St. Maarten Private Eye

I have seen the construction trash on the beach in the large red bin.
Westin/Colombia Sussex has to be more responsible with their constrcution debris.
Trash should not be stored on the beach so close to the sea, espeically with heavy rainfall and heavy winds, the possibilty exsists that the debris will end up in the ocean.
Observer 1602 makes a point of reference to Easter Monday when locals and residents picnic on the beach and leave their beach party mess behind, which is bad enough, but this should be no excuse for a large company such as Westin to do what they are doing.
The beach front construction mess on Dawn beach looks awful and there is absolutely no reason to leave construction mess on the beach side.
I also do not agree with an embedded road on the beach sand, with heavy equipment driving back and forth.
As for that man made water retention tank that they replaced the natural pond with, can never replace the natural pond with filtering out the nutrients.
A natural pond works best as a filter with holding the water, nutrients sink to the bottom and overflow clean water flows over to the sand into the sea.
Ofcourse with large excavated areas, more sediment run-off will occur, reason why it is important not to build on hilltops and as much vegatation should remain in the hills.
What we need is a total reef survay made of all surrounding coral reefs, to check on their state of health.
For those of you that do not understand the importance of coral reefs, it is not about snorkelling and diving and fishing, it is more importantly a source of our beaches repleneshing itself.
A dead reef will not produce sand, look at the sand over a Divi and Belair beach.
The white sand on Great Bay was pumped up, dredged from the Great Bay Harbour.
Another item that has my concern is the massive sediment run-off that has been seen in the Great Bay Sea for the past rainy days, this has become common as the Philipsburg and surounding areas is built up and runoff comes from as far as St.Peters and the surrounding hills.
However, My point of concern is if hotels are advising against swimming in the waters when the sediment is so heavy.
Hotels located in Philipsburg should seriously consider taking pre-cautionery measures for their guests.
The Health department should also be playing a greater role in this issue as water testing should be conducted on a regular basis, same as what the Blue Flag certification suggests.
Water testing of the Great Bay sea can only be seen as beneficial to the tourism industry as it will ensure we take better care of what goes into the ocean.
Trying to hide the issue and not touch this issue as it might "harm" the tourism industy is bull in my opinion.
We had a major diesel oil spill caused by a sinking tugboat in the Great Bay and GIS is trying to calm fears that everyhting is under control and no reason for panick etc.
The island has no oil spill contingency plan, we have no tools for cleaning oil spills.
The island depends on the cleanup tools that SHELL/SOL can provide (at a fee?).
In this case, the owner of the tug boat Jason is known, but how many times have we seen that oil spill sources are unknown?
It is high time, we conduct regular water testing of the Geat Bay waters and we invest in a oil spill emergency contingency plan with cleanup tools.

Jadira Veen

On the subject of trash or rather garbage just an observation. We have these ugly looking things standing along the road, which are used for the people to dump their garbage in. Also people have bins standing along the road, sometimes even open, in which they dump their garbage. All these are environmental hazards and cause a lot of trash along the roads, never mind that it is unpleasant to the eye.

Goats jump in the garbage-bins and eat whatever they can get, dogs knock over bins for the same purpose. Also this uncovered garbage attracts rats, flies, mosquito's and other hungry vermin.

Therefore my comment on trash should be in context. Westin is building and has to clear up the site before it can open. One can be pretty sure that that will be taken care off. As such it is an incidental problem. The other problem with garbage is STRUCTURAL, meaning it is there day in day out, year in year out, unless we come with a solution like on the French Side, where everyone keeps his garbage in covered containers, which the garbage collectors come to empty ONCE A DAY.

So in closing, it is OK to point out the construction garbage which is around, but at the same time one should not close his eyes to the other serious garbage problems that exist on our island.

Observer1602

I understand that SXM Waste Management is a Marlin venture, family member I hear but same thing. Roy recently announced too that a consultant from the waste to energy plant in Aruba has been made available by the Aruban Govt. I am told that the Aruban Govt are not paying this persons salary, a Canadian company that makes the plant is.

Again, just like Intaquin, Roy is making a deal without involving public discussion on what is the best solution. No doubt there will be money to be made from waste and Roy is getting in early. Is this type of plant he is planning the best solution to the islands problems with waste? I don't know, I'd like to hear from people who might.

