Hady Nufyet's blog

First try, share your thoughts on it. :) - Hady

For regular readers or SXM PE it is no secret that I have a very poor opinion of Roy Marlin, between 'Respect' and 'Contempt' I most certainly lean towards the latter, with some scorn and disgust thrown in for good measure. To my mind, the only people that would vote for him are either paid off or just plain ignorant and stupid, yes that's right, if you are considering voting for this man then you are a (expletive) idiot.

So much of what is wrong with, and in, St. Maarten can be placed firmly and confidently at his doorstep, from our lack of a sewage infrastructure, the power outages, garbage treatment to the mess at VROM and ROB. It was Roy who as head of these departments who said during the Dawn Beach story that Permits are 'frivolous details', sending a message to all developers and setting the stage for the incompetence, mismanagement and possible fraud and corruption detailed in the SOAB report.

Let's have a look at the Comfort Letter to Westin from March 2005.

As I drove down the Pondfill Road a couple days ago for the first time in a couple weeks my heart sank looking at the amount of pond being filled for the Ring Road. I started to wonder how many other people who gave no thought to it a couple months ago are now thinking that maybe it's not such a great idea after all?

No doubt when the flooding happens, and I think most of us know it will, then it will be blamed on 'freak weather' or some such stupidness. What is clear this morning in the Daily Herald is that much more of the pond is being filled than is necessary for the road.

The biggest laugh these last days was not the comedy show, but the lauding of TO by the PM and others for his 'vision'. LOL, too darn funny. What won't be funny will be the flooding caused by his filling of the Salt Pond for his stupid road. I'll tell you this though, while I'll feel sad for those who suffer from that flooding, I won't have much sympathy. They had a chance to speak up and the only ones that did were the Foundations, the businesses around the pond were silent. I've come to the conclusion that they probably deserve whatever they get.

I'm not sure, but if I understand correctly the WODC issues updates and new reports on a fair steady basis. I was recently send this link.

WODC - De Nederlandse Cariben

Now, I'm not Dutch and I don't speak Dutch, and although there is an english version of the summary, there is only so much that can be gleaned from it. So, having a little time to spare, I messed around with copying and pasting bits of it into babelfish. I have pasted a few interesting sections below, directly as they came out on BF.

I would be very interested to hear from any Dutch speakers, who have time to read the report, a summary or comments on it. :)

The remarkable thing about accidents is that most of them can usually be avoided, therefore the argument, usually accompanied with a shrug of the shoulders, that 'they happen' is quite often invalid. We all know the indifferent brush off 'S**t Happens', and often it does, sometimes things happen that we have no control about and no way of foreseeing.

However, most accidents can be foreseen and avoided, either by slowing down, thinking and focusing instead of being careless, when it comes to safety on our roads it requires putting in place rules and controls.

Back in September last year I wrote a blog about safety on our roads, far too often and on a regular basis we see, in our papers and for ourselves, dangerous situations and driving. Although I did not see and can find no photos online of the incident yesterday at Cole Bay, reports are that a container truck tipped over on the new roundabout. No reports or mention of any injuries though, thankfully, perhaps next time..... and there will be a next time.

Cole Bay / Cay Bay? Which is it?

I have always considered the bay where Indigo have ravished to be Cay Bay and the bay where GEBE is located to be Cole Bay. According to Mapsxm and other maps I am right. The confusion might be explained somewhat by this map from 1987 which also shows it as being Cole Bay. You can see that there is Cole Bay (the bay), Cole Bay Hill, Cole Bay and even Koolbaai District. To top it off, the area to the west of GEBE was called Cape Bay and the road running by GEBE to Roddy's place is Cay Bay Road.

The bay that Theo has plans to fill in is Cole Bay, Roddy and the people who are concerned about this project are from Cape Bay, Cole Bay and Cay Bay Road, but not actually Cay Bay. That doesn't diminish at all their rights or argument against Theo's plans, they are where they are and the bay is where it is, but I just think it's time someone said something about this. There is nothing, literally, in Cay Bay, just some big unused machinery and some 'landscaping'.

