Revitalizing Community Partnership in the Neighborhood

The council’s focus on village reclamation through partnerships with residents and the greater community is aimed at enabling the neighborhood to be safe, clean, robust, and sustainable. Identifying and rehabilitating neglected heritage assets around the villages is key in revitalizing the neighborhood on Saipan.

One such project set for ribbon cutting this year is the revitalization of the kios-ku in Chalan Kanoa, the site of the Saipan Leadership Memorial Kios-ku located in the heart of Chalan Kanoa, the capital town of Saipan across the United States Post Office.

In March of 2008, the local council requested then-Secretary of the Department of Public Lands, John Del Rosario, for a Grant of Public Domain to the kios-ku for Saipan’s first Leadership Memorial Kios-ku project. Two months later that year, the DPL chief agreed, but made the actual deed contingent on certain conditions. These conditions included securing a perimeter survey of the property, recording the approved survey plat at the Commonwealth Recorder’s Office, and submission of the kios-ku site development plan.

Wasting little time, the council formed a community partnership group. The pioneering community partnership team included former Saipan Mayor Frank Diaz, former Speaker of the Saipan Municipal Council Vicente Camacho, former Speaker of the Marianas District Legislature Vicente Santos, former mayor Joe Rios and former CNMI Legislature Representative Moses Fejeran, to name a few. Robert Hunter, Director of the Commonwealth Museum, also a founding member, headed the program committee.

Brian Smith, former staff at the Department of Public Work (DPW) headed the site development plan committee. Other early Kios-ku pioneering members included Steve Tilley, former Saipan zoning administrator and Therese Ogumoro, Herman Tudela and John Palacios from the Historic Preservation Office (HPO), the late Gonzalo Santos, former Special Assistant for the Indigenous Affairs Office and replaced by Ike Demapan, present special assistant, Angie Mangerero, Special Assistant for Carolinian Affairs, Ben Borja and Victor Guerrero from Forestry Division, Jean Sablan, a citizen representative, among others.

Jack Songsong from DLNR Survey Division and his team of surveyors conducted the necessary survey work while Darrel Songsong from the Department of Public Work (DPW) supervised the architectural rendering.

Members of the pioneering Saipan Municipal Council include former council chairwoman Antonia Tudela, former councilman Felipe Atalig, and former vice chairman and now chairman Ramon Camacho. Present council vice chairman/secretary Eric Demapan and councilman Ralph Yumul are also part of the kios-ku community partnership team.

Almost all of the core group’s pioneering meetings were held at the museum during the formative conceptual stages of the kios-ku planning and development.

Every two weeks following DPL’s notice of the kios-ku designation in June 2008, the pioneering core group worked under a highly compressed work schedule. Bi-weekly meetings were held for an hour at a time at the Commonwealth Museum. The hour-long meetings were focused on laying the project scope of work; brainstorming possible scenarios for the project rehabilitation plan; and reviewing different facility design drawings. The goal was to have a design that not only captures Saipan’s political history and what it meant to the people, but also one that depicts local leadership during the pre-commonwealth period up to the present time.

Just as important to the pioneering group was to have a design that would preserve the functionality of the kios-ku and make the entire facility environmentally friendly and a green development model project. For instance, instead of fossil fuel-powered lighting system, the lighting fixtures would be powered by solar energy. On the other hand, the toilet facility will not completely rely on city water. Non-point water sources from man-made ponding basin and water storage tank will hold the water for toilet flushing and irrigating ground covers, native trees, surrounding palm trees, and the ornamental flowers. The existing giant monkey pot trees will not be removed. Instead, the giant trees will be used for shade and conservation measures, an integral part of the overall landscaping design.

Then zoning-czar Steve Tilley impressed on the pioneering core group the need for a kios-ku public parking. The initial design called for a single entry to and exit out of the public parking, in order to minimize if not prevent vehicular mishaps. The design was later changed to accommodate large number of student visitors in school buses and tourists in tour vans and buses. A flood mitigation drainage system is also part of the overall design.

Installing parking meters and using the proceeds for the maintenance of the parking and surrounding ambience was considered, but the idea did not gain the support of the pioneering core group. Solar-operated ground and overhead lamp were both integrated into the design, thereby making the kios-ku environmentally friendly but later budget constraints changed that aspect of the site development plan.

