Revitalization of Puerto Plata- Plans Revealed

umeafdb

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Mar 9, 2010
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Many have been concerned about t the infrastructure of Puerto Plata -- crumbling buildings, dangerous sidewalks, We asked ourselves if houses and streets will really be repaired and will the city be ready for the new visitors that the Carnaval cruises will bring. Well, finally there is good news! First, the Cluster (an umbrella group promoting tourism) has initiated a program to paint the Victorian houses in the historic center and this has already begun -- it is not just talk.


Second,the City and the Ministry of Tourism actually have a concrete plan to refurbish the old city center (including creating pedestrian malls in time for the arrival of the cruise ships and on Saturday Jan 18 at 2 pm at The Meeting Place in Puerto Plata these plans will be explained and an indication of the location and time schedule of these repairs will be revealed. The development plans well be presented with a power point presentation as well as with a question and answer session.
Time 2 pm, Date Saturday Jan 18, Location The Meeting Place, calle 80 Juan Bosch, Puerto Plata 829 4556110
 

21yearsinDR

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May 29, 2013
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It is very late to start solving problems - really.. Puerto Plata is not prepared at all and they will be late..
The authorities are behaving like children and they have no idea , what need to be done in order for Puerto Plata to be a decent and nice Cruise Ship destination.
Very nice they want to fix the Victorian houses in Puerto Plata.. But what about the security? It is no longer safe to walk around in Puerto Plata?The traffic is a chaos and every day we have more and more motorbikes in the city.
The main road - the assess to Puerto Plata is completely ridiculous . How do they expect a couple of thousand people to get into the city? Well, the busses might park at the Malecon ( if they ever get so far), however I can imagine the chaos?
Furthermore they will have to pass the garbage dump on their way to Puerto Plata. What a disgusting view and apparently nobody is moving the dump to somewhere else? They have been talking about this for 10 years and they are still playing around like children?
( By the way - the garbage dump was burning again this afternoon. I came from Imbert and I thought it was raining in Puerto Plata. It was pitch dark.. It was thick, black smoke from the dump)

I can assure you, that NO Cruise Ship tourist will ever come into the city of Puerto Plata.
Maybe some lost soul will find his way, but it will be very few.
The port area will be closed. The tourists will only leave directly on the different excursions. And only excursions that can afford to pay a million dollars insurance?.

So relax everybody - the Cruise Port will not have that impact on Puerto Plata that everybody is expecting? ( I hope I am wrong..)
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
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Paint victorian houses....... as if thats going to change anything.......
Pollution for one thing is number one problem, garbage for second....

Also as u arrive the imbert side of POP, unless u turn left in front of hospital ( then u have to go past container port.... very touristic ), u arrive at main junction with the overhead bridge. It is always total chaos there, whatever time of day. If there is an accident ( as often), u cant turn round and cant go forward..... imagine buses in that mess....... They need to start by arranging that junction ( roundabout or whatever ).
And that cant be done without tearing down buildings, which will never happen.

I agree POP will never see a peso or a $ or a € of cruise tourist. I think tours will turn the other way, imbert way. More "tourist stuff", 27 chagos, lots of campos (for some unknown reasons tourists like to have a feel of the "real dr"), old cigar fabricas......
But I m been selfish hoping they will finish the renovation of the imbert/guananico/villa isabella road........
 

LTSteve

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Jul 9, 2010
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I agree. The government has it's head up it's __s. It is the same thing in LT. There is a river that runs through the center of town and out to the sea. When there is a hard rain, guess what happens. All the garbage and sewage run into the ocean and down the beach. Duh????? Guess who sees this mess? Tourists. Spend the money to solve a problem and it will pay off in dividends for everyone. That is the same in POP. The dump is not seen as a "problem" to anyone but Gringos. Wake up people and smell the garbage.

LTSteve
 

ctrob

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Nov 9, 2006
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Disagree wholeheartedly with pretty much everybody above. A plan for a city is not formed that covers every single problem. The redevelopment of an area happens in stages.

Fixing up that area of POP is nothing but a plus. Sure, they may be discouraged when CCL doesn't bus people in by the thousands to see their Caribbean Painted Ladies. But maybe they'll then ask "why?" And continue revitalizing the city. Maybe the dump DOES get moved at some point?