So, from now on I will refer to this as the Cole Bay Port Project and hope that the media do their own research and follow suit, or show me where I am wrong.

And the constitutional Choo Choo goes chug chugging along, all the politicians up in the engine arguing about who’s the driver and unable to decide. The poor little Choo Choo is struggling, kablangs and kurchunks coming from the engine, the brakes are sketchy, the wheels are loose and it really should do like the DP and stop in and see Moiky at NAPA for parts and service.

But the little Choo Choo needs more than Moiky can offer, it needs a complete rebuild and restoration before continuing on its journey to the Promised Land of Country St. Maarten, a journey that takes it through mountains and across perilous gorges, over creaky weak bridges, down dark forbidding tunnels and along dangerous cliffs. And while it’s getting that overhaul the passengers need to have a good long think about where the train is going and who is driving it. So far not one of them has shown the ability, or qualifications, for the job.

This last weekend the Daily Herald had a piece featuring Kurt Ruan about the Ring Road, according to Kurt, the projected cost of the Ring Road will be 18 million Nafs. Please excuse me if I call this number a steaming pile of BS. Considering the trucks moving the sand filling, the silt pumping, building of solid foundations, 7 roundabouts, streetlights, statues and of course Theo's favorite palm trees, this figure can only be BS.

The Today has a little piece today about 'constructive criticism' which highlights how most people are clueless about the RR or the plans, who's fault is that I wonder. Theirs for not taking any interest in something that may directly impact them and their business, or the government's and media for giving vague and constantly changing information about it?

I stand by my prediction, that this road will do little to solve the traffic problems, it will do little to enhance business in town and it will cost the island a lot of money that could have been better spent. Just my opinion :)

I guess with all the news about the talks and shuffling in the political arena for next year's 'SXM Parliament Elections' I should get started too :D

As it happens, going to be talking and meeting with a few friends in the coming days and we will be discussing a possible new party, what it might stand for and who might be on it's slate. We would like very much if you readers made suggestions, for policies, for candidates, even if you think they wouldn't be popular or wouldn't want to run.

You can also email us at sxmpemail at gmail dot com.

Hady.

Councilman Roy Marlin, on GEBE from Democratic Party of St. Maarten on Vimeo.

For those who missed it this last weekend, Roy Marlin branched into the Viral World and posted a video attacking the govt on GEBE. Funny thing is, I posted at least two comments there about him and his past role over GEBE, as well as his other failures while in office to deal with Garbage, Waste, Sewage and the Environment and now they are gone. How odd!

Well, the big trucks have started rolling and they are starting to fill in the Great Salt Pond with sand dredged from the new pier. It is my understanding, and I could be wrong here so if I am please correct me, but there has been no announcement in the papers that approval has been given. I also believe that approval must come from the Island Council and be signed by the Lt. Governor. Am I right or wrong? Either way, I think we all know that permits are just 'frivolous details' here in Sweet SXM.

I am waiting to hear more details about a confrontation that apparently took place at the location today which ended with a well known Heavy Equipment Owner making physical threats towards persons who were questioning the matter of a permit and trying to stop the covering of a Salt Pond wall, part of the Great Salt Pond Monument. Check your papers tomorrow, representatives of both were there and we shall see what they have to tell us. In the meantime, photos below sent to me via email showing the filling and wall being covered.

Note Bene - As I mentioned already, Theo's recruitment of the Heavy Equipment Operators has given them a financial stake in the project now.

Rea - Full Version.

Jus sayin!

Just to highlight yet again why the Today newspaper is a better paper and why the DH is a 'tool'.

French Roundabouts cheaper

French Roundabouts cheaper - Today Editorial

Meanwhile, the DH puts the govt propaganda piece about the Ring Road on Front Page and every SXM Pride press release back in the 8,9, or 10th page. As Pride have said and so have I, it's all about the money! Remember the Cess Pit scandle? Where construction companies were charging excessive prices for materials so they could make extra profits to be shared out?

