Dear Editor,
As a follow up to the very erudite letter to the Editor from Cdr. Bud Slabbaert of November 15th, regarding the need for an island “beautician”, I would like to offer some comments of support.
As a tropical island paradise destination, Saint Martin/Sint Maarten is blessed to have many qualities that are sought after by discerning tourists from all over the globe. However, as Cdr. Slabbaert said, there is much improvement needed if we want to effectively compete with other Caribbean destinations and distinguish our island as the more obvious choice.
Tourists seek many things, but the list includes, in no particular order, sun; fun; quality beaches; sports and entertainment; quality gastronomic choices; ease of access by air and sea; diversity of lodging choices; safety; a diverse and friendly community; and a beautiful place to relax and unwind from the pressures of home and work.
Much of the above list is something under the control of the people of both sides of our island, through individual effort, government assistance and non-government organizations (NGOs), or not-for-profit organizations as they are called in the US.
Beautification can take on many forms. It can be as simple as keeping the environment clean, by reducing littering and forming community care groups that periodically do trash pickups in their designated area. Educating our youth in schools about the fragility of the environment and having them participate in trash cleaning projects from an early age should instill a sense of pride and responsibility that hopefully will carry through adulthood. A simple enhancement would be the installation of trash receptacles along the roadways in front of businesses and at each bus stop. The trash collectors drive past these spots every day, so periodic collection should be possible.
Beautification includes the continuing project by the government to remove the many abandoned vehicles littering our streets and parking lots. There is too much traffic on the island and allowing vehicles that are no longer functional to clog our roadways only detracts from function as well as beauty. Vehicle owners need to take responsibility for disposal and not rely on the government to do it for them.
Beautification includes the planting of tropical island compatible palm trees and flowering plants in public spaces as well as encouraging private businesses to enhance their curb appeal. The simple act of picking up the trash in front of your business location daily will go a long way to enhancing the tourist’s visual experience.
Airport Road, the main thoroughfare from the airport and first impression many tourists get of the island (after seeing the airport itself, which is another matter five years post-Hurricane Irma), needs palm trees and landscaping that welcomes the weary traveler and stimulates their visual senses where they get the “wow” factor immediately.
We have several roundabouts and other common spaces that are lacking in color and beauty and these aforementioned volunteer community groups could take on the responsibility to care for some common areas within their communities, while developing community pride and positive social interaction among volunteers.
Beautification includes clean wide beaches for the use of tourists and locals alike. One of the main draws for tourists is the expectation of lounging on a beach while having a drink of their choice and a good meal close by. Our beaches are disappearing through natural erosion, whether you believe it is exacerbated by climate change or otherwise cyclical. Beach replenishment needs to be studied and considered in the short and long term, not only for beautification, but for the survival and protection of the island as a whole, if rising seas are in fact a reality we face in the future.
Beautification should address safety issues by the consideration of adding landscaped pedestrian walking areas along the narrow and often dangerous roads where people convene for shopping, dining, moving from the port to the shopping areas on Front and Back Streets, partying and taking in the various entertainment options offered along Airport and Welfare Roads, as well as other tourist areas.
I suggest that the various NGOs on the island, which have as a part of their mission statement the purpose of enhancing the environment, to include sea and land, that they coalesce to form an Island Beautification Committee (IBC) that can lead the way to making our island stand out among our competitors, visually. There already exist several government agencies that are concerned with tourism, hospitality and the environment which could guide and support the IBC, assuring its success.
On a more broad level, this or another committee could do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis as it relates to the many things tourists seek, with the goal in mind to make Saint Martin/Sint Maarten stand out from its competitors as the obvious best choice destination. It will take cooperation with the French side of the island to be fully successful.
The fact that recently in The Daily Herald Anguilla coined the term “Culinary Capital of the Caribbean” should make our competitive juices boil to the point we protect that designation and make our island, not only the island with the best food choices and the Friendly Island, but the most beautiful one too.
