Operation: Paint Over

Recently we (Tyler Yoshimoto and Laurie Peterka) were named chairs for a Beautify CNMI subcommittee tasked to come up with a project focused on eradicating graffiti in Saipan.

How and why did this happen? Well, you see, over the last year and half, we've been involved with the Island SK8 Society. In the process of waiting for our skatepark to be completed (and since then) our group has volunteered and either painted over graffiti in the community or removed it from the skatepark. While graffite is an art, it shouldn't be at the expense of private property owners and/or degrading or detracting from the CNMI's natural beauty!

During a few skatepark gatherings a couple of months ago, some of us were brainstorming about what to do about the graffiti at the skatepark. Some ideas were tossed around. At first, we thought that we would try to install video surveillance cameras at the park, but it is proving to be too costly of an addition; so the idea has been shelved for now. Hiring a security guard is also an option, but again, we have limited funding so we have to think about whether this is worth paying out our hard-earned donations. We (ISK8) think not --- there must still be another way.

Another idea that came up was trying to organize "graffiti walls" as part of the skatepark. Ironically, skaters get blamed for "tagging" and graffiti, but of the skaters that we know, the majority are actually against the idea of random graffiti. They especially don't appreciate that someone is now tagging their skatepark on a regular basis. It has become a parttime job just trying to keep up with removing the graffiti just from the skatepark.

According to Tyler Yoshimoto (this committee's co-chair), the general idea is to install a recreational wall in the skate park. We can then cover this wall with a type of sheet, that may be replaced from time to time, to provide for a better alternative to doing graffiti in places where it should not be done. This way, the graffitiers will be encouraged not to graffiti local buildings or the skate park, while, at the same time, being able to showcase their artistic talents to other kids on the island.

After tossing some ideas around in random conversations and giving it some thought (and we are not entirely sure how it would work or if it would work) but wonder about the possibility of creating an education-type program that would include a multi-directional approach --- we could give it a fun name like, Operation: Paint Over (or some other hip, cool, non-derogatory, catchy name). Maybe it would be cool to create a program that brings together various components of the community.

Just a few ideas and people/groups that either Tyler or I have spoken with casually: Beautify CNMI, ISK8, Rotary Club, MTEC/MyWave, someone from each of the public high schools, the Public Defenders Office --- some others that I think would be good partners, but have not yet spoken to include Attorney General's Office, DPS, DYS, DCCA, LEAP, Boy Scouts, Youth Congress...I am sure that some of you might have other ideas and will look forward to all input before setting our goals and kicking off!

Anyway, the point of this email: we need somewhere to get started, so this is it --- we are emailing you to ask if you want to help or if you would pass along this message to someone that you know that might want to help.

I spent a little time looking at a couple of websites that you might find interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti

http://www.charityguide.org/volunteer/fewhours/graffiti-tagging.htm

http://www.graffitihurts.org/community_resources/adopt_a_block.cfm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=graffiti+and+vandalism&aq=3&oq=graffiti+AND+&aqi=g10


Please reply with a quick note to let us know whether you are interested or not (and, please, if you pass this message on to anyone else, we would appreciate it if you would include Tyler and I in the cc line so that we can get an idea of who gets this email).

The time frame for kicking off this project is late August/early September. I hope that you will take an interest and at least let us know if you are interested in helping.

Thanks for your time!

Laurie Peterka, Practical Solutions, laurie.peterka@saipan.com
& Tyler Yoshimoto, senior student MBA, tyler_yosh@hotmail.com

Local Student Wins Essay Contest

The essay contest to find a local person to join our expedition to Maug ended last night. Two essays stood out, one from a young student and the other from a young teacher. In the end we chose the student, but the vote was not unanimous.

Dennis Chan of San Vicente, an 18 year recent high school graduate, will accompany us to the island of Maug next Monday.

Congrats, Dennis.

Friends of the Monument
July 13, 2009

Why I Want to Visit the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument

I am eighteen and have just graduated from high school. I am no fishermen, not an excellent swimmer, cannot dive into meters deep water and wrestle whales. I’m from Saipan and if were chosen would well-represent my age group. I want so badly to get on that boat to Maug to experience the greater Marianas.