Click here for bigger image.

Feeling on a bit of an roll and with more to write, and in light of the lack of a Governing Program from the Island Government, I figure it's time for a new installment of my Draft Manifesto. My last blog covering alternatives to Theo's Ring Road is really part of that Manifesto and my fictional party's Governing Program, so please excuse me if I call this Part 3. :)

Below I'll round up what I've covered and proposed so far and expand upon or refine them a little, even taking a stab at costing some of them. I'll also add a few more ideas, policies and projects and show that they create another 300 part time and 40 long term jobs to go with the 500 my alternative Ring Road plans do. Dream Dream Dream eh? Maybe I'm just a wannabe Axelrod?. lol.

Yes we can! Yes We Can!..... (But not without candidates!)

Dawn of a New Beginning or Same Old Story?

It would be a real step in the right direction if the Government itself would start to engage in better governing practices.

Commissioner Marlin calls on business. to engage better business practices - (IC Audio)

We need jobs right? Below I will lay out how up to 500 new LONG TERM jobs could be created if alternatives were considered for the Ring Road, which will itself create NONE.

It has long been suspected that there are some 'journalists' on the island with sycophantic inclinations towards certain politicians, either because they seek favor, or they owe favor. After reading the Daily Herald's story yesterday on the Ring Road I can only say that my own suspicions have been reinforced yet again. That the DH has long supported govt plans to build roads and championed a bridge over lagoon several times in their Editorials is no secret, so the fence sitting Editorial is no surprise. Hey, lets just build it and see what happens eh? lol

I'm going to delve into these items below and hope to have some more information and documents for you over the weekend. But let's be real here, this project is massive, it will be hugely expensive, it will NOT create any long term jobs and there has been no discussion whatsoever about the merits, alternatives and rational for it. It is being steamrollered, there is big money and pie at stake and there does not seem to be one politician who has doubts or questions about the wisdom of it. How telling is that?

AVS News has a poll asking "Should a "ring-road" around the Great Salt Pond be allowed to be constructed?". When there has been NO public discussion, about the need for it, the alternatives and the cost, it's quite difficult to see how this poll can can value, but hey, whatever.

If you don't support the Ring Road and think there are important questions and objections that need to be discussed and debated then please visit AVS and vote No or Maybe.

Objections are 'frivolous' details.
Roundabouts and Ringroads
Lord of the Ring (Road)

I find the story this morning about Sarah wanting copies of objections that have been made about Theo's planned GSP Ring Road. And it gives me an opening for a quick blog on the story to keep it topical :)

A Ring Road is not a long term solution to the traffic and transport problems of the island nor does it provide any long term jobs, only short term and mostly unskilled. Parking garages and public transport systems are a better use for the money and both create long term jobs. There's also the question of environmental impacts and loss of heritage, which I'll leave to the Enviro Groups to argue for as they do it better than I.

Pride and EPIC Objection to Great Salt Pond Ring Road. (for Sarah.)

St. Maarten Pride Foundation and Environmental Protection In the Caribbean’s position statement on the Great Salt Pond Ring-road.

The problem with people who think they are infallible is that you can never get them to admit they might be wrong, or to reassess or reconsider their position on something, that’s why trying to engage them in debate here online is such a never ending saga of mind bending banality. Doing so seems to create even bigger problems, because quite often these sort of people are unable to respond to any valid and legitimate challenge or criticism and end up trying to discredit opponents using emotional, unfounded slurs and threats.

Leopold James has another letter up claiming full responsibility for his previous letter ’warning’ bloggers, like me, to be careful what we write, because our identities are being tracked and monitored 24hrs a day, he warns of ‘serious consequences’. Funny thing is, his new letter singles me out for special attention and I feel obliged to respond, I have a sneaking suspicion he won't like the 'quality' or 'tone' of it, but I promise to try to be gentle :)

Early last year and a few weeks ago I wrote about Theo's plans fill in a large portion of Cay Bay, build a new cargo and cruise ship refueling harbor and to relocate a bunch of industrial businesses there. Never mind that these businesses, believed to be some like the asphalt plant and cement companies off Arch Road are in places they shouldn't be because of the failure to implement Zoning many moons ago, eh? That's the problem with not doing what should be done, having to deal with and fix the consequences.

