PDM Promoters, Inc. to Lead Cleanup of Garapan District on Aug 7

PDM Promoters, Inc. volunteers and some Kobler kids of the Saipan Awaodori Team will also hold their monthly clean-up at the Garapan district (Paseo de Marianas) this Saturday August 7, 2010. The cleanup usually starts at 8 a.m. or shortly thereafter.

Thank you PDM Promoters, Inc. and Saipan Awaodori Team for leading this effort.

This invitation was extended by Sonia G. Siwa,Volunteer,PDM Promoters, Inc.

PDM Promoters - taking care of Garapan

15 volunteers from PDM Promoters, Inc & Kinpachi Restaurant spent a couple of hours on Saturday morning bush-cutting the grassy areas along Coral Tree avenue and collected 780 lbs of trash.

A BIG THANK YOU to all those who participated! We are so very fortunate to have people like you, who take a couple of hours out of your month to help keep our CNMI beautiful! May everyone you come in contact with, catch your beauty virus!!!

Clean Up Reminder!

PDM Promoters, Inc. volunteers will be doing the clean up of Garapan & Paseo de Marianas on Saturday May 8th.

Please contact Sonia at Kinpachi Restaurant if you would like to participate!

Paseo de Marianas Monthly Clean-up

Kudo's to PDM Promotor's who lead their monthly clean-up at Paseo de Marianas & the Garapan area with 15 volunteers from PDM Promoters,Inc & 20 kids and some parents of Koblerville --- 440 lbs. of trash was collected!

PDM Promoters collected 440 lbs of trash in Garapan area!

Ms. Sato Toshiko, a Japanese tourist who visits Saipan four times a year, joins PDM Promotors for clean ups each time she is here. This time the group met from 9am to 11am and collected 440 pounds of trash in the Garapan area. Kudos to PDM Promoters! And a very big thank you to Ms. Toshiko!

Join PDM Promoters at one of their regular clean ups! For more info, contact Sonia:

Sonia G. Siwa at kinpachi@pticom.com
Volunteer, PDM Promoters, Inc.

Paseo de Marianas Promoters

Our super volunteers from Paseo de Marianas Promoters did their cleanup where else? The Paseo de Marianas!

Thank you!

30 months of cleaning up Garapan

Saipan, (CNMI) – On the first Sunday of every month, Beautify CNMI volunteers show up at the American Memorial Park parking lot at 8 AM for a cleanup of the Garapan tourist district. On a typical morning they will spend 90 minutes cleaning the area and will fill at least two pickup truck beds with garbage found on the streets.

The cleanup on March 1, 2009 marked the 30th consecutive month of volunteers combing the Garapan streets for litter. The volunteer participants this month were the staff from Paseo De Marianas Promoters, members of the Rotary Club of Saipan, and students from local high schools. Friends of the Mariana Islands transferred the trash to the transfer station in Lower Base.

When asked about the cleanup, Saipan Southern High School sophomore Jacquelyn Johanna David said all the litter she found lying on the ground made her “angry.” She added, “I wish people would pick up after themselves and I wish the government would start issuing litter fines.”

The Garapan cleanup is sponsored by Friends of the Mariana Islands and Paseo de Marianas Promoters, Inc. For more information or to volunteer, please contact Angelo Villagomez at (670) 285 6462 or Marites Castillo at (670) 285 8980. The next Beautify CNMI cleanup will take place on Sunday, March 8 on Isa Drive. Volunteers will meet at the Java Joe's parking lot at 8 AM.

Garapan Cleanup

We had a good showing for last week's monthly cleanup of the Garapan Tourist District. Thanks to everyone who pitched in!

Imagine the New Garapan

The Garapan Tourist District should be the premier real estate in Saipan. Sandwiched between the Saipan Lagoon and a National Park, with easy walking access to several hotels, an elementary school, health clubs, restaurants, bars, shopping centers, and a three mile long walking path fronting the ocean, it should be the perfect place to raise a family.

But it’s not.

It’s the manky armpit of our once beautiful island.

In his weekly column in the Saipan Tribune, Bruce Bateman recently recounted a conversation we had concerning Garapan. We were discussing ways to make Garapan more palatable for families and tourists alike and I offered three simple solutions that would lead to a "new" Garapan. I suggested that we move prostitution out of Garapan, move several government offices into Garapan, and entice young professionals to make Garapan their residence.

I’d say close your eyes and try to imagine my vision, but then you’d have a really hard time reading this...but imagine what living in Garapan could be like:

Imagine if you are a young professional with a small one- or two-bedroom apartment on the third floor of one of the buildings in the "new" Garapan. You share it with your husband and your daughter.