People my age, my fellow graduates and many of my friends still in high school easily diss the commonwealth, their Saipan that they reside in. Whether it is the government, school or the smallness they feel holds them. Our memories are still fresh of the summer of 2008 in the rolling blackouts in the sweat. I’m sure we love Saipan, I love Saipan, we swim at beaches, climb down, climb up the stairs of the grotto, and stroll the street market, however there’s a perception that we know all there is to know, we’ve sucked all the sap there is on Saipan. It’s been said that Saipan is a bore. Our eyes look to taller buildings, the malls of the mainland. We sigh, jaded and discontent after signing in, signing off, signing in, signing off, Myspace, Facebook, waiting for that viral video to load—we sigh worn with the immediacy of the Internet. “Saipan sucks.” My home sucks. This commonwealth sucks. Nothing’s happening. I’ve heard these things many times. My perception and theirs are limited to what we know. I feel strongly that there is something beautiful, not as immediate as a video on Youtube, but ever present. More reliable than whatever government is in place, more reliable than your water or electricity, more secure than an accredited college status—Saipan is not the Marianas, the Marianas rolls in blue expanse over miles and miles and settles some in the green and the trees and the beaches. I want to go to Maug and see this happen.

Perception is always jolted with new experience. I spent a week in Tinian without the internet or decent showers, kept awake with damp and smelly tents. We camped at Tachungnya. Our head instructor Ms. Valencourt remarked at the campfire how she gathered from what she heard, that we kids thought Tinian to be a foreign country. Tinian is right next door! Tinian is our sister and brother. Tinian holds so much history—I stood over the uncovered pits of Little Boy and Fat Man and was overwhelmed, viewed pictures of cities obliterated and was grave.

I may not speak for all my age, but our perception of fun forms in that media mold: what TV offers, what they say. But there is grandness here; there was on Tinian. On Tinian where Tachungnya houses fish a few feet from shore—the butterfly fish and its second rear eye swims by, on Tinian where the limestone trail deters to an edge to a view filled with blue, green and beach, on Tinian were destruction sat in pits that should have never been dug. Tinian has no theater, no stop lights, we joke, and yet Tinian was unique. All of us Saipan campers agreed on this.

That was all a tease though. Tinian’s become a tickle, and I think there might be more. I want to see the rest of my Marianas because I tasted Tinian.

Tinian is a ferry ride away and I felt it was another world. I’m naive for it, and maybe naive in thinking partly that a trip to Maug would render me to some enlightening epiphany. I want to go because I know I’d appreciate it. I want to go because I am young and feel the universe expanding, running and that I better catch up, or keep a good pace before it escapes me.
To the north on a boat to Maug maybe I’d get to know my home more—the greater Marianas. Maybe I’d taste some great fish, share in words that bewildered me and maybe other youth will read and decide to see for themselves. I want to go because I believe that the monument reveals and protects a Marianas with a different, better thrill than we, my age, have imagined finding elsewhere. But I want to know firsthand.

Dennis Chan
San Vicente

Win a Trip to the Northern Islands

A member of the Friends of the Monument has agreed to pay for a local young person to visit the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument and several of the Northern Islands later this month. The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, wants a local person to experience visiting the uninhabited islands to the north. The donor hopes that the winner will share their experience with their families, friends, and classmates through photos and a daily journal.

The Friends of the Monument are holding an essay contest to select which young person gets to go on the trip scheduled for July 20 - 30.

The topic for the essay contest is “Why I want to visit the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument.” The deadline for submissions is Monday, July 13, at 5pm. Essays must be in Microsoft Word format and e-mailed to marianamonument@gmail.com. There is a 1,000 word limit for the essay. Applicants must be between 18-25 years old.

The winning essay writer will earn a seat on a boat leaving for Maug on July 20, 2009. All transportation and food costs will be paid for by the donor. If for any reason the boat trip is canceled, the winner will have a seat on the next planned expedition.

The winner will be expected to keep a daily journal that will be published on the Friends of the Monument blog found at http://marianamonument.blogspot.com.

Liberation Day Parade

At about 4:30 PM on Thursday afternoon towards the end of the monthly Beautify CNMI meeting, Joe Kaipat asked those in attendance if they would be interested in doing a cleanup after the Liberation Day Parade. More specifically, would the members be interested in following the tail end of the parade to hand out garbage bags and pick up litter?

We all thought it was a great idea and with less than 48 hours before the start of the parade set out to organize ourselves. Did I mention the Thursday workday was over and Friday was a holiday?

We started off by securing one of the Division of Environmental Quality trucks and calling the Division of Parks & Recreation and the Mayor's Office to see if we would even be allowed to do this. Parks & Rec had no problem and gave us their blessing. The Mayor's Office told us to call Jack Omar at Emergency Management Office. Jack told us to call Felipe Atalig, who told us to come to the pre-parade meeting starting right now at the Liberation Day festival grounds.

