“The gradual withdrawal of businesses and service activities from Downtown Marigot has been observed for quite some years now. The main economic activity in Saint-Martin is tourism, essentially supplied by North American and Caribbean visitors; this activity is confronted today with an aging town, deteriorated storefronts and equipment, saturated by cars and without any real attractiveness. The threat of insecurity has reinforced this downward trend.”
MARIGOT"--- This is the argument used to justify the necessity for the revitalization of Marigot in Deliberation N° 6 of the upcoming territorial council of 25.06.2015.
I am deeply disturbed by this type of rhetoric that is overlooking how Marigot reached that deteriorated state, which is undoubtedly not the purpose of this deliberation. Obviously, the person who drafted this text knows nothing of the evolution of Marigot, having depicted an even more degraded image of what it really looks like, leaving the impression that all of this happened by divine intervention or by some trick of fate. I would suggest that this person read “Saint-Martin: Destabilization of the French Caribbean” if this person has just arrived on the island, or if that person has been living here for the last thirty years at least, this text is intended to disguise reality and once more willfully manipulate territorial opinion, stopping people from thinking.
Who created the demise of our magnificent “Main Street”, lined up with luxury stores and filled with high-end smiling visitors, who felt completely secure, always open for a pleasant chat with passers-by, and obviously happy to be here on our island?
This irresponsible and misleading text cannot convince anyone that the continual filling of the Bay is the only reason for revitalizing Marigot. Who are the masters of business and economic development in Saint Martin? How did insecurity sprung up since no solution was found yet in the last 30 years to curb its growth, but is self-perpetuating even more acutely? Are we all buying this? Do we still have high-end tourists in Marigot? Is there still a tourism industry on this side? Who has failed this island? Did it just happen by chance? Let us be serious, for a project costing so many millions!!!
Daniella JEFFRY
