THE third public forum on Wednesday was held at Chacha Oceanview Junior High and the primary subjects of discussion were a long-term vision for the NMI, retirement, crime, government accountability and civic involvement.
In general, according to forum organizer Tina Sablan, participants said that:
• The CNMI’s long-term vision should be an overarching theme for our discussions of all the issues facing the CNMI, and it should include the things we don’t want the community to be;
• People in both the government and the private sector are worried about their retirement plans and want greater security;
• People want to know how the government is spending their money, how much money has actually been saved by austerity measures, how much was made by the auction of government cars, etc. An online monthly report of expenditures by all government agencies and a publication of an annual CNMI Report were raised again for discussion;
• Inadequate/inconsistent law enforcement and lax punishment for crimes committed are a big problem in the CNMI (crimes by juveniles and crimes against tourists were discussed at length);
• Citizens need to assume greater ownership of their villages.
One highlight of the forum last night was a challenge issued by Betty Ann Cabrera to residents in all villages to form their own neighborhood associations to articulate a vision of what they want their communities to be — i.e., safer, cleaner, healthier, crime-free — and to mobilize themselves and their neighbors to realize that vision.
Betty Ann is the chairwoman of the Kagman Community Association, and she discussed at length the village-wide volunteer cleanup project that the group is leading.
Students at all three Kagman schools have been actively involved in this effort, and government agencies and officials have also offered support.
Betty Ann said that she envisions an islandwide network of such community groups sharing information, ideas, and lessons learned. For more information about the Kagman Community Association, contact Betty Ann at bettyannc@nmcnet.edu.
Some changes to the public forums: there was general consensus that many of the most important issues have already been highlighted in the initial public forums, and that it is time now to begin focusing in on specific issues, and to frame the discussion around our long-term vision for the CNMI, and how to achieve it.
It was also suggested that such forums begin with a brief (i.e., 10minutes) overview of the issue, presented by an impartial person who has done extensive research on the subject, and that a schedule of forums be established so that forum-goers can prepare for the discussion ahead of time and bring their own research and ideas to share.
“These are all excellent suggestions, and accordingly, I would like to begin creating this schedule and publicizing it in a timely way,” Tina Sablan said. “ I would also like to solicit suggestions of topics for the initial slate of forums. Suggestions that I have received thus far and topics that seem to come up again and again include: government accountability for expenditures (and I think we can include discretionary funds here), size and structure of government, public utilities, gambling, crime, public health and healthcare, immigration and labor, Article 12 and education.”
Many people have asked, “What will be the outcome of these forums?”
One goal of the forums is to encourage ordinary citizens to speak up about all the different issues we face and make their views known to each other and their elected officials. Another goal is to achieve greater transparency and accountability in government. One obvious outcome we envision is that ordinary citizens will realize how much power they truly have, and that they will come to expect and demand more from their government.
Now many people ask, “But what if our leaders don’t listen?”
“I think that the next obvious outcome of the forums is that those leaders should be replaced. This is an election year, after all, and a good time to begin scrutinizing everyone who is running for elected office. We should know their qualifications, where they stand on the issues we care about, and how they plan to address them. This election should be about the issues — like all elections should be. That is a third outcome we envision for the forums,” Sablan said.
She added, “The new schedule of forums will take a bit of time to prepare, and if anyone would like to assist in any way, please let me know. I will be off-island until March 5, but feel free to email me at tinasablan@gmail.com, or leave a message at 233-0770.”