You could wake up first thing in the morning and go for a six-mile run along the Saipan Bike path, then jog over to Club Elan for some weightlifting or yoga.

Fresh from a shower at the spa, you walk over to one of the Chinese restaurants and have breakfast for $4.

You walk back to the apartment to help your husband get your daughter ready for school. Your daughter is pretty good in the morning and can get herself ready; it’s your husband who really needs the help getting out the door.

Your daughter likes you to walk her to school, which is right across the street, so you take her over, kiss her goodbye, wish her luck on her test, and then go to work.

You work at MVA, which along with the Saipan Mayor’s office and several other government entities are now located in Garapan. Instead of driving, you walk over to work, strolling through the brand new Visitor’s Center on your way to your desk.

Around noon one of your coworkers asks if you want Japanese, Korean or Thai for lunch. You respond with, "How about Italian?" Your husband, who works for the Mayor, walks over to meet you.

When your daughter gets out of school, you are able to take a 15-minute break to pick her up. You take her home, then she goes out to play with her friends. They ride bikes through the National Park and then go swimming.

After work, some of your coworkers want to go for some happy hour drinks, but you promised your daughter you’d take her to the Thursday street market.

Alright, open your eyes.

In my vision, almost everything except for the government offices being located in Garapan is already true. It already exists. We can do this. If we can move the prostitution out, move several government offices including MVA in, and get young professionals to live here, we can save Garapan.

Beautify CNMI has done a lot of work in the last two years to clean up Garapan, with our biggest support coming from Rep. Waki, Rep. Kaipat, Friends of the Mariana Islands, Kinpachi Restaurant, Hyatt, and Fiesta Resort. There is still a lot of work to be done, so if you are interested in helping, please attend 2008’s first Beautify CNMI meeting. We meet on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008, at 7pm at Cafe at the Park in Garapan.

I hope to see you there.

Angelo Villagomez
Executive Director
MINA

Quoted by Bruce Bateman

From the Saipan Tribune:

Revitalization

While eating something-on-a-stick at the Thursday Street Market, I ran into Angelo Villagomez. As we sat and discussed how to save the world, the conversation came around to oldtown Garapan revitalization. Angelo espoused a couple of ideas that made a lot of sense to me and I will pass them on to you for your edification. (Notice how I deftly laid it off on Angelo in case you think the idea is wacky).

He believes that to make the place better, jobs, like government agencies, and other office type private job generating businesses need to move into the Garapan downtown area. Tourists would like to participate in a “real” local experience, not just a tourist sham experience put up for their benefit. Tourists want to meld into an already existing unique cultural enclave a la San Francisco.cable cars, rice-a-roni, wharf, Nob Hill, China Town etc. Tourists come to see the local ambiance in a location, not to create it.

Also needed are people to move their residences into this area, real working folks, living there full time. Angelo has already moved in there for whatever nefarious reasons (kidding) and would like to see others do the same. Real residents walking the streets (no, not street walkers), using the business facilities and adding foot traffic to a sometimes barren area will make it a pleasant and comfortable feeling place to go.

He has a good point on both counts, if you ask me. So MVA, find yourselves a new or now empty building somewhere in Garapan and move on in.

April Garapan Tourist District Clean up

Yet another successful cleanup this past Sunday at Garapan Tourist District. Here are some pictures of how much fun we had especially with the Garapan Elementary Students! Thank you everyone for coming out and supporting Beautify CNMI!

The groups of Beautify CNMI and partners who participated in the Garapan cleanup were: SDA Church, Garapan Elementary School (GES) 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders led by faculty members Ms. Mary Grace Mendoza, Ms. MA. Snodgrass, Ms. Jonabel Rumley and Mr. Randy Maderal and some parents; Hopwood Jr. High, CNMI Power, Kinpachi Restaurant staff, FMI, Rep. Cinta Kaipat and Staff, Gus Kaipat and Leilugh.

I hope that is everyone. If I have forgotten you let me know =)

March 11, 2007 Cleanup Of Garapan Tourist District

Last Sunday, March 11, Angelo Villagomez, MINA's Executive Director, RC&D's Public Involvement Coordinator, and Chair of Beautify CNMI's Restoration Committee, led two of the CNMI's outstanding Filipino organizations -- Friends of the Mariana Islands (FMI, formerly MOVER, while it was led by Ms. Marites Castillo) and CNMI Power--on the monthly cleanup of the Garapan Tourist District Area. They are Proud Partners of Beautify CNMI! Great job, Partners!Here are some pictures of their usual hard work. (Incidentally, if someone at CNMI Power has pictures that they'd like to e-mail me at cnmiservant@cintakaipat.com, I'd be happy to post them, too).One...two...three...Beautify CNMI! One more time! One more time!