In a much better place
It was but a few short years ago that, for the first time in my adult life, I’d let creep in the idea of moving my family to the mainland. Such an idea was previously unthinkable to me. I was raised here. I love Saipan—I love the CNMI. As a parent my dream has always been to raise my kids in the beauty, generosity, and safety of this home that I was blessed to be raised in. Back in 2007/2008, because of the economic circumstances and to do what I thought was my part, I’d given up permanently a part of my salary and then had an additional 25 percent austerity cut on top of that. But worse than this…much worse…was the anxiety that weighed on me about where our Commonwealth was heading. Many had lost their jobs. Numbers of friends had relocated to the mainland during this period, people from here who’d lived and worked most of their lives here, and people that I had thought would never willingly leave. There were the stories every other day of all of the others who’d left. One by one, businesses were shutting down. Tourism numbers were falling. Once clean streets were looking haggard and unkempt. It was looking like the retirement fund we’d contributed to for decades was going to collapse and we would lose everything we’d put in, or worse the income our parents depended on wasn’t going to be there. Crime was on the rise. Doctors were leaving the hospital. We were struggling to figure out how we were going to get out of this growing economic hole. Not only did we not have any new investment coming in…investment was pulling out.
I describe my perception of this period, and I fared far better off than many, because it is important to consider just how serious the straits we were in. A few have seemed to have forgotten.
There is this line of suggestion by this few, often akin to a sales pitch in fact, that we are now in some horrible place. In order to accept this premise, one would have had to have slept through 2008 to 2013.
We are now in a place where we have a real public budget once again, where old businesses are reopening and new businesses have come into the community, investors are back, dilapidated hotels are being renovated, new hotels and resorts are being developed, jobs are once again available, consumer confidence is up, retirees are consistently getting their benefits, active employees were able to see returned what they put in plus interest, we’re talking about pay raises for our police officers and for the first time increases to our minimum wage that exceed the federal mandate, we see new airlines on the tarmac once again, and new jobs are available with more coming online, but most of all… we’re looking toward the future and planning for the future.
Whatever one’s position might be on the development of a resort-casino, they would be hard-pressed to deny the benefits that the revenue, exposure, and improved general business climate has had, and thus the economic benefits that have come along with all of this. One would also be hard-pressed to argue that the decisions made, at what was one of the most difficult economic times in the recent history of the Commonwealth, with regard to economic development and investment are not now paying off.
A community that we want to live in is one that can economically support its residents. We are in a significantly better position economically than we were only a few years ago. We’re talking about not having enough people to fill all of the jobs, rather than worrying about cutbacks and not enough jobs. We’re talking about seeing pay raised, rather than considering strategies to see austerity pay cuts. We’re talking about developing parks and cultural centers and visitor’s centers and new visitor sites, instead of seeing cutbacks that had us unable to keep grass cut. We’re seeing support for the drug court, revitalization of youth centers, canoe programs, and cultural programs, instead of wondering what programs will have to be sacrificed next year. We’re having a healthy debate about where we should invest our current and future revenue, instead of simply shelving everything to focus on just scraping out an existence.
Whatever one’s position was regarding the decisions that were made about particular investment or development, the fact is that the benefits we are seeing now and looking forward to are directly and indirectly related to these decisions and those in elected office who put themselves directly in the line of fire. For the sake of my kids, of our kids, and of opportunities for them… this parent is thankful that the decisions that were made, were made, and that we had leaders willing to take the political risk
Robert H. Hunter is a Kagman 2 resident and a concerned community member. (Robert H. Hunter/Special to the Saipan Tribune)
I see, so you’re the latest hired gun for BSI?
I’ve not gotten a single cent… and my position on this has been public and out there from day one. Anything valid or constructive to offer? Not usually and once again not this time.
It’s All In The Family with Uncle Raffy!
