St. Maarten Private Eye

remove the derelict buildings once and for all. After that, leave Mullet Bay area alone.
Why are you asking for development? with the heavy traffic, nasty looking lagoon, too many people, we really do not need Mullet Bay remodeled or rebuilt.
The open green area is a welcome sight to the sore eyes after so much ugly concrete buildings around.
What a pleasure to drive through,how many open green spaces do we have that we can drive through?
Bellevue and Mullet Bay. Thats it.
Hopefully soon, Emilio Wilson Estate will be zoned as a green nature area to enjoy a full green hill.

That's what happens when I try to shorten my comments too much :).
Don't be so jittery, I agree with you on this one. I am not asking for M.B. to be rebuilt or remodeled (NOW) also.

So I have corrected my statement to what it was intended to mean.
But you know it is just a matter of time before it will happen anyway. There are present owners you know. It's just a few Court Cases away.

so I RE-QUOTE:
By the way does anyone know the story on Mullet Bay and why no investors "WERE" willing "OR OFFERED" to buy and develop it instead of "BUYING AND DEVELOPING" the other "PROJECTS". A lot of land just sitting there "THAT" could "HAVE BEEN" used to rebuild and or remodel "INSTEAD OF F.I. INDIGO BAY AND OR LOW LANDS DEVELOPMENTS". "A LOT MORE GREENERY HAS BEEN LOST BECAUSE OF THOSE DEVELOPMENTS"
RE-UNQUOTE.

Is that better ?

The heavy traffic, nasty looking lagoon and too many people are also just a matter of time once the other developments are finished. They will just be spread out all over the Island now rather than being concentrated to just the Simpson Bay and Low Lands area. Think about it, Stop lights on top Cole bay Hill and or Cape Bay ?

ADV ;(

Tongas, you know fully well about the Mullet Bay saga. You are just looking for an excuse to rehash the whole discussion here again in another lengthy epistle. If not review The Mullet Bay file here.

The previous poster had a good point: Turn Mullet Bay into a park and leave it as is. I second that.

Guess you have not noticed but my days of lenghty epistles are gone. Does not make sense anyhow, some people just cannot read and comprehend.

Turn Mullet Bay into a park and leave it as is, I THIRD THAT.
But you know it won't happen anyhow...... Just more concrete in a few years and no one will stop it from happening. (because everyone get's offended when I say get up off of your butts and do something about the situations)

The facts are, I used to say, daaaamn I love this Island, Just look at those Hills. Now when I drive over the C.B. Hill I say I wonder what will happen if we get torrential rains, what will prevent a massive mudslide and how will this road (C.B.Hill) hold up ?.

Probably you only drive through Mullet Bay but I have to see the Indigo Bay development almost every day and wonder: "Why Here" ? Mullet Bay "was already there" and "could have been" re-instated in it's original form with some additions if the developers so pleased. This is yet another "huge" chunk of crucial land being destroyed to build more concrete and then plant back a few trees that were there all along and did not have to go. They were there to serve a purpose. Could also have been a beautiful Botanical Park.

Anyhow, guess you cannot, don't and refuse to ever understand my concerns for this beautiful Island that I love with a passion and have no intentions of leaving until the day I die and which I knew since it was dark and mostly just bush.

Word of advise, take your time and learn to "comprehensively" read and NO I never really followed the Mullet Bay saga and DON'T CARE to do so now either. My Home is being destroyed or haven't you noticed ? and I don't take Island tours via Lowlands anymore either.

ADV ;(

What I don't comprehend, Tongas, is your schoolboy infatuation with this DP government who allowed this Indigo Bay mess to happen in the first place. Given your love for this government and its main protagonists, you probably were down there clapping and cheering for Commissioner Roy Marlin when he was officiating the groundbreaking ceremony.

