Kill the bill!

Dear Governor Fitial: I am writing to implore you to veto House Local Bill 17-26 S2, which included the seven pages of verbiage of Rep. Stanley Torres’ floor amendment to the proposed Saipan Zoning Law. This House local bill was passed by the Saipan Northern Islands Local Delegation on Jan. 31, 2012. The end result of this amendment will be to effectively kill zoning on Saipan, which is obviously the author’s intent. This amendment makes a mockery of our legislative process; I do not believe any member who voted for it fully understood what the end result would be. In fact, I do not believe any member even took the time or had the opportunity to cross-check the seven pages of the amendment with the actual law in an effort to really understand what they were amending. It is unconscionable that an amendment of this magnitude would be passed with virtually no debate or consideration of the public and business community’s comments. What needed to be passed was only the proposed text amendments as recommended by the Zoning board.

Governor, I know you understand the value of planning and zoning for our island. I know you spent several years on the first Zoning board, including a lengthy tenure as chairman, back in the early ’90s before zoning was suspended. Since that time we have had 20 more years of unplanned haphazard development. Possibly the only positive benefit of our current economic situation is that we have a chance to look at our mistakes of the past and plan for a better future. I cannot conceive of why we would want to throw this opportunity away. House Local Bill 17-26 S2 will drastically change the future landscape of the island of Saipan and has far reaching ramifications affecting property values and the quality of life of all residents and visitors. We will basically go back to the anything-goes thinking of the past. In July we will have a new airline starting up, which will hopefully help to revive our dying tourist industry. I wish them well, but personally I think their efforts will be wasted if we do not make a good faith effort to clean up their customer’s destination.

Back in October 2011, the Marianas Visitors Authority, while developing the CNMI Tourism Master Plan for 2012-2016, conducted surveys with visiting tourists and also hosted experts in the tourism field. I don’t think anyone can deny that the CNMI can learn much from the State of Hawaii in regards to developing a tourism industry. Former Honolulu mayor Mufi Hannemann offered the following observation: “You cannot base tourism decisions on fear. If you do that you will never do what is right. You have to make unpopular decisions in anticipation of a problem.” Mr. Hannemann went on to identify four components that any government has to put into place to achieve its tourism goals: public safety, infrastructure, adequate funding for promotions, and planning and zoning. It is ironic that the one area where Mr Hannemann felt the CNMI was making good progress, planning and zoning, is the one area we now want to destroy. Some of the replies and feedback collected by MVA, which are considered crucial to the tourism industry, are cleanliness, good memories, and especially a beautiful environment. Sound zoning and planning plays an important role in achieving these goals.

Governor Fitial, I’m sure you realize this bill is not in Saipan’s best interest, and I think that if given a true understanding of what was before them a majority of the Saipan delegation would not have approved it. The Zoning board members, past and present, along with the Zoning Office staff, have devoted a tremendous amount of their time in an effort to improve the quality of life and economic future of Saipan. This bill is a slap in the face to all of them. I hope you will do what you know is right and veto it.

Herminia Matsumoto Fusco
Capital Hill, Saipan