Former Mayor Frank Diaz, during one of the pioneering meetings had argued that the present roundhouse was not authentic. The former mayor pointed out that the true kios-ku was a little closer to the main road across the present post office. Unlike the “original” kios-ku, which was an elevated wooden structure with circular-shaped and downward sloping roof, the structure that existed then has circular-shaped concrete flat roof. The former mayor suggested the entire structure be replaced with the original replica of the building and relocated to the same exact location where it once was.

Tenth councilman Felipe Atalig, on the other hand, expressed concern about replacing the existing kios-ku structure and recommended that it be rehabilitated instead. The Department of Public Work, however, insisted the facility was not structurally sound and to be demolished. Tenth Council Chairwoman Antonia Tudela, for her part, shared the concerns by former Mayor Diaz and recognized the point raised by Atalig but agreed with DPW’s recommendation.

Embedded in the original project design was a proposed brick pathway at the main entrance to the parking lot and the kios-ku visitor center. The brick overlay drive is supposed to be restricted for kios-ku visitors and emergency vehicles (ambulance, fire trucks, EMO, etc.). The kios-ku perimeter, including the public parking area, will see trees interspersed and accentuated by native floral combination. A three-foot ornamental fence would add protection around the kios-ku from the constant traffic flow in and out of Chalan Kanoa and the Chalan Kanoa post office.

The pioneering site development design incorporated a concierge inside the visitor center. The concierge is intended to facilitate in-bound and out-bound traffic to the kios-ku. For convenience, a public restroom is provided at the rear end of the courtyard. Water for flushing toilets will be drawn from non-point water run-offs with city water used only when needed.

At the center of the kios-ku is the main rotunda. North of the rotunda facing the post office stands rows of granite plates embedded to the concrete stalls facing outward in a semi-circular fashion. Etched on the granite are past and contemporary local leaders welcoming visitors to the center. A pedestrian access leading to and from the memorial kios-ku is part of the conceptual design as well.

Inside the kios-ku area will be covered by spreads of Bermuda grass, professionally landscaped borders, dry garden, and native plants and trees. Stone pavers that lead visitors to the gazebos and benches around the kios-ku not only accentuates the facilities inside the kios-ku but also links the different features in an harmonious fashion. Concessionaires occupying the gazebos will have ample opportunities to provide hot lunches and cold drinks to visitors for a price. Local arts and crafts may be available in the visitor center for sale by local vendors. A mini photo museum and gallery at the visitor center will offer visitors some glimpses of history from pre-commonweath to the present. Audio/video storybook detailing the history of local leadership may be offered upon availability.

Fronting the Tun Segunda Road is a centrally-located flag pole that will hoist the U.S., CNMI and the Municipality of Saipan flags before the granite nameplates display of local leaders as the kios-ku’s centerpiece.

Finally, though not part of the on-going construction for phase three, the design calls for the Chalan Kanoa entrance to be landscaped alongside the concrete walkways leading to the kios-ku area, further accentuating the historic significance of the memorial kios-ku. When additional funds are identified, a 25-foot high semi-cicle gateway arc will be constructed at the foot of the Chalan Kanoa main entryway on Tun Segundo Road. The design is intended to herald Saipan’s village heritage tourism in Chalan Kanoa.

In the end, the kios-ku also heralds the instrumental role by local resident leaders in the political advancement and modernization of the Commonwealth. The kios-ku is a place where present and future generations of Saipan residents and visitors will visit and become familiar with the invaluable contributions of local leaders in the political and socio-economic evolution of the island.

For many years since becoming a Commonwealth, local residents have been schooled of leaders and about leaders and heroes who are foreign conquerors, those who notably hailed from Spain, Germany, Japan and the U.S. naval administration, including representatives of the United Nations and the United States.

The kios-ku resurrects the historical myopia missing in our collective narrative by adding a new dimension to our collective memory, where local residents and visitors will be able to identify, relate to and recognize local leadership. Indeed, the kios-ku is history in itself, a place where history is captured as it unfolds, and a place where history will pass judgment upon local leaders. The kios-ku is only the beginning in revitalizing community partnership in the neighborhood which showcases the vast historic assets Saipan offers in the inner villages, making the inner villages unique visitor and learning centers for island residents and visitors to appreciate and learn from and also promotes environmental stewardship and ultimately builds sustainable communities that thrive on their unique historic characteristics.