Telling it like it is: What a shame!

On Feb. 6 an article appeared in this paper titled “Saipan’s collapse fastest in U.S. history” and mentioned an online video presentation by Adam Yamaguchi concerning a capsulated historical account of the islands’ military and economic history. If you haven’t see this visual record of a portion of the island of Saipan and then pondered the impression the economic situation made on a very talented producer, I suggest you do so to learn how some people now see the NMI. It’s a message going out to potential investors as well. The documentary, which runs for 25 minutes, can be accessed at http://current.com/users/Adam_Yamaguchi/all/0.htm.

The most shocking impression for me to witness was the visual presentation of the current condition of what was once probably the most attractively designed tourist shopping mall between Hawaii and Asia. The La Fiesta Mall was truly a first-class facility. No more.

When watching the video I couldn’t believe my eyes that the CNMI, as the present owner of the San Roque facility, or what’s left of it, would have ever let the buildings fall into such abandoned, deteriorated, decrepit and neglected condition. It’s ruined—and a pile of useless debris facing one of the island’s most beautiful hotels. What an eyesore greeting the hotel’s guests!

The government’s neglect in instigating cleanup efforts has contributed to the slum appearance of certain areas of the island. Never mind that the former occupants of the facilities have left their dirty linen and junk behind; it should be cleaned up by someone and that leaves either the landowner or the government since such an expense should have been anticipated and factored into the lease payments if private, or the BGRT or user fees if government-owned.

To have permitted the complete disintegration of the structure to occur is shocking, disgraceful and dumb—Third World dumb!

If you are on island, go out and take a look at a tragic mess. Look at the bones of the NMI’s economic future. The mall provides a visual metaphor for what’s in store for the islands if something isn’t done to reverse the slide and change the mentality—something which should have been everybody’s business in the past but instead became nobody’s business when projecting a positive resort image for that area of Saipan.

Was it so difficult for the responsible government agency to have the institutional vision to foresee what would happen to an empty structure left unattended and without adequate maintenance and left to decay as a result of the ravenous vultures of a tropical atmosphere? Didn’t anyone in government or the Legislature think to assign a watchman or guard to protect the once beautiful and valuable asset against vandals and copper thieves? Didn’t they ever consider that a modicum of a budget would be needed to arrest rust, mold, leaks and all other eroding and damaging atmospheric elements and protect the property from the wrath of graffiti wielding morons?

I fear what happened to the structure is a harbinger for what is to be the economic future of the NMI. I would certainly hope not but I see no evidence to think otherwise.

What has occurred to Saipan over these past few years is simply unbelievable. What a great pity! Sorry to have to put it this way but someone has to tell it like it is.

When the government acquired the San Roque property, presumably for use by the college, the visibly tragic result has been a multimillion dollar facility left to rot and decay. Shame on you legislators and government officials—all of you—for letting this deplorable condition to occur.

I would hope every school classroom will take a field trip to witness the results of government inaction and sheer indifference to the future of island youth, now clearly manifested in this one lamentable example of government neglect.

I hope I don’t hear the lame excuse, “There were few tourists, business was poor and it just fell into ruin.” Hello, there were no tourists when the government bought it; that’s the reason it was for sale! If it had not been purchased by the government and was still owned by the Japanese, I’ll wager it would have been maintained at least at a minimum level even if empty of tenants. They are not stupid. They know how to care for valuable assets.

There is a strange phenomena that occurs to many people when something or some condition is present on a daily basis in their lives and sub-conscience: they very soon tend not see what is occurring. This mental “freeze-up” takes place when the unusual becomes the usual even before one realizes it and, indeed, if it is ever realized, it’s often too late to effect positive change.

While its too late to help the mall, it’s still only five minutes to midnight to turn the economy around, hopefully with some form of federal assistance. An economic cancer is killing that beautiful island and someone or some group had better have the knowledge, skill, ability and desire to effectively tell the story to the U.S. Congress in an attempt to obtain the assistance to reverse the decline.

There is very much a need to present all the pertinent facts, good and bad, to Congress so that they can be viewed with maximum comprehension in a minimum amount of time. As important as local economic issues are to those in the CNMI, they are far less so on the national agenda with a Congress facing a national economic meltdown. So the CNMI story must be brief, complete, well presented and, above all, convincing of the need for the deserving of assistance and quick.

It’s very much a “sales task” built around a presentation designed so that members of Congress, rather than being dependent only upon “hearing what is said,” must be made to “see what is meant.”

That can only be accomplished as Confucius advised several thousand years ago. The dire situation with the economy must be explained and supported with photographs, diagrams, maps, charts and statistics—all of which are the basic tools needed to tell the story effectively and gain a sympathetic hearing. It’s a matter of educating and influencing. Get it right.

Having been an active participant in the Trust Territory’s Education for Self Government program during the period when the various political status positions were being explored by the Micronesian islands, I recall the United States was very much interested in engendering a close political relationship with the CNMI. More so than with the other islands—and at the time—much to the chagrin of the visiting Soviet delegate of the U.N.’s visiting missions. Also, there always seemed to be a military presence on the American negotiating team.

So, in my judgment from the very beginning the U.S. considered the islands to be of some strategic value, either active or alternately to deny their use to some other power. If that’s still true, and I believe it is, their military strategic and geopolitical value should be pointed out to members of Congress, many of whom will not have the slightest knowledge of that period of history. We all know many in Congress could probably pin the tail on a donkey blindfolded with greater ease than find Saipan on a map.

So, what’s the point of it all? Just this: We don’t want another La Fiesta type “screw-up” with getting the message across to Congress. Get it right.

[I]Editor’s Note: The author was a resident of Saipan for more than 30 years dating from the Trust Territory period in 1970. As the author of several investment books, tourist maps and more than 250 “op-ed” economic articles, he is also a former business owner and economic consultant to the government, development banks and private investors in the CNMI, United States, Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Google: saipanstewart.com[/I] [B]ON THE NET[/B] http://current.com/users/Adam_Yamaguchi/all/0.htm