The future of Sosua

[cruzan1]

"The guys from the tri-state area" this is in obvious reference to the black guys. Just say it.
To be clear, the number of black guys in town mongering is far less than the number of white guys. Half of Germany is in town and they ain't here for the beer. This mongering hobby is an all inclusive club and it isn't divided by color or nationality.

I've also witnessed more than a few of the veteran expats (some post on this site) quietly dabbling in the Sosua night life when wifey is away, so please let's knock off the righteousness.

 

[windeguy]

"The guys from the tri-state area" this is in obvious reference to the black guys. Just say it.
To be clear, the number of black guys in town mongering is far less than the number of white guys. Half of Germany is in town and they ain't here for the beer. This mongering hobby is an all inclusive club and it isn't divided by color or nationality.

I've also witnessed more than a few of the veteran expats (some post on this site) quietly dabbling in the Sosua night life when wifey is away, so please let's knock off the righteousness.

I have zero righteousness in this. The Germans (or other people from the EU or the Canadians) did not bring this issue to the point where it is now where some will still insist that "nothing has changed" and "next week it will be where it was".

The DR government reacted to what was posted on the Internet and it was not the Germans, Canadians, or other Americans, (the ones quietly dabbling were not the problem) that did so. You can use process of elimination to determine who caused the problem, as you already correctly observed.

 

[drstock]

The majority of criminals here are street hustlers, drug dealers, chain snatchers and other opportunists that prey on the tourists participating in the sleaze that has infiltrated Sosua and just like most of the prostitutes, they come here from other parts of the country. If their prey is no longer roaming the streets of Sosua, neither will they. Sure it's possible someone who worked at one of the bars or discos on Pedro Clisante might resort to committing crime in desperation, but most who would actually commit those crimes, whether they were working on Pedro Clisante or not, are already participating.

I hope you are right that these young guys will just disappear. I have always thought that it is these hustlers who offer to get you "whatever you want" are much more of a danger than the girls.

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

The phonograph that is Sosua is stuck and has been skipping for a long time. The authorities just don't get it. Sosua was never and never will be a Playa Dorada tourist destination. Even when there were a few resorts to choose from, the tourists of the type needed to sustain an economy did not select Sosua. Thus we have no more resorts and little of anything else.

This "Dusty Whore Town" (love that expression thx Meems) is what it is because it can't be anything else. Retirees are not courted with great infrastructure, retail opportunities and activities. The fiasco that is the POP airport compounds the problems. There is nothing that today's family vacationer would find attractive about this town or this area in general. In it's heyday tours from the surrounding resort areas brought men in organized tours to Sosua to party the night away and then rolled then off the bus back at their resort in the wee hours of the morning.

The nighttime lonely hearts club was and is the only draw to this town. It is not going to get better economically, culturally or socially anytime soon. There is just not enough foreign wealth here to keep a regular economy afloat. Until there is a McDonalds, a La Sirena and a decent hardware store that is larger than your average 7-11 what can Sosua offer to retirees (whom I see as the only future this town has) or family tourists. Sosua does not have the space for the type of resorts needed to attract the number of tourists needed to float this boat. Without the options that would make for a mass market tourist /retiree/snowbird destination, Sosua is going to plod along as an insignificant and almost irrelevant highway town. If not for Hwy 5 bisecting it, few would come here unless they were specifically craving the one thing on offer and they have an iron liver. Sosua can offer visitors a bed to sleep the daylight away, in preparation for a night of alcohol infused frolicking but really, for how many days can your average cultural tourist keep that up for? The answer comes from JetBlue, about 4 nights.

The only tourism model that works for this country is the one or two week all inclusive resort stay. This town remains stuck in a perpetual state of reality denial and is going nowhere even at a snails pace.

 

[Big]

I hope you are right that these young guys will just disappear. I have always thought that it is these hustlers who offer to get you "whatever you want" are much more of a danger than the girls.

I think you are spot on. These guys are desperate to make a peso and will do whatever it takes. They don't have a skill like the chicas if you will. If these clowns ever approach me (usually on a moto) I speak Dutch and they look confused and scamper off. Nothing good can come from contact with one of these clowns

 

[Cdn_Gringo]

Get rid of the the foolish and inebriated tourists and the crimes of opportunity that predominate the area will drop off. It is the party houses and the oblivious free spirits that enable the lower tier street crimes. Out on the economy away from party central, bona fide residents have dogs, security measures and will often shoot back making them less then desirable targets for all but the most foolish of ladrones.