You should have voiced your concerns for this beautiful Island that you love with a passion then. But like I wrote in my post about Sheep, it's all goody-two-shoes and nice to proclaim your love for our island here on this forum, but when push comes to shove, it is just "baa-aaa baa-aaa" as we are meekly led like the lambs we are to watch the slaughter of the island's environment, as you obviously do almost every day. Your own words.

Unlike you and the likes of you Mr. hypocrite and those YOU speak of, I can hold my head up high and say I do things and I protest decisions and projects I do not agree with. As I said before, I am not just a bag of hot air, I actually let my voice be heard when I have to.

For your info, I was one of the few who protested (not just criticize) the Indigo Bay Project, where were you to give support and make the numbers of protesters larger and stronger. I voiced my concerns about the soil erosion of the Cole Bay hill side (one of the least known environmental problems) if the trees were taken away. Once again where were you, oops, I forgot .... driving through Mullet Bay's fictional greenery park of dilapidated concrete buildings towards your treat, Lowlands concrete Emporium.

guess this will aggravate you even more, but give me better political options and I might just be able to leave D.P. and For your info. a lot more plastic bags coming when Indigo Bay is finished.

Anyhow, I am not here to have personal vendettas with you or any one else, you don't have to like my posts but that won't stop me from voicing my opinions and views.

ADV ;(

You know, it is rather ironic that some of those who sold the land to Indigo Bay most probably are also criticizing Government ref. the Project.
The land was private property and the sellers must have known about the intended project. Those types of negotiations takes years before being finalized and materialized.
Did they give two pennies about the results as long as their pockets were filled.

Talk about hypocrites.

Don't worry. I don't take things personal. Nor do I get aggravated. I am just being feisty and decided to hold up a mirror to us posters on the forum today.

But you seem to be mistaking me for another poster. I don't live in the Cupecoy or Lowlands area nor do I have anything to do with any development projects on St. Maarten nor do I drive through the Mullet Bay area.

I am not anyone you would think I would be.
I am not real. I am a figment of my imagination.

George MacGee

PS: I am not as optimistic as you that there will ever be an Indigo Bay - Cay Bay project. I predict that after the tiresome show of moving dirt around is over, the lease will be sold off for cents on the dollar and we will be stuck with an ugly hillside view for many years to come.

o.k. MacGee, nothing wrong in being feisty and good to see you have a sense of humor even if a tad bit sarcastically. Your person leaves me cold, I am interested in your mind, your way of thinking, your posts and comments, so yes, your figment of your imagination, that is what counts here. Just did not want flipper taking me to task again for being my usual "harsh" self. ;)

DOWN TO BUSINESS:
I wish I could share your view on the I.B.P. and actually hope this time that you are right but, nevertheless, the "irrevocable" damage has already been done. We would have to deal with the ugly hillside view but more importantly, how many years DO we get before we see the dangers and damage this project has caused. It does not matter anymore who protested or who applauded.
Now, whether you are right or not, I have to do the "no heavy rain" dance for the rest of my life.

The protests definitely did not fall on deaf ears, they obviously came too late and now correction or prevention is clearly impossible. That is a lot and I do mean a lot of C.B.Hill/Cay hill to properly reinforce. Who can afford, is willing to or would be held accountable to pay for it ? (Holland ?) So yes indeed, a monstrous, critical, dangerous, unforgivable mistake.
Did you see the measly amount of trees set aside to be replanted ?

We should all drop on our knees and Pray to GOD that HE spare us the rains that Haiti is getting and all start donating trees to be replanted, not the time to bicker about MY GOV. now.

ADV ;(

How about instead of praying, cos some of us here don't believe in gods, we demand those responsible be held accountable? Including those who enabled him.

The story is all here for anyone to look up.

Much much more in Development and Destruction.

The man responsible is still on island, in fact he's now in charge of our finances and tourism economy. Here he is, with a shovel in hand.

Hady

That's o.k Hady.
Those of us who do believe in our "one" GOD who, as per our beliefs, is our Creator, no matter what name HE has, will also pray for those who do not believe.