As I have said before, the Cruise Ship port WILL have an impact on the North Coast. And this is a prime example. Pride in ownership is infectious. It is only good news that they're doing this.

Roll with it.
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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Disagree wholeheartedly with pretty much everybody above. A plan for a city is not formed that covers every single problem. The redevelopment of an area happens in stages.

Fixing up that area of POP is nothing but a plus. Sure, they may be discouraged when CCL doesn't bus people in by the thousands to see their Caribbean Painted Ladies. But maybe they'll then ask "why?" And continue revitalizing the city. Maybe the dump DOES get moved at some point?

As I have said before, the Cruise Ship port WILL have an impact on the North Coast. And this is a prime example. Pride in ownership is infectious. It is only good news that they're doing this.

Roll with it.

Good post, I agree. It is never too late to start making improvements. The cruise ship port is not the only source of tourist income and even if it doesn't bring in large numbers from the ships it may help attract tourists to the nearby hotels.

Way to much negativism on this board by armchair analysts.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
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Unhuh, lets not forget all the top notch world class hotels in POP.........

Signed. Negative armchair analyst.

P.s. maybe if u paint them everything will turn out ok.
 

wrecksum

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Sep 27, 2010
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It's unfortunately difficult not to be a negativist when one sees the results (or, lack of, or opposite effect of) of 'initiatives' carried out by the powers over here.
There are many problems which seem to our gringo eyes to be easy to fix but we have difficulty in understanding the reasons that these are not done.
The idea that municipal improvements have to benefit elected officials directly before being sanctioned seems strange because many of us are used to considering the overall benefit to the whole community, failing to grasp that in 'developing' countries (and some others) achieving a position in power is seen as life's opportunity to feather ones nest and to achieve selfish aims to the benefit of ones intimate circle.

Painting is always a good plan. This covers a multitude of sins and is basically cheap, plus the added perk that by a bit of judicious over-estimating, you can get your own house and family's places done too..
There is the added attraction that it is eminently visible.

"Your tax Dollars at Work!!"

Everyone 'knows' that a freshly painted and gleaming car goes better than its scruffy counterpart even though the mechanical bits are still clapped out.

I'm not altogether sure if your average tourists gives a Tinker's cuss about a garbage dump as long as the hotel is not actually built next to it. The causeway on arrival in Mombasa, which every tourist had to pass is still a stinking, smoking pit of filth but once past, I never heard our customers complain.In Aswan there is (or was, maybe.It's been a while.) a tip of Pharaonic proportions right at the airport but it was a sort of 'someone-else's problem' and thus, didn't exist to the tourist.
I'm sure there are more examples.

I am hoping sincerely that the cruise business will re-vitalise the NC but I'm not going to bet on it.
As far as I can see, it hinges on whether is a transfer port as Pichardo states, or simply a day stop.
 

ramesses

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Jun 17, 2005
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I am hoping sincerely that the cruise business will re-vitalise the NC but I'm not going to bet on it.
As far as I can see, it hinges on whether is a transfer port as Pichardo states, or simply a day stop.

If it is a transfer port...they had better do something about the organization at the POP airport. They had 4 planes land at once on Thursday and there was some very serious backups with getting through immigration and through the parking payment booth. It took me close to an hour to get through immigration, the lineup was darn close to the cambio. The parking lot was a disaster, the had an amet officer directing traffic but it took us a half hour to get out of the parking lot. It does not bode well.....
 

wrecksum

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Sep 27, 2010
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If it is a transfer port...they had better do something about the organization at the POP airport. They had 4 planes land at once on Thursday and there was some very serious backups with getting through immigration and through the parking payment booth. It took me close to an hour to get through immigration, the lineup was darn close to the cambio. The parking lot was a disaster, the had an amet officer directing traffic but it took us a half hour to get out of the parking lot. It does not bode well.....

Absolutely agree.
Took me 5 minutes to drop off my friend the other day and 40 minutes to get out of the airport..
In fact, it took so long I had to pay for the second hour of airport parking, even though I spent most of it in the bl***y pay queue...

2 planes = chaos

More than 2, =Chaosissimo.......
 

Buzzard

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Feb 28, 2004
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A concert stage for POP?