Reality is inescapable. If one can't get a job in Sosua then one has to relocate to where the opportunities are better. Street thugs can supplement an income doing what they do, but can't make a decent living night after night doing that exclusively before they get caught or get dead. If the mongers go, overall low level street crime will drop off in short order - no potential victims, no crimes.

 

[windeguy]

The phonograph that is Sosua is stuck and has been skipping for a long time. The authorities just don't get it. Sosua was never and never will be a Playa Dorada tourist destination. Even when there were a few resorts to choose from, the tourists of the type needed to sustain an economy did not select Sosua. Thus we have no more resorts and little of anything else.

This "Dusty Whore Town" (love that expression thx Meems) is what it is because it can't be anything else. Retirees are not courted with great infrastructure, retail opportunities and activities. The fiasco that is the POP airport compounds the problems. There is nothing that today's family vacationer would find attractive about this town or this area in general. In it's heyday tours from the surrounding resort areas brought men in organized tours to Sosua to party the night away and then rolled then off the bus back at their resort in the wee hours of the morning.

The nighttime lonely hearts club was and is the only draw to this town. It is not going to get better economically, culturally or socially anytime soon. There is just not enough foreign wealth here to keep a regular economy afloat. Until there is a McDonalds, a La Sirena and a decent hardware store that is larger than your average 7-11 what can Sosua offer to retirees (whom I see as the only future this town has) or family tourists. Sosua does not have the space for the type of resorts needed to attract the number of tourists needed to float this boat. Without the options that would make for a mass market tourist /retiree/snowbird destination, Sosua is going to plod along as an insignificant and almost irrelevant highway town. If not for Hwy 5 bisecting it, few would come here unless they were specifically craving the one thing on offer and they have an iron liver. Sosua can offer visitors a bed to sleep the daylight away, in preparation for a night of alcohol infused frolicking but really, for how many days can your average cultural tourist keep that up for? The answer comes from JetBlue, about 4 nights.

The only tourism model that works for this country is the one or two week all inclusive resort stay. This town remains stuck in a perpetual state of reality denial and is going nowhere even at a snails pace.

It is truly amazing that any Dominican town can exist at all without tourism as you describe above. Makes me wonder how Puerto Plata, Gaspar Hernandez, Cabrera and other such locations even exist without the benefit of high rolling mongers, since those are the only tourists that liked Sosua.

As for Sosua, time will tell what happens. There do seem to be some changes being made that won't be undone. As for prostitution, the sausage effect will just squeeze it into another region. Perhaps that region will be just a few clicks east on Pedro Clisante, or should that fail another location that is not resistant to it.

 

[windeguy]

From the way back machine. Last July:
Sosua is changing - like it or not.
July 15, 2019
We posted a text last week on our FaceBook page, evidently it originated from within Sosua’s police department.

Seems we are in the midst of another major crackdown on prostitution in town. Is this just the annual town clean up or have our local officials have finally decided to try to rid the town of the worlds oldest profession? We took a drive down Pedro Clisante on Saturday night and noted two police trucks filled to the brim with spandex and mascara. Obviously they were providing the ladies with free transportation to the jail. Good luck girls. The bars seemed to be doing just fine despite the increased police presence. We noted the usual suspects climbing the stairs up to Classicos, Bourbon Street and Kings also looked pretty busy.

To state what should be an obvious fact, prostitution is LEGAL in the Dominican Republic. Single men, divorced men, and married men come from thousands of miles away to peruse the offerings of Sosua. Don’t judge ladies, from what we hear the boys running the boat tours down on the beach seem to be doing quite well at night also. No one can foresee the day when the trade of trades will be outlawed in this country. To be quite honest, most of the time the girls don’t bother anyone except those looking to employ their services. But the optics are bad and we are guessing that is the root of the problem. Why would Sosua want to clamp down on prostitution and run off a large portion of the existing tourism, a portion that despite optics spends a lot of money in town? Well….read on.

