{"id":265267,"date":"2017-11-28T06:00:07","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T20:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=265267"},"modified":"2017-11-28T06:00:07","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T20:00:07","slug":"unfortunately-ship-sailed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/unfortunately-ship-sailed\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Unfortunately, this ship has sailed\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Knight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A former CNMI resident who headed a number of local business groups doesn\u2019t see U.S. Congress acceding to the Commonwealth\u2019s request to extend the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program, which is set to end in 2019.<\/p>\n

Lynn Knight, who served as the representative of a territorial governor in Washington D.C., chaired two economic development commissions, the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands board, and the Saipan Chamber of Commerce board, said the CNMI should end its reliance on foreign workers. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, this ship has sailed. We knew that [Public Law 110-229] would not work for the CNMI as it was written and that\u2019s why we opposed it for more than a decade. I don\u2019t think the CNMI can amend the legislation at this point. There\u2019s no momentum and the CNMI\u2019s voice in Washington, D.C. is very small,\u201d Knight said in an email interview with Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little appetite among political leaders in the Capitol to listen and give a break to a remote U.S. territory when there are other large issues on their plate, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey also don\u2019t want to set a precedent when much larger immigration issues are on the move. Look at the end of [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals], the end of the lottery system, the end of status for people from Nicaragua, Haiti, etc.,\u201d Knight added. <\/p>\n

While no longer a CNMI resident, Knight remains updated on issues that pertain to the Commonwealth. <\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026But if I were still there running a business I would be hiring and mentoring as many locals as I could and also looking seriously at alternatives. There are a number of places in the U.S. that have unemployed people. There are some good programs that businesses are undertaking to hire and train locals like the Northern Marianas [Technical] Institute, the tourism club for students, etc.,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Knight cited Puerto Rico as an example where the CNMI can recruit manpower. \u201cTheir economy nearly collapsed and as many as 200,000 people have left to try to find a more comfortable place to live and work. Puerto Ricans know island life and many are experienced with tourism,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnother source of tourism workers could be places in the U.S. that are just seasonal tourist destinations or are experiencing layoffs. There are two hotels in South Florida, for example, that have announced a total of 600 layoffs,\u201d Knight added.<\/p>\n

She still hears of incidences of U.S. citizens feeling like they\u2019re not being given a chance in the CNMI. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome businesses would rather hang on to their long-time, trusted foreign workers. I don\u2019t know why people thought the law would change after the transition period. The legislative intent was very clear,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Amidst the CW-1 cutbacks under P.L. 110-229, there are still a number of mega construction projects being planned that are largely tourism based.<\/p>\n

\u201cTourism will always be the CNMI\u2019s No. 1 industry and, unfortunately, it is labor intensive…Honestly, I can\u2019t see how new hotels with thousands of rooms could be built or staffed with the planned reductions of CW permits,\u201d Knight said. <\/p>\n

Rather than continuing to build thousands of rooms and planning for an economy that requires large numbers of tourists, she believes there is another way. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be a better strategy to gradually go upscale and welcome smaller numbers, paying higher prices. Less tourists would also have less adverse impact on the environment,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cTake a look at what Palau is doing. Going upscale and limiting capacity would require a commitment and collaborated effort, with champions to make it happen,\u201d Knight added. <\/p>\n

Knight also served as vice president of TanHoldings. She was also the director of the Economic Development Programs for Management Analysis, Inc. consulting with local and federal government clients in six states. <\/p>\n

Knight is currently vice president of Knowledge Management and Development of the International Economic Development Council in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former CNMI resident who headed a number of local business groups doesn\u2019t see U.S….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":265271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[26,19224,67,7911],"class_list":["post-265267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-cnmi","tag-lynn-knight","tag-people","tag-saipan-chamber"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}