should just pack up and move to Saipan now.
I am deeply disappointed and insulted that these federal officials traveled all the way to the CNMI but never gave the courtesy to the outer islands of even a day or couple of hour visit.
What type of fact-finding mission could possibly be credible if it does not include facts gathered from the outer islands?
The Rota and Tinian casino gaming industries have the single largest impact on immigration then any other industry in the CNMI, yet these federal officials failed to meet with the local government regulators of these industries or the operators of the current casinos. How could a “fact-finding” mission be complete without considering the huge impact on these industries as a result of the federalization process?
Rota and Tinian are desperately trying to develop economies that are independent of the 30-year subsidy of the Saipan tax base. If this federalization process does not consider the harmful impacts to the outer islands, then all Saipan taxpayers need to be prepared to permanently subsidize the outer islands forever.
The federal visitors have made it very evident by their actions that they believe that the economies and impacts on the outer islands do not matter. Unfortunately their actions and treatment of the outer islands will directly impact how long Saipan must subsidize those islands. The obvious elephant in the room is that if the feds believe that only the Saipan economy matters, then it will only be the Saipan economy that continues to subsidize the entire CNMI.
If they have not already been told, someone please tell them that there are actually three inhabited islands in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana ISLANDS.
The people who live, work and do business in the outer islands also have valuable input to the federalization process and should be treated with some respect.
PHILLIP MENDIOLA-LONG
San Jose, Tinian