If you turn towards the beach at Bologna Ristorante you’ll discover a quite little road with not much going on. If you drive down to the end of that quite road and you’ll find the worst kept secret in Sosua. Construction on two giant buildings, welcome to the Marriott Luxury Collection - SOSUA. In case you missed it the Marriott group is building three luxury resorts in the area, Cabarete, Sosua, and Puerto Plata. We also heard a little rumor about another large American hotel brand working on a deal here in town but we can’t confirm it nor can we reveal the name…HILTON.

The world is shrinking at a rapid pace and so is the amount of affordable coastal real estate. It would be naive to think that Sosua with three incredible beaches, an international airport (POP), and a host of activities ranging from waterfall excursions to deep sea fishing won’t be developed into a legit tourist destination. Five years from now we expect a Starbucks on Pedro and a Margaritaville overlooking Playa Alicia. What we don’t expect to see is a lot of spandex still pivoting up and down the business district Sosua. Change is coming, like it or not. Maybe not this year, maybe not next year but eventually…. this place is going to change.



https://sosuaone.com/home?tag=Sosua Marriott

 

[lifeisgreat]

The family community jargon was always puppeteers by mayor and echoed on this board..the government plan was always expat retirees and snowbird community they clearly stated this, with that said many families do exist mine included and we don’t define Sosua by handful of bars...you are what you keep company with it defines you like it or not..

 

[Ecoman1949]

The only fairly new family oriented resort I’ve seen in the Sosua area is Sosua Ocean Village. It’s not an AI operation but it does attract North American families. I drop in to have lunch and see friends there from time to time. I’ve seen the pool with it’s large water slide full of kids from Canada and the US. Granted it’s not in downtown Sosua but it more or less proves, if you build it, they will come.

 

[Uzin]

Vow, Windy you are on overdrive today, consider yourself the Oracle of North Coast, ha.. ! lol

Digging up old posts and all that, perhaps go a bit further and dig up a few posts from 2011, 2013 and 2015, when they closed big Latino bar (which is Chinese junk shop today), they closed bar Rumba, closed the big fat Herman Cigar shop in the corner, just last year Blue Ice and few others. They even chased out of the country Boby and Armando, everyone said that was it, end of all chicas in Sosua, it's cleaned up. They said this time was really different, they really mean it... !!!? (Christo viene and all that...)

This time they are not even closing bars, just relocating them, so much of change for Sosua that would be... This is all so the greedy real estate bunch can take over a few location downtown and selling it to Chinese for junk shops or another food buffet, we really need those. I personally think it's a prime location for a kindergarten, I mean there is no land left here to develop any more, right... ! (not)

As for post about big developers pouring in, we can see a prime example of that in Cabarete, I mean they said Lifestyle was it's savior, as you mentioned they never had or will have chica problem, so did it really flourish by those developers... !? From the other thread sounds like it is dying a slow death... ! How can we believe they are going to make a success of it here is Sosua, fat chance if you ask me...

A managed approach by the way would be to avoid closures and job losses, economic impact to communities, keep everyone happy, best of all worlds, no such a meaning to some people, they only have their own selfish interest in mind. So what if they gave a year's notice, the constructions at end of the town are not ready, so the businesses are supposed to move to where...? That's mismanagement, then again time is running out for some, they have to show they are doing something,....May 2020, tik-tuk, tik-tuk..... !!!?

 

[lifeisgreat]

Vow, Windy you are on overdrive today, consider yourself the Oracle of North Coast, ha.. ! lol

Digging up old posts and all that, perhaps go a bit further and dig up a few posts from 2011, 2013 and 2015, when they closed big Latino bar (which is Chinese junk shop today), they closed bar Rumba, closed the big fat Herman Cigar shop in the corner, just last year Blue Ice and few others. They even chased out of the country Boby and Armando, everyone said that was it, end of all chicas in Sosua, it's cleaned up. They said this time was really different, they really mean it... !!!? (Christo viene and all that...)

This time they are not even closing bars, just relocating them, so much of change for Sosua that would be... This is all so the greedy real estate bunch can take over a few location downtown and selling it to Chinese for junk shops or another food buffet, we really need those. I personally think it's a prime location for a kindergarten, I mean there is no land left here to develop any more, right... ! (not)

As for post about big developers pouring in, we can see a prime example of that in Cabarete, I mean they said Lifestyle was it's savior, as you mentioned they never had or will have chica problem, so did it really flourish by those developers... !? From the other thread sounds like it is dying a slow death... ! How can we believe they are going to make a success of it here is Sosua, fat chance if you ask me...

