Philipsburg:--Last week the Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation brought forward pictures showing that an empty lot located next to the First Caribbean Bank was littered with trash and served as a dumping ground by many stores in the vicinity.
On Saturday morning, the ROB department responding to the media reports and on advice from the Prosecutors office organized a massive cleanup of the area. The cleanup took 4 hours to complete under the watchful eyes of ROB Inspector Mr. Esdaille who remained until the area was completely cleaned out.
Sint Maarten PRIDE once again reminds the general public that it is forbidden to litter the streets and public areas of St. Maarten. Those that continue to do so are culprits in the negligence of our home and tourism product.
The lot located between the Cannegieter street and Back street is privately owned, the foundation is calling on the owner to monitor his land and make sure it will not be used as a dumping ground anymore.
Since the Philipsburg area is severely lacking parking spaces, we are calling on the owner to consider building a paid by the hour parking garage on this land, instead of more buildings for stores.
The Island government should also seek out owners of empty lots on Front Street, Back Street and Cannegieter Street and offer them incentives to build parking lots or parking garages.
The Sint Maarten PRIDE foundation would like to commend Mr. Esdaille for always going above and beyond with his job, including coming out on weekends for community cleanups.
(St. Maarten Pride Foundation)