I respect your beliefs and whether or not you respect mine really does not matter to me, I will continue to put my faith in HIM and not in man.

Whoever is doing or not doing right now, committing fraud and filling their pockets, or whatever other criminal acts as well as those who wrongfully accuse or destroy will receive their due rewards in due time. I have seen it happen over and over again, no matter how long it takes.

p.s.: nice picture by the way. :)

ADV ;(

Something has always been wrong at the department incharge of the environment and nature (ROB). Too many conflicts of interest etc. But lately things them seem to become worse!! People them getting away with everything. A councilman knocked down a historic tree and an old house, apparently with government (VROM/ Jay Haviser) permission. Government lost part of the case between the Emilio Wilson estate and Gov. The Mary's fancy estate going to be sold and VROM supporting the developer plans to destroy this historic area. I hear rumours that Jay Haviser the archaeologist is in charge of the VROM sub-department of Nature, monuments and the environment, that is why we does see him on the news protecting developers whenever the nature groups them expose something.

I don't think this archaeologist should be makin any decision on what should and shouldn't be protected, what somebody who does collect bones know about protecting we nature, history and culture??? Why they'n appoint one of the local environmentalists like Bunchie Nisbeth daughter, at least she from here? I feel this archaeologist/ vrom department sub head letting he fellow american developers get away with too much!!!! Just the other day I hear on O.G that the cruise ships them planning to develop a theme- park thing on fort amsterdam!! Since Haviser did invlolve with that I wonder if he going allow that too now.

Peyton Cromwell's Coral Beach Club "beach villa boxes" are rentals asking $9250 dollars plus taxes for a 5 day minimum stay.Which if you think about it could be a perfect front for laundering a cool $10.000 dollars every 5 days. It's known that most of these new developments(most using a color name) are a consortium of local realtors and their shady business partners who have figured out the perfect scheme to launder money through rentals while keeping their offshore N.V.'s avoiding income and other taxes. Cromwell's track record shows he builds without proper permits or violating the ones he has and interestingly no one in office takes notice. The "Ugly American" Peyton Cromwell and his associates may be this islands leading destroyer of it's natural environment all the while keeping a few commissioners happy, quiet and agreeable.The taxi association better warn their driver's to get another job. This new airport marina and it's future tenders are about to take the majority of the local taxi driver's income away.

Please go to google maps and see that a channel is already dredged all along mullet bay resort to the new building going on in cupecoy, the dark lines in the water are deeper areas

Interesting reading but this thread seems and sounds like sour grapes. The " new marina " as you refer to it is old news. Its had front page coverage in the local papers. This is no secret ..............
Just because a group of people dont like Peyton C .
Grow up , your posts on this subject look, sound and are without doubt bourne out of pure jealousy.
PJIA dont need to worry about P C they need to get theîr own house in order.
Long time since it was discussed about the ridiculous road layout at the airport which is an un necessary death waiting to happen.
Lets make the experience for our tourists and local population as inconvienient as possible ...........

I must disagree with you that a group of people don't like Mr Cromwell and therefore start posting these marina related postings. Mr Cromwell tried to force the PJIA to swap their land were the road is now going to be build so that they can ONCE again build a hotel with a huge marina. Mr. Holiday and his staff at PJIA pleaded with government and they listened and agreed with the airports road layout which is now going to be build to solve the traffic congestion. You will be ammazed who signed the building permit for the airport road to be build (Toontje Buncamper). Mr. Cromwell and his government lobbyest couldn't get certain civil servants to sign off on the land deals and that has angered certain lobbyest like Mike Ferrier. He was responsible for much of the lagoon to be filled and then again additional water filled for Maho's group (present project building around the tower) for which he's a consultant, and for the group of BBW. So you see it's not all sour grapes but just simply a enrichment deal gone bad. So who are you really protecting by your statement of sour grapes. Hope to have enlighten you on the facts. There all available at VROM and ROB. Check it out.

