure our own existence and the future we wish for our children. There is so much talk about this economy and how sensitive it is. But think for a moment, are we to believe we built an economy to benefit outsiders while we beg for bread?
It is time to stop being afraid and stand up and be counted. I put it to you nothing short of direct action will guaranty tangible and effective change. In this case being the friendly island just won’t hack it.
Elton Jones