Once at the meeting we filled out an application and got the approval of the parade committee. Then they set about assigning the parade order, but we didn't have to stick around for that because we were going to go last!

We needed to announce our plans in the media, so we ran over to the Saipan Tribune office and asked one of the reporters to write a story. Even though it was past the normal deadline to submit a story, they published an article in Friday's paper.

Then we set about recruiting volunteers and asking for support. DEQ provided a truck and rubber gloves, I donated garbage bags, bottled water and McDonald's cheeseburgers, Pacific Eagle gave us a truck and volunteers, Laurie Peterka gave her truck and drove, and Artman gave us a 20 foot dumpster and paid for the trash removal. We also used the Beautify CNMI trash trailer built with funds from the Bank of Guam.

I also donated 25 color copies of the Beautify CNMI logo and website, which we used to decorate the trucks.

With everything set, our plan for the parade was simple enough. We would hand out garbage bags and collect trash along the parade route.

Oreo helped out from the back of the truck donated by Representative Waki. I was amazed at how many people on the parade route knew his name. He might just rival Brad Ruszala in popularity. I had no idea!

While the thought of being an unpaid garbage man for a day crossed my mind, I found our event to be a great experience. As we walked the streets asking people if they needed a garbage bag, you could see a light go on, "Oh yeah, a garbage bag. Now I won't have to leave my 50 empty beer cans and plastic plates under this tree."

After we handed out the bags, instead of leaving all their trash on the road, people would start cleaning up their area. Entire families would pitch in to help. It was repeated every ten feet and was amazing to watch.

I loved all the cheers of "Beautify CNMI!" and the "thank yous" and "good jobs" we got along the parade route. I'm sure that's par for marching in a parade, but it has been decades since I marched in a parade (unless I was dressed as a giant dog and making $6.10/hour).

At the end of the parade route we did a U-turn and brought the trash back to the trash bin on the Aldan property next to Star Water.

On the way back down Beach Road I noticed that there was hardly any litter. Where there was trash, it was sitting by the road in one of our blue garbage bags.

Mission Accomplished.

It only took us a few minutes to unload the trash into the dumpster provided by Artman. I don't know what we would have done without their help.

After unloading the trash from our trucks, the Ogomoro family, who was barbecuing at that spot, offered us some of their food and their beer.

Over beers we all decided that this was going to have to become an annual event.

Parks & Trails July Report

This was submitted by Dan Lamar at the yesterday's monthly meeting:

July 2009

Re: Trails and Parks Committee Report

As the newly appointed head of the Trails and Parks committee, I will give a brief online report, as I will probably not be able to attend the meeting today due to work commitments.

First, I invite anyone with interest in the Parks and Trails of the CNMI to join me in this committee - and if you know of someone who maybe interested - let me know.

I have little knowledge of the history of this committee. Those of you who know of past and current efforts related to Parks and Trails, please share your knowledge with me - I would like to take advantage of any momentum that may exist from past efforts.

Beyond an initial goal of establishing a working committee, I have begun discussing with a few friends the idea of creating a network of inland parks and trails that will connect with our coastal parks.

Imagine hiking from Obyan Beach to the Bird Island Lagoon Beach using a trail map instead of a road map:

-------- Hmm - the trail forks here. According to the map - the Forbidden trail is a mile that way? Should I camp there tonight or at that Rainforrest Cloud Camp - supposed to be here - tucked somewhere in the valley between G-U-A-L-A R-A-I and Mt Tapochau. Should I take the trail that gives me the best view of the "
"Azure Western Lagoon, Mangaha, and Phillipine Sea" or the "Rugged Eastern Shoreline and Pacific Ocean", with access to snorkling in Crescentic Lau Lau bay, and Cliff Lines Vista's Overhanging the Ocean". I could even stop and play a round of golf at Lau Lau Bay Golf Resort- buty that would be cheating sort of - still - might be fun. What's that sound - a deer? Kind of loud - maybe a wild pig or boar? Whoa - Look at that bird - Is it a Marianas fruit dove? Where's my binocs. Good thing there's no snakes here. Centipedes do scare me though. I wonder if I can I live on coconuts and wild avocados for three days? Ouch. Why didn't I bring any mosquito repellant? Wow, what a brilliant sunset there through the trees. I'll just go over to that ridge so I can see it better. Spectacular! A green flash! My first! I don't believe it! Let me put that down in my diary right now. Now where's the trail? There's some orange plastic tape- Maybe that's the trail. What's this - a sign? "Droolbag was here- beware of orange tape and Circle Jerks" What's THAT mean? That was no help at all. Wow, it's really dark in this forest - I wonder what kind of trees these are. Darn flashlight. I knew I should have bought new batteries. I can't see a thing. Owww! That hurt. Is that blood? Do they have 911 here. I knew I should have brought my cellphone! -------

What fond memories a trail/park system could help create.

