With the garment industry gone and all other opportunities nothing more than a pipe dream at this stage, government and community leaders have agreed that tourism is it. The CNMI after all has two advantages in the highly competitive tourism market: proximity to Japan, South Korea and China, and the islands’ natural beauty. The Marianas Visitors Authority has invested a good chunk of its promotional budget on athletic promotions, almost all of which wend their way through the most scenic and challenging vistas on island, including Saipan’s northern part — a monument to a shared history with Japan, the CNMI’s primary market.
Now, seemingly unbeknownst to the vast majority of people on island, homesteads have been plotted and parcels given away in Marpi, potentially marring an area that can provide tourism a permanent foothold into the future. Just imagine the entire length of Suicide Cliff turned into homestead plots, and the remaining area given to every conceivable variation of “development” known to humans.
Much has already been written about how security issues threaten the tourist market, or how litter destroys the landscape, but what happens when the most attractive and undeveloped part of Saipan is utterly destroyed by short-term thinking and short-term gain? This is what ultimately undermines the CNMI’s ability to make any improvements at all.
And then there is the proposed visitor fee that will supposedly fund CNMI promotions. If the controversial plan to pay tour agents to direct tourists here is the mark of desperation, then charging tourists for coming here is…what?
Instead of cutting unnecessary personnel, consolidating operations or closing worthless entities like the special assistant offices, the administration will make it more expensive for air carriers to fly to the CNMI. This will almost guarantee that even fewer flights land here.
Don’t suspend the ETC
IN recognition of education’s importance to the commonwealth, the Legislature in 1997 enacted an education tax credit program which has, over the years, directly benefited several schools, public and private, and their students. Some lawmakers now propose to “suspend” the program because “in these difficult economic times, even important policies must be limited.” In other words, they refuse to make tough choices so they will make bad ones.
Indeed, the Legislature can simply cut its own funding level but it prefers to blame its boss at the administration building for any travesty that all of them are inflicting on the CNMI.
Do they even care?
CUC proposes to increase both the fuel and base power rates, claiming it needs $2.8 million to undertake long overdue projects. No one disputes that CUC is finally attempting to put its house in order through regulatory compliance, maintenance and new projects, but it completely destroys its credibility by stating that the government’s nonpayment of $5.8 million in power bills has nothing to do with the looming rate hike. CUC, moreover, has not gone far enough in cost-cutting measures before imposing new rates that will further burden its customers.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to discern if the administration, which runs CUC, knows what it is doing or if it cares about the impact of its actions on this fragile community.