A managed approach by the way would be to avoid closures and job losses, economic impact to communities, keep everyone happy, best of all worlds, no such a meaning to some people, they only have their own selfish interest in mind. So what if they gave a year's notice, the constructions at end of the town are not ready, so the businesses are supposed to move to where...? That's mismanagement, then again time is running out for some, they have to show they are doing something,....May 2020, tik-tuk, tik-tuk..... !!!?

Are they not doing that...drive by see the construction ...for yrs this board has slammed their fist they need a redlight district..
Well you got one...

 

[jd426]

Are they not doing that...drive by see the construction ...for yrs this board has slammed their fist they need a redlight district..
Well you got one...

If what you say is accurate , when will Passions be RE OPENING ?
Keep us posted on that , wont you please.

 

[ctrob]

A managed approach by the way would be to avoid closures and job losses, economic impact to communities, keep everyone happy, best of all worlds, no such a meaning to some people, they only have their own selfish interest in mind. So what if they gave a year's notice, the constructions at end of the town are not ready, so the businesses are supposed to move to where...? That's mismanagement, then again time is running out for some, they have to show they are doing something,....May 2020, tik-tuk, tik-tuk..... !!!?

It was managed. Dominican style, but managed. How much warning do you need? You said it yourself, Bobby & Armando kicked out. Peter was put in jail. Elvis, a Dominican, put in jail. At that point anybody with half a brain would have sold or moved their puta bar elsewhere. They thought they could pay a few bribes and stay. A lot of us could see this coming.

As far as not being ready on the other end of pedro clisante, I say again, how much time do you need? And it's not the gov't responsibility to make a nice place for them to relocate to. This has been coming for years, not one year. The raid was a sign of frustration. They had enough and just wanted it done. Now its done.

The only ones I feel sorry for are the barmaids/waitresses and a few others. They are innocents caught up in the late night raid - and they won't have a paycheck next week.

 

[Big]

If what you say is accurate , when will Passions be RE OPENING ?
Keep us posted on that , wont you please.

lol,yea gonna open up next door to the New Ritz Carlton and the Four Seasons

 

[jd426]

CtRob... you always seem to know what you are talking about, even if I dont agree with some of it , you continue to PROVE you know what is actually happening on the ground ..

So, do you think this " new Zone" is for Real ? or just a Carrot to get these bars Relocated,, only to be shut down again , when " they " feel like it ..
Simple straightforward question, your opinion , based on all you have seen over the years ..

 

[lifeisgreat]

If what you say is accurate , when will Passions be RE OPENING ?
Keep us posted on that , wont you please.

?? Apples and oranges my fren... please drive by yourselve have a gander I doubt it’s AI place unless flesh is counted

 

[jd426]

?? Apples and oranges my fren... please drive by yourselve have a gander I doubt it’s AI place unless flesh is counted

So you came with such a strong opinion, and attempt to lecture people , but yet cant answer a simple question ?.... How long exactly are you familiar with the History of Sosua ? 10 years , 15, 25, 30, 35 ?

my point, just in case you missed it , Peter of Passions was at least a FULL DECADE ahead of his Time by doing lots of " Construction" in that exact same Area .. and he got his arse handed to him.

 

[lifeisgreat]

CtRob... you always seem to know what you are talking about, even if I dont agree with some of it , you continue to PROVE you know what is actually happening on the ground ..

So, do you think this " new Zone" is for Real ? or just a Carrot to get these bars Relocated,, only to be shut down again , when " they " feel like it ..
Simple straightforward question, your opinion , based on all you have seen over the years ..

I firmly believe it’s a carrot with gun to your head sink or swim... it’s up to mongers community which way it ends up in the end.. answer is simple behave in respectful way ,damm that’s hard for some... everything here is perception.. personally I like the way it is sleepy town don’t care what happens after dark I’m asleep on couch by then...

 

[lifeisgreat]

So you came with such a strong opinion, and attempt to lecture people , but yet cant answer a simple question ?.... How long exactly are you familiar with the History of Sosua ? 10 years , 15, 25, 30, 35 ?

No different then your strong opinions ,lecture people wow your force is strong Jedi Knight..