Anyway, since my last blog on this subject I managed to get hold of proposed plans for SXM West, mainly the Cole Bay and Cay Bay areas, and they certainly are interesting as you will see below. I'm all for planning for the future and building and restructuring infrastructure, it's vital, my disagreement is with the kind of future being planned and the cost of it, and I'm not just talking monetary costs.

Caybay residents concerned about development plans - 11th June 2009 - (With Podcast.)

Boy my heads been busy these past few weeks, a bit cluttered might be a good way to say it, and that was without trying to pay attention to what the new and outgoing IC members were saying. Theo 'serving' and and Laveist going from strength to strength with a performance and had many people in tears, both sides of the aisle. Let's face it, those two almost buddied up last year with the NA and it seems fairly obvious they are working together, at least that's how it seems to me. Theo gets to keep his portfolios and be deputy leader and Louie gets to sit things out until his appeals process is over.

So, now we have a new government, a 'baby' government according to Marlin and we have to give them time to grow into their new jobs. I've tried to find some in the news articles, but I still don't have much knowledge on what their positions and policies are, they've had years to formulate them while sitting on the sidelines haven' they?

Well, I'm going to go ahead with my own manifesto, or at least a draft of one. Here's the first installment and over the coming weeks I'll write blogs about other topics and issues. I sincerely invite readers to contribute their own ideas and thoughts to my posts, I'm just presenting ideas, I am open to other ideas, to having flaws in my own being pointed out and I am interested in what others have to say :)

Youth, Education, Sports, Employment, Immigration, Crime.

If anything has been made starkly clear this past month, it has been the true colors of the DP, their selfishness, their ego and their vanity, at least Theo had the balls to do what is right and resign. Sarah on the other hand, in particular with her most recent statements of ‘I told you so’ about the NA, has shown just how stupid she thinks the people and public of St. Maarten to be and where her priorities lie. Someone should buy her a fiddle. (Nero.)

Sarah’s games are clear to anyone who is open to see them, by holding out against the NA’s offers to form a national government with 2 commissioner seats, she put them into a position where they had no other choice but to take up Laveist’s offer of support. She is a player, of that there are no doubts, but she doesn’t seem to realize that a growing number of voters are starting to see through the games and are growing increasingly sick and tired of it all. Doing ‘the Right thing instead of the Smart thing?’ Has there ever been a statement more disingenuous and transparently vain?

It matters not to me because, and the NA has just confirmed it, both the DP and NA are pretty much the same, both lacking any sign of a progressive sustainable vision for the island or even understanding the issues the island faces, and of course, sketchy integrity. Teaming up with Laveist is really just so pathetic and deserving of scorn.

The DP played the game and the NA fell into the trap they set, a better move would have been to just let higher supervision come in. At least they would have had some integrity still. It's time for that third party, anyone interested? Would you support a new party with smart people, smart policies and a real vision for the future of the island? I would. I've seen where this crowd want to take us and it ain't pretty.
(News links below.)

As is often the case, a story that we broke here on SXM PE finally makes it to the main stream media. Back on April 1st 2008 I wrote a blog, based on rumors I was hearing which now turn out to be true, it was meant to be satire, but not really, if you know what I mean.

This story, much like Theo's Great Salt Pond Ring Road, is a mammoth project that has questionable justification and highly costly, not just in money but also in the environmental impact. Theo plans to build a cargo and industrial complex in Cay Bay, filling in a large part of it. Go read the article below and then come back, because I have so much more to say on this matter and it needs to be discussed.

CAY BAY RESIDENTS ANGRY ABOUT FUTURE PROJECT --ENVIRONMENTAL FOUNDATIONS BRIEFED YESTERDAY.

