A Need for Flag Men or Traffic Cops

Every morning I drive through San Vicente to get my daughter to school and me to work. The construction of the four-lane highway is in full swing. I hate it.

I can't stand the idea of our small community school being situated on a 4 lane highway. I didn't like the demise of the Roundhouse.

But just now, I can't stand (even more than my dislike of the overall objective of the project) that it takes from 6 to 10 minutes to drive south the half mile or less from SVES to clear pavement. Ordinarily this takes about a minute or two.

Worse, I feel for all of those trying to turn left from Dandan and the eastern roads of San Vicente village. Cars are lined up 10 and 20 deep, with no hope of finding a space for turning. The traffic on Isa Drive goes in both directions, and is now so slow, that those waiting to turn onto Isa must wait for kindness from both directions. But it's hard to be kind to those waiting to turn when you've been waiting a long time just to go straight, and being kind to one will mean forcing the long line of traffic behind you to wait longer.

It's a mess.

A simple fix would be a traffic cop or flagmen directing traffic.

Of course, there is going to need to be a more permanent fix, so we don't end up with a dead child when the traffic from Kagman comes zooming along on the new 4-lane highway and fails to adequately slow down in the village when kids are walking to school. And probably there won't be any sidewalks added, because no one thinks of pedestrian traffic, even if it's our school kids going to a school right there smack dab in the middle of the village on the main road.

We're setting ourselves us for a disaster.

I just can't stand any of it.

185. Random Thoughts

The traffic lights were out in places on the drive to school & work this morning. It was busy. People were not stopping or taking turns. No police were directing traffic at the intersections. It was not the way to start the day.

It seems we will continue to face this problem, as CUC continues to have power problems. I wish the Legislature would address the traffic light issue with a simple law, and the police would enforce it. If a traffic light is out or malfunctioning, it should become and be treated as a stop sign. This slows traffic down--true. But then everyone knowns what to do, and everyone gets a chance to get through intersections, even if they're--heaven forbid--turning left.



Don Farrel's letter in the Variety today-here--is really good. The Governor, Howard Willens, Cinta Kaipat, and possibly Deanne Siemer all seem to be trying very hard to spread misinformation and fear as the means to combat the federalization effort. I know that there are important issues that the US Congress must tackle, but the CNMI needs their attention and an end to the current mess. We are stuck in this quaqmire, the worst of which may be listening to the distortions being thrown about by our current administration. Could we just get on with federalization now, please?


January in Saipan is my favorite month--weather-wise. The moon at night is huge, with a deep field of stars playing back-up. Days are sunny, warm, with a cool breeze coming in. Green and lush, tangerines and star fruit still plentiful. It's a tough life in the tropics, but someone's got to live it. :-)