Thankyou for your response.

It was more the tone of the respondent in a previous post about Mr P C business in general. I have only met P C once or twice when considering a purchase at his development. I chose not to buy, not my taste in style. The product he has produced is however of very high quality and for that I give him credit.

I saw at that time renderings of the proposed development at the airport location. His proposal is world class, no ifs and buts. Now there are issues which would affect the lagoon and these are very important issues and they have to be addressed.
It would enhance the area and bring very significant business to the island.
These multi million dollar developments on the lagoon are contentious but they are not necessarily bad.

Problems in the lagoon are huge and many of them obvious. The live aboard yachts are major source of pollution and this is not being addressed.
Having said that I believe the yachts have a place in the lagoon but they need controls and they need to be charged for garbage and waste/ sewage collection.

Finally the airport roads / parking are so simple to fix and a major cause of the congestion could be alleviated simply by swapping the parking arrangements over. What is the problem ?
Again , whilst nothing is done we await a death on the crossing which will happen.
I forsee the same unless the taxis are moved back from the arrivals door as well. They create a complete barrier to vision of foot pax.

I just wonder how long it will be.

When was this marina in the local newspapers? please provide month and date.

I'm still hoping someone out there can let us know if the government issued a public announcement on this Simpson Bay Marina? They have started dredging the lagoon so the paperwork must be in????? Can anyone verify this story about this marina being front page or 3rd page news of the local newspaper?

Unfortunately I cannot remember the date, but it was mentioned in both papers. Front or 3rd page. But certainly this year.

What is wrong with you developers or developer lovers? Don't you understand the simple fact that no matter how high class and beautiful and oh so tastefully built a project is these days, THERE IS NO MORE DAMN ROOM ON OUR ISLAND! Good Lord in Heaven Above, take your friggin' concrete to Dubai or Quatar or wherever you are wanted. We do not have the space for more people on our rock, so who are you building these monstrocities for?
It is no longer a matter of how you build it, or how environmentally conscious the developers are (and we ain't callin' no names Mr. Tree Hugger Indigo Bay)it is a matter that it is being built at all! Who are you attracting? Who is your market? More people? Are you nuts?

I am extremely happy for you that you are the only who getting it all ........................ but at the same time ........
Don't you find it rather strange that everyone else is NUTS except you ?.
Think it is time for you to do some serious soul (mental) searching and cleansing.

Hope you got that.

I did reply to your post but it appears it was not posted, hopefully not censored out by Flipper...................
I was not rude so hopefully just a technical glitch

All parties are entitled to thier opinions. It doesnt make them nuts....

The world evolves and it will continue to do so.
Is your position advocating a an island with no further development ? If it is then you " lose "

Its going to happen, and it should, development needs control not banning.

I believe you are barking up the wrong tree.

Those who love SXM should demand that developments are tightly controlled in their quality and infastructure.
Developers will not build if there is no market to sell to, dont worry about that.

I wouldnt refer to your good self as nuts... but you are niave.

Concentrate on a developing world, including SXM , and ensure that what is allowed in SXM is top quality and as best it can be sympathetic to the envioroment.

There seems to be no market on SXM, the same developers drove away the tourists.
Look at Indigo Bay, and Barbaron sitting still with no sales coming in.
These developments are standing still.
But I guess the developers will come on this site and tell the prospective tourists how great things are progressing.
Yeah right, it is going on 2 years That Barbaron is clearing a hill, all they are doing is excavating a hill and hauling dirt away.
But the real question is why is our government allowing more of these tourism developments, while lower and middle class working class people cannot afford a home on the island?
More traffic, more people, less access to beaches.
And this does not only affect the locals, it affects also time share owner who do not enjoy the island anymore.
I think SXM is finished. The island is showing wear and tear. While Philipsburg is upgraded, the rest of the island lags behind.
Forgot to mention that Aquarius seems to be giving away their condos, but who in their right mind would invest in anything the Erato's develop? whatever they touch always turns out to be some scam and trickery.