So here we are awaiting a government in which there will no opposition, unless of course you consider Louie Laveist as opposition. Not that it will make much difference really, considering how ineffectual and accommodating the NA/SPA/etc have been in that position these past decades. Neither they nor the media have raised any questions about Theo's planned Great Salt Pond Ring Road and the logic/need of it.

I will say it again, the Salt Pond Ring Road is a huge waste of money and it does nothing, I repeat nothing, to resolve the traffic problems in Philipsburg. Our opposition, nor our media, have asked any questions about what appears to be a very costly project, money that could and should be going towards much more urgent needs of our community. Have there been any traffic studies that recommend this huge costly road? NO, there has not as far as I could find out, the last comprehensive traffic study was done in 1989 I believe, 20 years ago.

As someone who has very much appreciated the investigative journalism of Hilbert Haar and his steering of the Today newspaper into a paper that to me ranks above the mundane and limp Daily Herald, it's rather sad to read about his confrontation with Lisa Brown McKay. We should keep in mind that we do only have one side of the story at present, that coming from friends and ex-co workers of Lisa, we have not heard from Haar yet, but there is no excuse for physical violence and if the story as told in the news is true then Haar did a very stupid thing.

Naturally there should and will be consequences, but I'd hate to see him lose his job, because as far as I am concerned, he has more journalistic skill, integrity and investigative commitment than most of those in the so called Media Association put together.

This blog is not about his actions, he will answer for them in due time. This blog is about the pitchfork and torch crowd that are lining up against him and the threats of violence shamefully being published on SXM news sites.

DP refuses to accept conditions for talks

NA STARTED OFF ON THE WRONG FOOT—SARAH.

Both want 3 Commissioners, so what now? Higher supervision seems the only answer, and highly justified and needed too.

For some time now I have been hearing of sketchy dealings and deals being made concerning the new Administration Building, I wrote about it almost a year ago. The Today's piece today and their editorial is therefore very welcome and I applaud Hilbert Haar for his journalism.

It's no secret that I hold the opinion that our politicians do nothing without examining and seeking out ways in which they themselves can benefit. Roundabouts, new piers, scrap recycling, new waterplant, each of them tainted with sketchiness.

I wonder if that useless Attorney General down in Curacao, Dick Piar, is paying attention, or will this go over his head and be ignored like so many other things have. Our politicians are clueless about good governance and transparency and they have shown no inclination to learn about or implement either. I wouldn't put them in charge of the petty cash, let alone a country.

Hady

It very clear that both parties in the IC are committed to taking the island into a New Country Status, none of them are willing to reconsider what might be best for the island, it's people and it's future. But we knew that already, that's nothing new. The DP is mostly a cabal of scheming, dealing, manipulative, dishonest, egotistical, self interested and vain characters, and the NA is mostly a motley crew of dim light bulbs awaiting a chance in the drivers seat. They both pander and promote nationalistic pride and emotions to further their agenda, which is to have more power, income, prestige and influence.

I'm sorry, but I have a very low opinion of most of them, playing their games, making their deals and neglecting the jobs they were put into by the people, self interest over the best interests of St. Maarten. It doesn't help that the people and the media demand very little accountability either, nor that they have been conditioned over decades not to speak up, it's not so long ago that people who opposed the DP were spat at on the street and couldn't get jobs.

Do I care if I alienate those that support these two parties? No, I don't, not really. St. Maarten in my opinion needs a new party, it needs something fresh, something honest, something progressive and open, and it needs it now, not 3 months before an election. And their first task would be to demand that the people are given a new choice on what kind New Status.

I've been asking around and even asked a couple reporters about Theo's Great Salt Pond Ring Road, no one can tell me how much it's going to cost and no one seems to have a plan of where exactly this road is going to go. Important information right?

It's also very interesting how the Salt Pond was removed from the Monument List. Who did that? Can anyone tell us? If only we had an opposition party and press that asked these questions.