Previous Story
Inmates, first lady team up for bus stops cleanup
|
Posted on Jul 22 2008
The Department of Corrections has teamed up with first lady Josie Fitial to clean up bus stops in preparation for the school year’s opening.
The department started the Fitial-sponsored beautification project on Monday by repainting the bus stops.
DOC Commissioner Lino S. Tenorio told the Saipan Tribune yesterday that sprucing up the bus stops would take two to three weeks—until just before the school year’s start.
“There’s about eight to 10 inmates doing that [repainting] on [a] daily basis…officers are guarding them as they do that,” Tenorio said.
The first lady provides the paint and other materials.
Meanwhile, local residents can thank the department for its recent cleanup of the former La Fiesta Mall, previously an eyesore.
Tenorio said the Fitial administration requested a few months ago for DOC to maintain the defunct mall.
“The best way to get it maintained is by our staff. The inmates are doing that because they have to contribute something to the community,” he said.
Instead of fielding the staff from the Mayor’s Office, the Department of Public Works and Marianas Visitors Authority, DOC has been cleaning up the mall at least once or twice a month, he said.
“Now it’s no longer an eyesore like before; the tangan-tangan trees and grasses were very, very tall, and [now] it’s covered with green. We make sure that we maintain that on a monthly basis,” Tenorio added.