LH

Well, a waste to energy plant would just cost the island money!! This is NO solution too the problem on the island. But would cost the people of sxm more money. BAD move!!!

Just for the record, Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation has not been in any discussions with government about new trash collection fees.
The foundation supports a collection fee for trash collection, however what we are hearing fls55.- a month per household is not any fee the foundation has suggested to government.
I myself think this is rather high, however government should come clean and explain to the public and environment groups how they have come up with this amount.
I too have heard that this Aruban consultant is here to re-structure the garbage situation, and hopefully the ugly blue bins will dissapear from the side of the roads and in community neighborhoods.
But, I am worried that this person is not meeting with local stakeholders to hear the local enviro groups stand - and to hear from his side what the future holds.
As for an incenerator, my people are saying that the French SXM has abandoned the incenerator plans, so if Dutch side SXM is planning one, how are we to pay for this? and will we be importing garbage to keep it going?
Is this Aruban consultant researching re-cycling?
My people are saying that the French side will be taking a more pro-active approach to recycling, and from the local news the French has already started restructering and cleaning up their Cul de Sac landfill.
Culd de sac will be burying the trash, but in a more environmental friendly manner, some trash will be taken out and re-cycled, and what I learned there last year was very interesting was, every supermarket or wholsaler that has to dispose of rotten meat has to call the Hygiene department to register this.
The Hygiene department then takes measures to bury the meat and add some powder which rotts the meat within a few hours.
This is to prevent that persons can steal the rotten meat and sell it or have the population consuming it.
At our landfill, we have scavengers all day looking for the produce that supermarkets dispose, I have seen these scavengers myself.
On Dutch St.Maarten we really need the trash collection system restructered, with collection fees for every household.
However, I would need to find out how many subscribers GEBE has, and calculate fls55 a month for every household.- we have to come to our own conclusion if this fls.55.- can be reduced for the consumer and exactly what the fls55.- will be used for.
It would be in this Aruban consultant interest to contact local enviro groups to present the proposed plans and accept our input.

Jadira Veen
** Ps. Flipper, I cannot sign in anymore.
Is there a reason for this?
Please check this out, as I have tried signing in and registering, but my posts come up as anonymous.

The housholds that have 1 person and the housholds that have many more.

Sounds like another half assed and poorly thought out program to me, like a wound that requires more than a bandaid, just covers it up for a little while before you see the bandaid did no good and wasn't enough.

Any solution to the islands waste problems must also include tackling it at the point of sale. Products with excessive packaging, cheap flimsy plastic bags that have to be doubled to be of any use, glass and plastic seperation, etc. I know they have tried this on the french side, but it was not supported at the time by an education and enforcement program, nor with the facilities to process the sorted garbage.

I would also add that we should be looking seriously at our excessive waste of energy. Front Street shops with airco blasting out their doors, spot lights on at the harbour all night, excessive use of streetlights, which by the way have very little if anything to do with fighting crime.

For myself, I think Global Warming is a reality and we should be trying to do our part, looking forwards to new ways to produce our energy needs, including solar, wind and wave options. I seriously wonder at times if our local polticians and others take any notice or have any awareness of the issues in the world which will effect us sooner or later.

But that's just me. All these people supposedly buying properties 1 or 2 meters above sea level must not think GW is real. Time will tell eh?

Flipper

Hey Observer,

Well, about the brown sea. The difference between 'before' and 'after' the culvert is huge, before the water had the chance to sink into the soil and sand, filtering out the nutirents and sediment. Perhaps there were a few times in heavy rains this would happen, but not everytime and not to this extent. Now the water rushes down the culvert and straight into the sea, giving no chance for it to settle. You are a smart man, surely you are not saying that this hole in the ground works just as well as the natural pond that was there before. Roy may say there was no natural pond, but he talks shit as you know. I have talked with several old St. Maarteners who all say that before the first hotel there was a pond and marshy area.

Then the rocks, tack a look at the photo above in which they are indicated, I am not talking about the rocks seperating the two halfs of the beach, but new ones that have appeared in the middle of the right hand side. When the Profiles video was made, there was 13 ft of sand left between the embedded road and the water, now the water washes up to the road and if you go there you can see that it is causing erosion,

And then the garbage, if you look in the middle of the photo showing the beach, you will see another pile of garbage where water has also washed through the project to the beach. There was a lot of garbage up by Ms B's which came from the site. This is not just something that happens on building sites, this is just another clear example that they haven't a clue or really don't give a shit about the environment, it is irresponsible and it is shameful.