R. Paul Speece
Jacksonville Beach, Florida/Simpson Bay
Dear Editor,
I am moved to take aim at the long and complicated process of selling, purchasing and transferring companies on St. Maarten. The unnecessary bureaucracy in Philipsburg is discouraging local and foreign investors to easily invest in small and large businesses. It's prohibiting an easy flow of transfer and sometimes it becomes so complicated and the back and forth is annoying. With that investors prefer to go elsewhere, where the process is far easier and does not require the number of documents being requested from each department involved.
We need to move forward and away from the complicated, time- consuming, back-and-forth process we have as a norm. Remember we want their investment because it helps greatly with our economy. The last thing we want, is to discourage investors willing to spend and invest their resources here on our island. We want them to spend to create jobs and add to our economy.
Also, too many departments and too many heads are involved with the process and decision-making. Every department has a long list of requirements which should not be necessary. Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Economic Affairs, Labour Department, SZV and Tax Department processes and requirements could be simplified with a common-sense solution that will benefit everyone, especially the investors and the economy of St. Maarten.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry should be the sole department that deals with openings, closures, transfers and changes within companies. With a system connected to Economic Affairs, Labour Department, SZV and the Tax Department, any updates made in the system at the Chamber of Commerce, the four other departments will be notified with a click of a button from the Chamber of Commerce. It's called technology. Business and Director’s licences should also be requested and approved at the Chamber and not Economic Affairs. This simplified system would also clear up much confusion that I have personally witnessed and seen happen to individuals over the past few months.
We are living in the age of making life easy. Technology is supposed to make life easy. Many islands right here in the Caribbean and countries around the world have a far less complicated system where investors can easily enter and close a deal as a new director of the company and that is all thanks to technology. Why does 16 square miles of 37 square miles have to have such a high level of bureaucracy, that is only hurting our island today and will continue to do so in the future, if solutions are ignored? I have seen investors scratch their heads in disbelief with the system we have in place.
There is a serious complicated problem and it's prohibiting the growth of our island. There is always a way to move forward from the confusion, a better way of getting things done and we can start with this solution to make investing on St. Maarten easy. Let's make it easy for our investors, let's build the confidence of investors by not just winning them over with lucrative tax deals and holidays, but also with less bureaucracy in Philipsburg, from which foreign investors and local entrepreneurs can benefit. Let's make it easy for them to invest and move St. Maarten forward.
Armand Meda
Former UP & Democratic Party candidate
Dear Editor,
No society has “unity” and the function of democratic institutions is to deal with the inevitable conflicts and the interests of differing constituencies in that society. So, promoting the rhetoric of unity ignores their primary function .
Well-organized societies are not successful because there is “unity” in their societies. They are successful because they have developed the means of dealing with the inevitable conflicts and different interests in their society in a manner that allows the society to develop for the majority of the population.
I recall the white supremacist government in South Africa having their motto as “unity is strength” (Eendrag maak mag = Eendracht maakt macht) . They neglected to define in which of the many constituencies of that country they searched for unity. It was, of course, not hard to guess.
“Unity” is a convenient and distracting myth.
Robbie Ferron
Dear Editor,
It was with serious disbelief that I read MP George Pantophlet’s letter to the editor titled “Irresponsible behaviour” last week. In his letter, he took it upon himself to defend the disrespectful action by the Vice President of Parliament, who gave the order to cut MP Sarah Wescot-Williams’ microphone in the informal gathering with the unity flag representatives. Even stranger is that the Vice President confirms that he gave the order. But back to MP Pantophlet.
MP Pantophlet is one of the oldest and longest sitting MPs of Parliament. But I cannot remember him bringing anything to the table that has benefited the people of St. Maarten in all the years that he has been an MP. Now he has been kicked back to just being a defending mouth champion for ministers who do not want to be held accountable and for a shaky coalition.
