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Mayor’s Office to focus on tourism, community safety initiatives in 2016
The Saipan Mayor’s Office aims to work on a number of projects for 2016, which include beautification, tourism, and safety initiatives for the community.
“We have a lot of plans to do for 2016 and we’re looking forward to really working hard and try to accomplish what we set to do this year,” Mayor David Apatang said.
According to Apatang, they will be developing a parking area and foot trail to the Old Man by the Sea.
“When tourists go up that area, they just park along the road. I asked the Department of Public Lands to survey the location up there so that we can have a parking at the top and do the trail, a wider trail going down to the site,” Apatang said.
He added that they will also develop the Blue Hole in Talofofo as well as the Puttan Naftan Historic and Lookout Site.
“There is a Japanese canon there that’s been sitting for a long time. We want it to be a tourist site also,” Apatang said.
Apatang said they will continue their stray dogs program and the beautification of Beach Road.
The Mayor’s Office said it will also pursue grants from the Office of Insular Affairs to be able to purchase additional road maintenance equipment such as small dump truck, small bulldozer, and a small road compactor.
“Right now, we’re renting equipment from the outside and we’re spending a lot of money on it. If we secure this money from OIA, that will help us save a lot,” Apatang said.
They are also looking at establishing north and south heavy equipment shop.
The mayor added that they will have community improvement programs to deter crimes against property, eliminate blight as well as improve the Neighborhood Watch.
“I know there’s a federal grant that we can secure for that,” Apatang said, “If we can have that, we can hire people to monitor the villages on a daily basis.”
Apatang said the current Neighborhood Watch Program on some villages needs to be more organized and well established to make it more effective.
