ST. PETERS:--- The OSPP was forced to cancel their first ever political town hall meeting that was scheduled to be held on Thursday, July 31, 2014 at the Salvation Army Hall in Cole Bay. This cancellation was due to an electrical problem that existed in the building of the Salvation Army. Thereafter, NV GEBE emergency personnel were summoned to the building and after some searching they were able to put back on the electricity. In the mean time the OSPP leader took a decision to cancel the meeting and inform those that were present that we will organize contact meetings to be able to inform the people about our "Vision Plan to Rescue St. Maarten". Our views at that time was that every disappointment is for a good.
However, our second town hall meeting on Friday, August 1, 2014 and this time at the Rupart I. Maynard Community Center in St. Peters had to be cancelled again due to the fact that NV GEBE had disconnected the center for an outstanding bill. The OSPP consider this unacceptable that a company owned 100% by the government would disconnect a community center for one outstanding invoice or some other matter. This center is where our people must be able to come together as a community, to plan and execute programs that will be beneficial for the residents of that community. The same policy that applies to government offices, a hospital and schools should be applicable to community centers that before disconnecting them they should be informed about the situation that they would have to remedy to avoid being disconnected. We do agree that they must have their financial house in order to avoid these types of embarrassing situations. But we are also aware of many large businesses that owe NV GEBE huge amount of money and they are still connected. What type of double standard are we operating with? If it is good for the goose it must be good for the gander. We would like to ask the Shareholder Representative of NV GEBE, Minister Lake who also hails from St. Peters how can he allow this to happen to this center. Is this a new policy since he has taken over as Shareholder Representative of NV GEBE and will it continue?
In spite of all that the OSPP leader has decided that even though we were not able to hold the meeting at the center that the fee paid to the center would be consider a donation to assist it in any future activities. "Honestly, we were looking forward to a very good meeting to interact with the many residents who showed up, says Lenny Priest and that we want to apologize to those that came later. Rests assure that we will be back in the St. Peters area even if it is in the form of contact meetings. St. Maarten let's get serious; in order for a nation to grow the communities must be part of that development and this government based on its' antiquated policies should never prohibit growth.
OSPP Press Release
