PHILIPSBURG — Love her or hate her, with her SMN-News.com website, Bibi Shaw has become a prominent fixture in the media landscape of St. Maarten and a force to be reckoned with when it comes to exposing wrongdoings, misappropriations and victimization, especially in government and government-owned corporations and entities. Because of her role in creating and making headline news in 2018, Bibi Shaw is StMaartenNews.com’s Person of the Year 2018. Bibi Shaw is fearless in her writing and publishes news other media outlets are hesitant or downright afraid to publish. This form of writing has often been downplayed as ‘yellow…
Author: The Publisher
MARIGOT—Examining the reconstruction of the French side of the island compared to the Dutch Side it will seem that hurricanes of 2017 apparently happened on the French side, said Senator Guillaume Arnell. In making the comparison between the two countries he used as an example the Simpson Bay and Philipsburg areas where extensive work was done to revamp the economy while it seems as though the French side is a on a go-slow. He explained that it seems as though on the Dutch side of the island that they give their priority to the economy while on the French side…
PHILIPSBURG — There are ongoing discussions between the Netherlands and the governments of the French and the Dutch sides of the island on the influx of Venezuelans. According to reports millions of Venezuelans have left their homeland on the South American continent in search of what is described as “a better life” in the islands of the former Netherlands Antilles, the Caribbean and South America. Prime Minister Leona Romero-Marlin when questioned about this situation said that she is aware that the numbers are growing since there are a number of persons on the streets searching for jobs. The matter is…
According to reports coming out of the various districts and communities on the French side of Saint Martin/St. Maarten, people are complaining about a lot of issues affecting their daily lives in a post-Irma era. It has been well over fifteen months since the passing of hurricane Irma and Maria and the people of French Saint Martin have received little to no reprieve nor assistance from the Collectivité under the leadership of Daniel Gibbs. Seeing the recent video clip making the rounds on social media, even school children are complaining. Recently in Sandy Ground the people took to the street…
GRAND CASE — Although the Lawrence family has received the funds for the land more than a year ago to accommodate the expansion of the L’Esperence airport in Grand Case, nothing seem to be happening as yet. “I have ensured that the process to assist in the expansion of the airport runway was done before I left office,” said Senator Guillaume Arnell. It has now been over 30 years that the expansion of the Grand Case airport runway was on the books to be done. When St. Martin was a Commune of Guadeloupe several years ago there were always arguments…
PHILIPSBURG – Discussions about the dispute regulation during the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation got heated when the delegations from Curacao, Aruba and St. Maarten expressed their disappointment about the draft law State Secretary Knops has sent to the Dutch parliament and about the fact that the Dutch Ipko-delegation declined to take a position on the issue. Especially within the Curacao-delegation there seems to be discontent. The Caribbean islands pressured their Dutch colleagues to stick to the agreements that were made in the Ipko in 2015 when all four delegations found common ground. But VVD-parliamentarian André Bosman labeled the discontent in a…
PHILIPSBURG – All four delegations taking part in the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation (Ipko) reacted positively to a proposal by VVD parliamentarian André Bosman to establish structural election observation. In the Netherlands this is already regulated in the electoral law but the three Caribbean islands will have to develop their own vision on this issue. St. Maarten received election observers for the first time during the 2018 elections. “It is customary in many countries to observe each other’s elections,” Bosman told the Ipko-gathering on Thursday. “The democratic process is very valuable and it is important to make elections as accountable as…
Authorities tolerate unfair competition at Great Bay Marina PHILIPSBURG – The dispute between Dock Maarten, Bobby’s Marina and Country St. Maarten is alive and kicking. Bobby’s Marina continues to operate on parcels of water without holding long lease rights and valid building permits, to infringe upon de Neutral Waterway Agreement and to ignore government-orders to take down illegally constructed structures. The government does nothing against this and even refuses to entertain a meeting with Dock Maarten to discuss the situation. One major bone of contention is the irrefutable fact that Bobby’s Marine has been using water parcels without holding rights…
By Hilbert Haar It is no news that French-side garbage ends up on the dump on Soualiga Boulevard. What is however news is that the department of infrastructure apparently has no idea how to prevent this from happening. On the French side garbage collectors have to pay a fee for every truck that dumps garbage on the landfill, but on Dutch St. Maarten dumping is free. The head of VROMI’s Infrastructure Management Department, Claudius Buncamper said during a presentation at the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation on Wednesday that trucks with a French license plate will not be given access to the…
PHILIPSBURG — Applications for housing jumped after hurricane Irma from 1,500 to 9,000 according to the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation but Louis Brown, secretary-general at the ministry of VROMI, doubts these numbers. During a presentation about housing issues at the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation on Wednesday, he said that the number is more likely to be around 3,000. To tackle housing issues on a non-construction level caused by Hurricane Irma in September 2017, the government needs close to 20 million guilders, Brown said. Most of that money (15 million) would go to an “informal settlement upgrading project” while another 4…