It is not a political risk, but it was done to benefit oneself. Our underprivileged were or are being ignored of their fundamental needs. And you should know better, because Kagman has one of the highest rate in the CNMI with families not having running water and electricity. It is mind boggling that we continue to see economic growth and the CNMI government don’t have the resources to fork out a plane ticket for a medical needy individual and save thousands if not million from the individual seeking medical attention in another jurisdiction. May we say that you are the benefactor of the corrupted system, while many are still suffering. No amount of good ideas would be doable in the CNMI, because our so call leaders mostly inherited the tunnel vision syndrome. We need to get rid of people like Demapan and Sablan your so call leaders, who represent Precinct Two in the CNMI, because they both turned their back on their constituent and they had shown that they don’t care the human aspect of helping the needy or others in distress or in need. The feds is snooping around, but wait maybe the feds would turn a blind again on the red envelope fiasco and again they maybe in close proximity of sending officials to the monkey house. Many are still suffering to this day and thanks to your so call leaders for not monitoring the minimum wage requirement and the list goes on.
the decisions are benefiting the wider community… if you have evidence of any direct personal benefit, you should report those, and not simply continue to throw this claim out there as though it is valid in any way. So far that claim has gone completely unproven.
That is the problem, the feds don’t want to get involved and our government turn a blind eye. But sooner or later the facts would eventually surface. And I am not making this up, because i had been instructed to stay clear from certain elected officials for they are under the microscope. Hopefully the feds would come up with something and those who received one of the red envelopes would spend some time in the monkey house.
I still love the self, and reporting anything would probably on my next life time. AndI was not born yesterday.
Rob
You’re correct in general. However it takes time to spread the wealth to all the community woes but, Iam betting that all concerns of the public will be addressed and realized assuming our economy remains in the same path if not better!
Trust me, our underprivileged would continue to suffer. And in Economics, “What goes up has to come down later” and vice versa.
I like what you wrote and how you wrote it.
When I relocated here in 2008, a few garment factories were still in operation. Benigno Fitial was governor, and there wasn’t a great deal of optimism about the future of the commonwealth.
By 2013, Fitial was gone, the garment factories were history, and there was a sense of “Prague Spring” in the air – a sense of vitality and renewal.
Now, in 2016, much has improved. You are right about BSI giving our local economy a much-needed shot in the arm. I hope that our infrastructure can support all of the new growth that is occurring.
But, as you point out, we have (finally) some competent people in various positions, so I am optimistic about the future.
Perhaps the best thing about the commonwealth is the frieldliness and smiles from just about everybody, even total strangers. I have never experienced such warmth anywhere else.
Thanks for being civil relating to our discussion.
I strongly agree with you that economically, we fare much better than years ago, but it is very sad that our underprivileged were or are the people who take the brunt of the higher up mistakes. One particular issue is the homestead program, many of our working poor were or are the victims of the new strict rules of our new secretary of maintaining their homesteads. One particular individual, had his/her last warning from the secretary herself. Such individual work a low paying wages and she doesn’t have the means to instantly conformed with the rules that were put forth on him/her . You and other decision makers within our government need to understand that many are suffering and let alone trying to make ends meet each and every day. I was asked for my helped to help such particular individual, I spent money for my airfare to the CNMI and spent over a thousand dollars paying for labors to clean and initiate the first structure within the homestead. I contracted for the clean up each month, but the person who was supposed to clean the property each month reneged on his promised. The neighbor use such homestead as their dumpsite and the entity in the government which handles the homestead program were or are well aware of such predicament. Instead of helping the individual conform by giving him/her more time to fix his/her deficiency, he or she may had been denied his/her privileges to own a homestead. The irony to the situation, I tried to communicate with the secretary herself and the people who handles the homestead program and to no avail.
You happen to write your article and I wanted to start a discussion relating to our underprivileged. We have nothing against your leadership and matter of fact we are grateful for your contribution to our community. I am merely trying to point out to our readers that not everybody is benefiting from our economic expansion, but most of our underprivileged are worst off than before. There is nothing for you or I can do to change what our working poor had to put up with our government and we initiated a do not vote campaign against our present governor within our circle. And whenever we are ask for favors or help, one of our requirements is to make sure their family don’t vote for Mr. Torres in the future. As I promised, I would personally finance billboards on our next election for governor for the betterment of our working poor or underprivileged. I can recoup my loses, but the individual in question would never have the opportunity to own his/her homestead and thanks to one of the cabinet of Mr. Torres.