{"id":411050,"date":"2024-07-23T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=411050"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"SMO-collected-616-junk-cars-since-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/SMO-collected-616-junk-cars-since-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"SMO collected 616 junk cars since 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office has collected 616 junk cars since 2023, according to SMO Operations director Jojo Attao.<\/p>\n

Attao said they started collecting junk cars in February or March of last year and since then they have established a system.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started, we were just going to different places, picking up junk cars. Now we have a system, we go to this village we remove the junk cars, we move to the next village, we remove those junk cars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also explained the process of removing junk cars wherein an affidavit has to be filled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll ask the owners if they still want the car, and if not, they got to fill out an affidavit plus a request form for us to remove. The affidavit assures us that we won\u2019t get sued, or you know, something like that because the person might be off-island…now if they want (for it to be removed), they have to sign the affidavit assuring us that we\u2019re not going to be liable for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that they coordinate with the CNMI Zoning Board because the agency is in charge of tagging the junk cars and SMO then picks them up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know some cars have been tagged in As Matuis, but since we decided to start going from village to village, that\u2019s when we start removing junk cars. We also have a call from Kagman and I told them to be patient because we\u2019ll get there eventually. It\u2019s just taking us a little time,\u201d said Attao.<\/p>\n

The Operations Division of the Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office is working on the vision of Saipan Mayor Ramon B. \u201cRB\u201d Camacho of a safe community, a clean island, and clean villages. Attao\u2019s department is in charge of not only removing junk cars, but also home junk. The home junk referred to are broken ice boxes, broken laundry machines, refrigerators, metal, etc.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started in Chalan Kanoa, and then we moved to Susupe, San Antonio, Afetnas, Kobblerville, As Gonno, Dandan (upper and lower), and now we are in San Vicente. So, when you say cleanup, we go around knocking on everybody\u2019s houses, and then let them know that we are from the mayor\u2019s office, and we\u2019re here to pick up whatever you don\u2019t want in your area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon the removal of the junk either the car or home, it will be dumped down the Marpi landfill or at the transfer station, but if metals are recovered, Operations brings it to the recycling center.<\/p>\n

Attao also said when asked what village has the most junk cars, \u201cSome villages are smaller, which used to have auto shops, so when you have auto shops, there\u2019s a lot of junk cars…So, I really can\u2019t base on that. I cannot compare Susupe because that\u2019s a big village. But there are a lot of junk cars in Susupe, but I don\u2019t have the breakdown for you because I don\u2019t want people to think that it\u2019s the dirtiest village because it is not right, so percentage wise I think they\u2019re pretty much even. San Vicente has the least right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there is no limitation of junk cars that they can remove although for now they have to skip the auto shops.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if it\u2019s an auto shop, we skip it for now until we get to the bottom of it, who owns the car, etc., you know because even though it\u2019s an abandoned shop, you probably own a car in that abandoned shop, and you know, you need it, but nobody else is going to work on it, so we are trying to find ways to make sure that nobody owns those cars anymore,\u201d said Attao.<\/p>\n

Dealing with abandoned auto shops is a hard task, according to Attao, because of the landowner\u2019s liability on the abandoned auto shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an abandoned shop and the car has been left there, the owner (auto shop) can actually sell those cars, but then he can have it removed. But he needs to have an affidavit in order for us to pick it up. Even if you have a car in that shop (abandoned), and then the owner of the land comes and starts claiming, you\u2019re probably going to want your car back, especially if it just needed a new radiator. So, we want the owner (land) to write an affidavit and the land owner has to contact you to make sure that you don\u2019t want the vehicle anymore,\u201d said Attao.<\/p>\n

Another challenge SMO\u2019s Operations usually encounters had to do with location, specifically how their equipment can get in because some of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. wires are so low it hinders their boom trucks from having access.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we have to ask customers if they can pull it out or if they can get it through. Some do with help from SMO Operations by us putting a chain around [the junk cars] and pulling them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, for the home junk, Attao is requesting that everyone be patient, as they are doing their best to get to all the villages and it normally takes them a month or a month and a half to clean a certain village. He also added that they have to wait for residents to come home so they themselves can take their junk out and segregate them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office Operations Division removes a junk car in Dandan.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
<\/figcaption><\/figure> <\/p>\n

A refrigerator considered as home junk is being removed by Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office boom truck in San Vicente.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A junk car in As Gonno is being removed by Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office staff using a boom truck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Saipan Mayor\u2019s Office has collected 616 junk cars since 2023, according to SMO Operations…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-411050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411050","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}