THE naming of the streets and the establishment of street addresses is a simple task that would yield a “high level of quality life” for nearly one hundred families, if not more, but we still haven’t finalized this simple task. I’ve written about this before but it was not under these pressing economic conditions, maybe now someone will really listen. Common sense dictates that we only need to assign address for the implementation of a “mail delivery” to our homes. Mail delivery to our homes will create “federal jobs for carriers & sorters,” mechanics, contracts for vehicles, gas and a list of other factors that will contribute to our economy. Not to mention the money people will save on gas because it cost a person in Kagman between 3 to 5 dollars (depending on the vehicle) to check their mailbox in CK – collectively, hundreds if not thousands of dollars in gas will be saved monthly by citizens. The common sense question for every citizen should be why haven’t we assigned something so simple as addresses so we can get “home delivery” of mail?
I won’t even try to answer the question of why we haven’t because it will boil down to politics and someone writing me back telling me I was wrong. But I do want to address the solution of how we can assign the address so our leaders can begin lobbying “our fathers in Washington” to establish home delivery of mail in the CNMI, especially when it will create some high paying jobs and generate new revenues. Common sense dictates that we already have “lot numbers” that are “distinct and in sequential order” in every village and that these lot numbers can and should also be used as the address. Common sense tells me that creating an additional system for addresses will only complicate the process of tracking lots of land between the government agencies because they will have two different reference points that will always need to be “cross referenced” with the address and the lot number but when they are the same number there is no need for cross referencing. There is also the fact that most of our streets DO NOT run in the “cardinal” directions of N, S, E & W, which adds to the problem of creating address’s that are driven by these directions, with the exception of a few roads, like Beach Rd., Middle Road or Chalan Pale Arnold, and a few other roads that extend long distances and connects one or more villages.
Getting mail delivery will also have a political affect because “who ever is credited with getting the feds to establish the home delivery will surly have the potential of broadening their political base significantly” — enough to determine the outcome of an election, given the fact that our last gubernatorial race was determined by less than two hundred votes and we have had elections even closer with one election being as close as ONE vote. Common sense should tell everyone that wants one of those federal jobs and those leaders who could use some votes to get involved in a hurry to established mail delivery in the CNMI. We have the 902 talks coming up, and we even have a Washington rep, whom I’m sure would be more than happy to help us if we can set the conditions for mail delivery. Common sense should prevail over the procrastination of assigning addresses to help the politicians gain some support and to help a large number of our citizens find a ray of prosperity during these trying times.
Common sense tells me that we have to “chip away at the economic rock” we are facing; as there is no one single thing we can do to totally turn our economy around. This is only one of many “small” things that can collectively impact on our economy but we need to stop the procrastinating and get busy, stop the politics and do the work so some of our citizens can start getting ahead in their quality of life – it’s common sense. “The Secret of Getting Ahead is Getting Started”: Sally Berger. One people, one direction.

AMBROSE M. BENNETT
Kagman, Saipan