Saipan street-naming gets legislative OK

A bill that will require naming of streets and assigning of addresses on Saipan yesterday sparked debate among members of the local legislative delegation over whether Chamorro or Carolinian names will be used for the plan.

Rep. Melvin Faisao urged the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation to include a proposal from the Carolinian community drawn up to assign street names reflecting their cultural heritage.

But some legislators said the move may delay efforts to put in place a street-naming mechanism for Saipan because a commission created by the mayor’s office had already taken the input of all sectors on the island when they drafted the master street map.

“I don’t think that’s a proper approach because the original information carried the input from everybody,” Sen. Thomas P. Villagomez, proponent of the measure, said in an interview after the session.

The bill, which was passed by SNILD after accepting Faisao’s amendment that sought consideration for the proposal from the Carolinians, will establish a government body to oversee the task of street naming for the island.

It will also adopt the master street map within 90 days from signing of the measure into law by the governor subject to public comments, after which it will be presented to SNILD for approval.

But according to Faisao, a list of names proposed by another body after more than a year of deliberation has failed to include views of the Carolinians because it had no representative from the community.

He raised issue of constitutionality during the debate that ensued between him, Villagomez, Rep. Manuel A. Tenorio and Speaker Diego T. Benavente who all argued against his move.

SNILD chair Rep. Heinz Hofschneider, however, underscored the need to come up with the map plan soon because of requests from the local post office.

“Let’s not argue about constitutionality… we must expedite this,” he told the session, adding that the three-month provision will allow comments from all sectors in the community.

Street naming for Saipan has been hampered by bureaucratic problems over the last 10 years and the task has yet been completed despite creation of the commission in 1997.

“The situation is reaching crisis proportion and, especially in these tough economic times, the legislature finds that the CNMI needs organization of this sort to encourage economic efficiency,” the bill said.

“The Office of the Mayor has been working on the task, but final adoption of its recommendations and implementation are now necessary,” it added.