An open letter to acting Gov. Villagomez

Dear acting Gov. Villagomez:

With the holiday season upon us, the people of Tinian are requesting your help to turn our streetlights back on. The Mayor of Tinian turned off a significant portion of the streetlights shortly after the new budget took effect. We do wish you would please visit Tinian for even one evening to see how truly dark the island is.

As you know, Sen. Jude Hofschneider brought this problem to the attention of the mayor, but was rejected. The mayor stated that the problem was that Rep. Aldan and the chairman of the Tinian Delegation, Sen. Henry San Nicolas, did not include sufficient funding in the budget to pay for the streetlights. Apparently, Mayor San Nicolas, the Tinian Legislative Delegation and the Tinian Municipal Council have higher priorities than the safety of the people or the businesses in San Jose Village.

We are most concerned about how the darkened condition of Tinian will affect our tourism industry. The streetlights have been turned off in front of the Tinian Dynasty Hotel, the parkway across Broadway, the walkway to San Jose Village and throughout the village itself. The Dynasty pays an average of $37,000 a month in Chapter 2 and Chapter 7 taxes; $6,300 in excise taxes; $6,300 in jackpot taxes; $25,000 per month in entry permits and health certificates; $9,400 per month in room and bar taxes and a whopping $261,000 a month in CUC billings. Certainly, this justifies the government’s participation in Tinian’s tourism industry in so far as providing a safe and secure environment for our visitors. It is not good for the CNMI to send visitors home with the image of a dark and dangerous island. And it is hurting all the businesses in San Jose Village that should be benefiting from those tourists who wish to walk into town and return after dark.

Governor, we implore you to meet with the Tinian Delegation and find a way to reprogram sufficient funds to provide for the street lighting that is necessary for the safety of the people of Tinian, our visitors and the continued development of our local economy. As has been pointed out before, it will take only one tourist being hit by a car on a purposefully darkened street to cost the CNMI much more than the price of street lights. As you are undoubtedly aware, the probability of this happening is greatly increased during the holiday season.

Thank you very much for your consideration.