This network could connect to road and mountain bike trails and even be accessed by public transportation powered by renewable resouces. The trail to Obyan could begin at the airport - making it convenient for a tourist to enyoy the natural wonders of Saipan without ever - God Forbid - staying at one of our resort hotels. Well maybe it would be ok as a last RESORT.

Think there might be some local residents and Eco travelers who might utilize an interconnected system of parks and trails - and think about it not just on Saipan but on Tinian and Rota as well. And then there is always what is for me the unexplored frontier - the Northern Islands - beckoning.

Anyway, this is a tiny part of the day dream that I shared with Angelo and Laurie P a couple of weeks ago and resulted the next week in discovering, as I read the paper, that I was now Chairman of Parks and Trails Committee.

Anyone else who has similar day dreams - and wants to help make them a realtiy - lets go hiking/booney stomping together.

Respectfully submitted

Daniel

A Call for Volunteers

Hafa Adai,

There are two volunteer events this weekend. The monthly cleanup of Garapan is on Sunday. Meet at the American Memorial Park parking lot at 8 AM.

We are also going to do a cleanup after the parade tomorrow. For the last three years I've been disgusted with the amount of garbage left on the streets for days afterwards, so this time Beautify CNMI has signed up to be the last group in the parade. We'll bring our pickup trucks and trailers and collect people's trash along the route.

I NEED VOLUNTEERS and TRUCKS!!!

If you would like to volunteer, just show up at National Office Supply tomorrow at 2 PM. I'll have a t-shirt for you. I'll have all the supplies you'll need. You just have to follow along with us at the end of the parade.

If you would like to donate your truck (with a driver) please give me a call at 285-6462.

I hope to see you this weekend. Have a safe one.

Thanks,

Angelo

From the Saipan Tribune:

Beautify CNMI to clean up after parade

Beautify CNMI coalition partners announced yesterday that they will provide cleanup services on the tail of the Liberation Day parade.

"We’ve wanted to do something on July 4 for several years now but it wasn’t until this year that we had a way to volunteer," said Beautify CNMI coordinator Angelo Villagomez.

Beautify CNMI solid waste committee chair Joe Kaipat proposed the cleanup at the coalition’s monthly meeting yesterday.

"The coalition partners were immediately excited about the idea and set about organizing the event," said Villagomez.

He said Beautify CNMI expects about 30 volunteers but are open to having more people join them.

"Anyone who volunteers to help will be given the new edition Beautify CNMI t-shirts," Villagomez said.

The t-shirts are green and blue and designed by Dexter Mendiola, creator of the Fotten Gaga shirts.

Volunteers will also be provided with water, garbage bags, and gloves.

The group will march at the end of the parade with trash trailers and pickup trucks. They will collect trash and ask parade attendees to pitch their garbage into the trailers.

"I hope we can do this every year," Kaipat said at the meeting.

This will be the first time that the coalition has participated in the parade since providing recycling services in 2006.

More information on Beautify CNMI can be found at www.beautifycnmi.org.

Beautify CNMI to clean up after parade

From the Saipan Tribune:

Beautify CNMI coalition partners announced yesterday that they will provide cleanup services on the tail of the Liberation Day parade.

"We’ve wanted to do something on July 4 for several years now but it wasn’t until this year that we had a way to volunteer," said Beautify CNMI coordinator Angelo Villagomez.

Beautify CNMI solid waste committee chair Joe Kaipat proposed the cleanup at the coalition’s monthly meeting yesterday.

"The coalition partners were immediately excited about the idea and set about organizing the event," said Villagomez.

He said Beautify CNMI expects about 30 volunteers but are open to having more people join them.

"Anyone who volunteers to help will be given the new edition Beautify CNMI t-shirts," Villagomez said.

The t-shirts are green and blue and designed by Dexter Mendiola, creator of the Fotten Gaga shirts.

Volunteers will also be provided with water, garbage bags, and gloves.

The group will march at the end of the parade with trash trailers and pickup trucks. They will collect trash and ask parade attendees to pitch their garbage into the trailers.

"I hope we can do this every year," Kaipat said at the meeting.

This will be the first time that the coalition has participated in the parade since providing recycling services in 2006.

More information on Beautify CNMI can be found at www.beautifycnmi.org.