Saipan Kios-ku: A Visitor and Learning Center

By RAMON BLAS CAMACHO
Special to the Saipan Tribune

Editor’s Note: Due to the length of this article, it is being published as a two-part series. This piece concludes the article.

Just as important to the final design is that the kios-ku maintains its functionality in catering to public functions, keeping the entire facility environmentally friendly, and completing the project within budget, all of which have so far been accomplished by the council and its community partners, when the leadership kios-ku idea was first conceived in 2008; the commitment to move forward with implementation solidified in the ensuing year followed by the tedious path in securing funding for the project, which contributed to delays in progress to some extent, but with the historic groundbreaking immediately followed the completion of the kios-ku public parking facility in late 2010; the third and final design phase completed by professional designers in 2011 and the construction announcement for the third and final phase of the kios-ku later on that same year and in 2012 the actual construction of the third and final phase slated for completion and ribbon cutting this year.

Unmistakably, the kios-ku 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. The kios-ku is also where local residents and visitors will be able to identify, relate to and recognize local leadership. Indeed, the kios-ku is history itself, a place where history is captured as it unfolds, and a place where history will pass judgment upon local leaders.

The Chalan Kanoa kios-ku has a rich tradition and a place in the political history of the Commonwealth and no less Saipan. For the roundhouse has served as a place of fellowship gathering, having served for and catered to different public functions over the years, including political assembly and campaigns. It is this aspect of history that has significant relevance to the political development as an island nation that makes this endeavor important to the people of Saipan, which the council intends to dedicate, preserve, protect and enhance whatever that is left of the facility for a memorial display of local leadership. The council intends on keeping the facility open and accessible to the public and keep the facility and the surrounding area clean, landscaped, orderly and lighted.

It goes without saying that for many years since becoming a Commonwealth, local residents have been schooled 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 enriches that narrative, by prominently displaying the missing pages in our collective memory as islanders. The kios-ku highlights the transformative political change in the CNMI, as the island navigates and fine-tunes the political process as a self-governing entity, and pauses to recognize her local leaders and their brand of leadership during their term in public service as public servants. Indeed, the council’s articulated vision during the unveiling of the pioneering kios-ku initiative back in 2008 is founded on the principle that the leadership memorial is a place where those in public service who were instrumental in the socio-economic development and political modernization of the Northern Marianas during post-war Naval Administration, Trust Territory Government under the United Nations Trusteeship Council, and as a self-governing Commonwealth Government with the United States enshrined in the Covenant Agreement and the CNMI Constitution are recognized and remembered. Thus, the list is to be inclusive of pre-commonwealth (i.e., post-war Naval administration in 1945-1947, the Trust Territory period in 1947-1975 and Commonwealth period from 1976 to the present and beyond) appointed public servants and all elected Saipan leaders in the Congress of Micronesia, Marianas District and CNMI legislature, the Saipan municipal council, Saipan village commissioners, and executive / district administrator, mayor, governor and lt. governor who are Saipan residents, including members of the Saipan judiciary, Saipan delegates to the Constitutional Convention, Marianas Political Status Commission, and the like. The gathering of public servants of this scope and magnitude is itself a historical moment, as the undertaking is the first comprehensive chronicle of public servants in Saipan’s history, and continues as history unfolds.

In the larger scheme of things, the kios-ku promises to be an example of a community initiative in building a sustainable local capacity at the village level for residents to partake in the preservation and promotion of the unique historic assets of the community, promote environmental stewardship and enhance the physical and cultural characteristics of the villages, in partnership with local government agencies, non-government groups and the private sector community. The goal is to build enough capacity at the village level to enable residents to be able to carry out and continue the project as part of a sustainable neighborhood revitalization and enhancement activity throughout the island of Saipan. Focusing on the health and safety requirements around the villages promotes an environment that nurtures a vibrant community necessary for trade and commerce to thrive and thereby provide local employment and other economic opportunities in the neighborhood.

As chairman of the 11th Saipan council and on behalf of my colleagues and our predecessors, I want to take this opportunity to thank our community partners, including the volunteer members of the community in the site development planning group, who have directly or indirectly contributed to and assisted the council in crafting a vision and realizing that vision in the Saipan kios-ku as a place of history as history continues to unfold. Indeed, the kios-ku holds promise as a visitor and learning center outside a four-cornered classroom in the heart of Chalan Kanoa. It is with great pleasure, therefore, that I join my colleagues in the council and our predecessors together with our pioneering site development partnership team, including those volunteers who most recently joined the site development planning group in inviting the public to the kios-ku ribbon cutting ceremony slated this year once the final phase of the kios-ku construction is expected to complete in April 2012. In which case, the site development planning advisory will be dissolved and replaced by the council’s official ribbon cutting advisory and transition ad hoc committee under the council’s leadership.

Ramon Blas Camacho is chairman of the 11th Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council (saipanmunicipalcouncil.blogspot.com).