Again though, thats just my opinion, it's ok to disagree on somethings, I think you and I probably agree on more than we don't.

LH

Those are sliding glass doors with new huricane roll down shutters for protection. There are however going to be tiled patios between those doors and the beach. This is according to reliable sources at Mr. Busby's. I also overheard comments that indicate that the buildings actual living space was built to close to sea level and certainly will be a problem even during mild storm surges on Dawn Beach. I think they are correct, which leads me to believe that on the beach side of the patios they will most likely construct some sort of protective knee wall. Who designed that horror show. It looks like a prison, or something from 1950's Boca Raton. Shuffleboard anyone?
Frankie

The Coral Shore development is going to be one big frigging eyesore. I have a lot of imagination but I can not see this in anyway as a desirable property or rather not one that someone would spend a lot of money on to live. Rumors (again!) have it that the beach-front "villa's" ( I would refer to them as glorified town-houses) have been lowered in price to about 1.5 million dollars. A steal of a deal, right?

This is one of the messiest building-sites I have witnessed in a long time. There is some of the shoddiest construction work performed as well. Paper thin plastering on the outside of the buildings done in a poor manner. Building of railings with blocks in stead of using quality glass or aluminium railings. Windows and doors that look like something that was bought in a sale of 1970's superfluous inventory, and so on.......

Building density is enourmous and should be well over 50 percent.

Talking about building density: the rainbow project you referred to does not deviate from the artist's impression as far as number of floors is concerned, but also the tennis-courts, center-plaza and other amenities have been eliminated to build more buildings. Please take a look at recent pictures that are posted on the site. Building density must be close to- or over 70 percent.

But yeah, what to do? No need to cry over spilled milk, now is there? And that is exactly in what position all of these projects are.

Planning permits are issued with guidelines and rules, but at the same time give the Executive Council (RM?) - as this body seems fit - the right to permit amendments to a project, be it building height, building density, lay out, and whatever else you have. That is the problem that needs to be dealt with. Once a planning permit is issued (granted) no more changes should be made unless these are subject to the same public scrutiny and due process as the original permit. If not, the whole matter is a joke and a farce.

Observer1602

My first entry to the competition :)

The Death of Dawn Beach

LH

You Win!

And an excellent one it is. So sad :'(

And an excellent one it is. So sad :'(

Wow.... Very powerful: And it does make you cry !!!! Hats off to whoever that made this compilation.

I had so much more I wanted to add.

I was there today, nearly all the white sand is gone. The old dawn beach as we all knew it has gone. St Maaten has lost one of it's natural treasures.

LH

Westin and Sussex have been a disaster since they arrived, the lastest fiasco of them trying to transport huge septic tanks along and up the hills to the property would be hilarious if not so serious. The tank fell off the trailer and an ambulance was unable to get to the OBBH and a guest in need. It's like a comedy of errors, one wonders when it will ever end.

I heard today from someone who should know, that the basement level of Westin, which is primarily the carpark and casino were quite seriously flooded the past few days of rain we had. I wonder what the insurance premiums will be?

Fact as I understand it, resorts and places like this are NOT required to be insured by law. The Atrium isn't insured for example. So, WHEN, not if, a big hurricane comes along, I wonder who will be cleaning up the mess and how many years in court it will take to sort it out. When you really think about it, who was responsible for the 11 years of the Mullet Bay Saga? Maybe they didn't see that coming, but we should at least learn from it and make sure it can't happen again.

Another nugget I heard was that a representative from Lloyds of London was here recently and was not happy with the new filling of the Salt Pond. It is extremely likely that the premiums of the houses and businesses around the Salt Pond will be rising. If it does go up then you know where to send your bill - Roy Marlin, c/o The Administration Building, Philipsburg.

LH

No applications from anyone suitable?

any new pics of the construction and howe it is going

You can find them here

Hey there Tim, You ask how is it going?
I do hope you are not selling products or looking to see how this great WESTIN is becoming. WESTIN/COLUMBIA SUSSEX is a mess, the question should be if the prosecutor and inspector gave a fine as yet to them for storing construction debris on the beach.
Best way for them to be going ; is down the drain.