During a presentation Saturday at the Meeting Place, local officials spoke of the improvements planned for the roads, sidewalks, parking, etc. However, from the questions raised by the audience, it appears that the only visible actions occurring now relate to the modification of the fort into an outdoor concert hall! How this will improve the tourist experience was not explained. Since the ships leave by 5:00pm or 6:00pm at the latest, this seems to be of zero value to tourism, but of great value to some local builders and politicians.
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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Its not being negative its being a realist based on experience. Relax in that armchair as Dominicans love to talk about plans. We are still waiting for the big marina planned for Sosua.We even saw the plans posted on dr1. Some even believed it for a short time.
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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Its not being negative its being a realist based on experience. Relax in that armchair as Dominicans love to talk about plans. We are still waiting for the big marina planned for Sosua.We even saw the plans posted on dr1. Some even believed it for a short time.

this is the land of big announcements. remember how many companies were joining queues to do biodiesel here? what about that firm from Massachusetts that was going to convert metropolitan solid waste into fuel? where are the guys who were going to do the jatropha project? how many ethanol guys were on the way? wasn't tourism on the rebound when the ship The World docked for a few days? weren't we going to get at least one of those per week? this is the land where talk is cheap.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Its not being negative its being a realist based on experience. Relax in that armchair as Dominicans love to talk about plans. We are still waiting for the big marina planned for Sosua.We even saw the plans posted on dr1. Some even believed it for a short time.

Exactly. What some refer to as negativity is actually based upon past lack of performance and we are just providing a "reality check" to those that would be led down the garden path.
 

hammerdown

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Apr 29, 2005
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this is the land of big announcements. remember how many companies were joining queues to do biodiesel here? what about that firm from Massachusetts that was going to convert metropolitan solid waste into fuel? where are the guys who were going to do the jatropha project? how many ethanol guys were on the way? wasn't tourism on the rebound when the ship The World docked for a few days? weren't we going to get at least one of those per week? this is the land where talk is cheap.

Don't forget the Hospital for Sosua, the twinning of the Puerto Plata highway, Cabarete bypass.....and on and on....too bad they can't smell some of that crap they are shoveling.......
 

Vinyasa

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Dec 22, 2010
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Exactly. What some refer to as negativity is actually based upon past lack of performance and we are just providing a "reality check" to those that would be led down the garden path.

As a relative newcomer, i would like today thank you to all the grizzled old-timers who have seen this shot before and keep my enthusiasm in check!
After 3 or 4 years here i am now beginning to see where you guys are coming from
 

Conchman

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Jul 3, 2002
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if it is a transfer port...they had better do something about the organization at the pop airport. They had 4 planes land at once on thursday and there was some very serious backups with getting through immigration and through the parking payment booth. It took me close to an hour to get through immigration, the lineup was darn close to the cambio. The parking lot was a disaster, the had an amet officer directing traffic but it took us a half hour to get out of the parking lot. It does not bode well.....


well then fix miami because it took me 2hrs to go through immigration
 

PaGuyinDr

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Sep 2, 2013
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I am not in favor of using public funds to refurbish or revitalize privately owned property. Ever. I hope this is not the case. Encouragement and tax abatement a, yes.

Since I am new to the DR so please excuse my political na?vet?. But what should be done is the inception / continuance / promotion / of enterprise zones; and the use of public funds to only improve roads, pick up trash, maintain roads, etc etc.

Again I am ver new here, so I don't know to the extent this happens, but What I would like to see is the gov't to force private property owners to adequately maintain their own properties. Fine them until they do so, or foreclose on them. Then you could resell them or convert them into use for the public. Eminent domain!

There is an abandoned hotel or condo accross the street from the hospitalin sosua. Looks like a Giant crack house. Who owns that?. It should be impounded immediately, demolished and used for a park. Or some other type of useful to the public type of property
 

ramesses

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Jun 17, 2005
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well then fix miami because it took me 2hrs to go through immigration

ok...but four planes....

They had 5 agents working in what, nine booths. The exit from the parking has one booth with one exit lane. The entrance has 2 if I am not mistaken. To be fair, there was construction happening on one of the entrance lanes...they may have passed the taxis through one of the entrance lanes?

I know it is a small thing but I think they need to make some changes to route these cruise people through in an efficient (lol) manner.