Barbanon is not a scam. It's a comedy or rather a fantasy. For close to two years now, one little machine is moving soil from left to right and then back from right to left. Nobody takes it serious anymore. It's time for government to write the finale and revoke the permits they gave to this flim flam artist. This has nothing to do with development anymore. It's destruction of scenery.

Since you are so mature and I am so naive, please explain to me and the rest of us who exactly these developments are targeting. Did you happen to notice that our island is crowded? Every single tourist I come into contact with on a daily basis says the island is congested, ugly, full of concrete....not how it used to be...not attractive...too much traffic....blah blah...we hear it all the time. No big news. So, you my friend, and those like you, are driving away the very dollar we rely on.
Why not rebuild and beautify old into new, or make parks that current investors can use to improve their quality of life. God I sound like an idiot, even to myself, but that is only because there are too few of us and to many of you. Greedy and money hungry, who cannot make an honest dollar and set an example for your kids. Show them that you can earn a living by doing good. By making a difference in your community. A positive difference.
I am here for the long run - do you think the developers are? You know what? Even if you say yes, who the hell cares? My kids, who don't have a park to ride their bikes in? Yeah, maybe.
As for myself, I will keep doing what I love and set an example for those around me. To not need more and more and more and more, but to live a good life. Good luck to you in your oh so modern way of thinking.

Sounds strange to the developers you would say. But in reality the developers that have a good product very often (carefully used) are aware that if it does not fit within the environment (so well financial as social) it will most probably not succeed. Our problem here is that we only deal with the financial aspect very often and seldomly with the social aspect which includes environmental protection and population empowerment. A good developer takes that into consideration. So we're not talking about developers on this island but about builders and sellers, who very often are not even the same persons or entities. As a people and not only government we should stop selling our property and the government should stop giving building permits. and work permits. We will have to pass the spatial zoning for the various areas on the island like; gibbs bay, lowlands, philipsburg etc. (I understood Com. Maria passed a economical zoning to force a spatial zoning from Com. Theo) No one can then build as we will have quota's to work with and that will help (stops corruption hopefully). It means we will have to rebuild old stores, restaurants, hotels etc as no more can come.
As a people, I as a local born here am very dissapointed in our people. We have sold this island for a few dollars in the name of economical fortune. The fact that government gave the permits lies very often in the no zoning laws and people selling their property. The world is changing and yes we will change along but it doesn't have to be in concrete and steel. It can also be with what we still have. We will learn to do that sooner than later TRUST ME.

Let me get this straight, developers are given tax breaks when we don't have enough roads, too many cars and roads in dire need of repairs .Go ahead put the burden on the tax paying Sint Maartener, we should be glad we can serve you. After all, on the dutch side you developers have taken away our access to all our beaches. The traffic you brought us has hurt us economically we can barely move around on our island, how are we supposed to get our business done? The prices of these condo's are not for Sint Maarteners but for foreigners. Explain to me I'm naive " just what is St. Maarten getting from all this development"? These investors keep their money in Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, they don't pay taxes. They put pressure and demand on our roads, our water, our electricity. These developments hire mostly foreigners or political family members. These developers, realtors,commissioners, vrom personal, rob personal ,these individuals fill their pockets and deny any wrong doing. Do you really believe this is acceptable?
Enlighten me I'm waiting..........

You are so correct on your comment. The only way to stop it, is to stop the Government Officials lining their pockets by giving permits and tax breaks, but on everything else we always hear Support the Locals, but the Government Officials are the ones that apporve of these injustices on the Island and as so many times said, everything has to go thru the Lt. Governors office for approval, So stop fooling yourselves and root all the corruption, asidefrom all of that the Economy is not great, so who can afford those overpriced blocks of concrete,that all almost difficult to get to due to the burden of traffic.

Larry C. Geer