House numbers already exist

It was just days ago that I wrote about how my ideas are being ignored for years, then all of a sudden another person comes up with the same idea and the powers-that-be wants to use the idea. Give me a break and some credit, please! I’m not saying the mayor’s office took my idea but I have been pushing for an address system ever since the streets were given names. Just like I realized that ending the double-dipping law was the next logical step the moment the Retirement Fund died, I also instantly realized that an address system was the next step after the streets were named if we are to ever get mail delivery to our homes.

Yes, I wrote about this years ago and even offered the idea to several elected officials in the Legislature but there were no takers until our representative from Kagman III, Lorenzo DL Guerrero, viewed my idea as being viable. Right now, Rep. Guerrero and Sen. Mesngon are in the process of drafting a bill to give every location an address. Unlike the mayor’s office proposal to “give addresses,” I proposed that we use the already issued “lot numbers” to double as an “address” because that is all the lot number is for—to designate the location of a lot.

It is much simpler and easier because issuing new addresses is really painstaking, redundant work that does not need to be done and it could end up being confusing. Every lot in every village already has lot numbers that are in chronological order and not duplicated within that village, which makes for a much easier structured system to implement. Furthermore, this system is already in place and there are maps already created of the CNMI showing the lot numbers, which makes it easier for duplicating these maps for public distribution. In fact first responders and some businesses already use these lot number maps to find a house or location. So what I’m proposing is really already being practiced. The mayor’s office approach is what I would call “re-inventing the wheel” but I do want to applaud him and his chief of staff for trying.

I have already talked with Rep. DL Guerrero and he has assured me that he will get with Sen. Mesngon and that one of them will file the bill in an expeditious fashion. Having completed the necessary infrastructure of street names and address, it can eventually have a big impact on the quality of life, which is why I would not let my idea die. Once we have addresses, we can then start working to get mail delivery to our homes. That will create postal jobs and make life easier and cheaper than driving to the post office from Kagman just to check the mail.

This is not meant to be disrespectful to the mayor or his office because he is doing a great job. I’m just flustered again at the powers-that-be for not listening to me years ago because we still have a ways to go before our postal system is fully modernized with mail delivery.

Ambrose M. Bennett
Kagman, Saipan