On top of that, he had the audacity to call the younger MPs “paskomenkijkers” a while ago. Strangely he had nothing to say when his party’s own young candidates were also in opposition, making noise for the sake of making noise and plotting to throw down the previous government. The new wave of young MPs has done more to bring integrity and transparency to Parliament in the last two years than MP Pantophlet in his lengthy career as a politician. In his letter he asked what will be said when the “coalition” MPs decide not to give the quorum to a meeting called by the opposition. That is the funniest but also saddest thing I have heard in a long time because it has already happened and he does not seem to have noticed.
MP Pantophlet, do you think that the people of St. Maarten are not aware of the games “coalition” MPs have been playing in Parliament? Do you want us to believe that your President of Parliament (PoP) is going to call any meetings requested by the “opposition” MPs? We have already seen what your former PoP Brison used to do when “opposition” MPs requested meetings. The reasons you gave for removing MP Marten as PoP already told the country that you have no problem with only coalition meetings getting scheduled, and that you would be okay with that happening.
Imagine that one meeting requested by the opposition and called by the previous unbiased PoP is the reason that you and your fellow “coalition” MPs voted to remove her as PoP. So much for accountability. MP Pantophlet, many of us respected you in your early days, but now, with all that has happened, we see that the ones playing childish games are you and your “coalition” MPs. The OMC (Old Man Club) has been hard at work, just holding onto positions to serve their own selfish agenda, and making sure to protect their young ministers, who have actually already been bitten by the bug! The bug of greed and corruption! Bring the new wave of young MPs because they have managed really well to expose the cracks in this coalition. For your information MP Pantophlet, people are fed up with the hypocrisy and the OMC earning taxpayers’ money without doing the actual work they have had decades to do!
NVD
Fellow St. Maarteners,
As we celebrate another St. Maarten’s Day, the United St. Maarten Party would like to first take this opportunity to extend a very happy and blessed St. Maarten’s Day to you and your families. May the Lord Almighty continue to bless our island paradise and keep sweet Soualiga in His grace and under His protection forever. November 11 also marks Veterans Day in the United States. We would also like to send best wishes to our American neighbors and honour veterans of the armed forces for their brave and patriotic service.
On November 11, 2022, we ask you to reflect on your role as St. Maarteners and what that means. We ask you to reflect on our history, the hard work of our forefathers, the toil and sacrifices that defined them and the prosperous results from which we now benefit. They built a gem in the Caribbean that we were entrusted to maintain, protect and develop. This St. Maarten’s Day we want you to ask yourselves and your neighbors if enough is being done to fulfill the role our forefathers bequeathed to us.
No matter where you are in this world, it is our collective responsibility to wrap our arms around our beloved country and recommit ourselves to its well-being. We’re known throughout the Caribbean as a confident and friendly people, with a deep commitment to one another. We are a small country full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for. But we suffer from the same moral, ethical and governing shortcomings that befall many other nations.
In all circumstances, it falls on the people to remind those that lead us of the enormous responsibility they have. The leaders before them earned and maintained the trust and confidence of the people of St. Maarten. These leaders worked closely with the people to deliver on sound policies, and improved all our lives. Through your action and your voices as citizens, the message should be loud and clear: Never take this trust, nor this competence, for granted.
Together, we should all aspire to have a St. Maarten of good governance, justice and impartial application of the law.
Aspire for a St. Maarten with a strong sense of cultural identity, where preserving our history is revered and honoring our common moral principles is practiced.
Aspire for a St. Maarten whose growth is centered on its people and depends on their potential, especially its youth.
Lastly, aspire for a St. Maarten that is tolerant, fair and unentitled.
If we hold true to these aspirations we will see that the things that unite us far outweigh what little divides us. With this in mind, we wish you a fun-filled day with family and friends and pray that the Almighty keeps you in his good graces. May we reflect on the past with pride and look towards the future with confidence.
Happy St. Maarten’s Day!
United St. Maarten Party board
