Mayor Orders Beautification Of El Batey

Splendid! Quite splendid!
Great job!

Er...
Tourists?

What tourists?..............

Lipstick on a pig.

This mentality is typical.....

It's like giving someone a heart transplant after they are already dead.
If you haven't got any tourists, you can paint all you want, it will have zero impact.

The problem is, nobody has a plan for the north coast, it's lots of individual people and groups talking a lot, doing very little and completely disconnected from each other.

All they are missing is someone to blame

I believe the Mayor is aiming at a niche marketing group of tourists, as yet uncatered for.

After 'Eco tourism', 'poverty tourism','adventure tourism'''extreme tourism' etc. there is now 'road-marking tourism.'

This must be aimed at retired School crossing ladies, Traffic Wardens,parking attendants,tow-away operators and the like who enjoy the harmony of freshly done yellow and white lines with a pinch of blue ,red or green street sign to titillate the senses and who travel the world in amazed comparison.

I can only hope so, but after the Mayor and the MINTOR have put us all out of business, who will be there to slake the thirst and quell the hunger after a hard day's exploration of DR's driver's delights and Sosua's seductive signage?

Good News. Another little effort to change the current condition.

Robert said:

This mentality is typical.....

It's like giving someone a heart transplant after they are already dead.
If you haven't got any tourists, you can paint all you want, it will have zero impact.

The problem is, nobody has a plan for the north coast, it's lots of individual people and groups talking a lot, doing very little and completely disconnected from each other.

All they are missing is someone to blame

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now i know that you have attended one of these tourism meetings. yes, the ones with the so-called experts, with the obligatory fine looking woman with the high falutin' title. ( by the way, are there no intelligent, fat, homely professional women in the DR?) i have attended a few, and they are just a congregation of useless drones and political hacks, who appear to have no idea of what to do. i love this new idea; spruce up the sidewalks, and change a few blown lightbulbs. now i know why these guys get the big bucks.

wrecksum said:

I believe the Mayor is aiming at a niche marketing group of tourists, as yet uncatered for.

After 'Eco tourism', 'poverty tourism','adventure tourism'''extreme tourism' etc. there is now 'road-marking tourism.'

This must be aimed at retired School crossing ladies, Traffic Wardens,parking attendants,tow-away operators and the like who enjoy the harmony of freshly done yellow and white lines with a pinch of blue ,red or green street sign to titillate the senses and who travel the world in amazed comparison.

I can only hope so, but after the Mayor and the MINTOR have put us all out of business, who will be there to slake the thirst and quell the hunger after a hard day's exploration of DR's driver's delights and Sosua's seductive signage?

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look, dude; you owe me for a computer keyboard. you just caused me to hurl a mouthful of Earl Grey tea into my HP.

The "new guy" in office will get it right...........
Family Guy: Stewie Mentions The Dominican Republic - YouTube

I promised myself I would not waste my time writing rebuttals on this site, and here I go again. What is the matter with me?

Have any of you- with all your criticisms- been to see the new project Ocean Sands? Or Infiniti Blu (which is rented at almost 100% capacity) or Hispaniola Beach? There ARE people paying good money (sorry, not the economy hotel rate) and coming to Sosua. Many- most- are renters. In my project I am one of the few owners who live here full time. I can tell you that those who come to these resorts do not frequent the bars that offer prostitution. They DO often ask me for recommendations for good restaurants or places to go for a drink. Those who bring their children (and our project has many families visiting) wish that there were more things for kids to do, but they are booking diving lessons and trips, they go zip lining, they tour Puerto Plata, and they enjoy time on the beach, building sand castles, burying each other, and playing in the waves (or lack of.)

We also have Dominican families here. And gringoes with Dominican wives......just not prostitutes. (and I am not making a judgement or comment on that)

Perhaps it will be up to business owners to decide what clientele they want to serve. It seems to be that there would be an opportunity for another high end restaurant in Sosua. Look how well Casa 21 is doing. Waterfronts is not suffering. Seahorse Ranch restaurant is doing well, as is the Infiniti Blu Restaurant, Beach Bar, and newly opened bakery/cafe.....and people who stay here need to take transportation to go to all but Infinit Blu and Waterfronts.

Why not look at the opportunity for Sosua to transform-to serve the tourists coming for a different type of vacation? Our project has 100 units- all mostly occupied all the time. Ocean Sands is almost finished. Hispaniola keeps building. They would not do so unless the rentals/sales substantiate it.

Now, I will not end without admitting that I love the honky tonk-ness of Sosua and if that completely goes, I would be a little sad. But, I DO think there is plenty of room and opportunity for someone with $$$, knowledge of the culture and players, and willingness to put in the hours- as we would in our home country- to find success.

Sorry if I offended anyone here. This is just my observation and opinion. Thus, I applaud all efforts to beautify Sosua, even though they may not be accomplished in the order I would set.

Lindsey

Great post!

Couldnt write it better if i tried to.

the lady mayoress asked if i would go out more to help beautify the streets

Ken said:

From today's Sosua News:


During the past few days employees of the 'town and country planning', commissioned by Mayor Ilana Neumann, are busy repairing sidewalks, repainting stained walls and painting traffic signs in the streets.

The entire tourist neighborhood El Batey, in particular the main road Pedro Clisante, is currently being taken care of and decorated. With this action the mayor wants to make the resort town of Sos?a more attractive for tourists.

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Yea traffic signs. Making streets one way without even thinking. I want to puke. Like the no noise law yea sure, it's worst now than before. Ken quit beleiving all the bullsh*t you hear. She reminds me of our President.

jrhartley said:

the lady mayoress asked if i would go out more to help beautify the streets

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Why?!

She need a sankie?

Rattus_Rattus said:

Why?!

She need a sankie?

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I believe that is already taken care of by Sr Chamu!

Lindsey,
I live and work in Sosua and agree that anything that can be done to improve the place is welcome, but have you seen the efforts on street painting?
How does this lick of paint which will be worn away in a half year and ignored by all and sundry help towards bringing prosperity to the town?
I am not fortunate enough to frequent Sea Horse and Casa 21 or high-end eateries etc but I would dearly like to see some of the efforts going toward making Sosua a sought-after destination but that needs someone to see the big picture and not just to touch-up the frame and cover up the nudes.
High airport taxes,poor marketing, tour operator concessions,crumbling infrastructure, corrupt and inefficient administration, bogus lawyers,variable rules and regulations,diabolical traffic shambles,poor parking facilities, etc.etc. all help to bring Sosua down, not just its reputation.To invest here one needs a lot of courage and spare money for sure.
Cabarete is just down the road and that is kid-friendly, sporty,family oriented already.Why compete?
Playa Dorada has everything already, so why is it nearly empty?

Lets have a well-run Six Flags or Wet &Wild or a real Sea World or something of that ilk in Sosua. I would be very happy to see it as would many others but that needs vision.

How about a monorail all along the coast from the Carnival terminal at Miamon to POP, the airport, Sosua then Cabarete? Imagine the views across Costambar and the port all the way to Cab.

Now that would take vision.
Not just paint.

wrecksum said:

High airport taxes,poor marketing, tour operator concessions,crumbling infrastructure, corrupt and inefficient administration, bogus lawyers,variable rules and regulations,diabolical traffic shambles,poor parking facilities, etc.etc. all help to bring Sosua down, not just its reputation.

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Excellent points.

That's great but the mayor should also consider beautifying the eastern entrance to the town, especially the section passing through Los Charamicos. New sidewalks and a good coat of paint on most of the buildings (and the zinc roofs) would do wonders in terms of beautifying that stretch. It would also improve the first impression.