Townhall Meeting at SHR???

I was there. Yes the ambassador did attend along with multiple dept. heads. and Ted Foster the new north coast consular was introduced. He is replacing Bill Kirkman.There seemed not to be much new information just what we can expect from the embassy if we need them. However after the meeting there was lots of time to mingle with the ambassador and the others. I found this aspect very informative.
The thought was to try to do this two times a year on the north coast with better announcements of the meeting. It was also brought up to maybe have the local authorites attend (mayors, police etc) to hear what was being said (not to be part of the presentation as that would be for a different venue).

Bob K

What can we expect from the Embassy if we need them?
Please elaborate a little more. This meeting seems a good idea.

Another meeting

I hear another meeting is trying to be planned out Cabrera, Samana way in the next 4 or 5 months for folks out in that area. Nothing concrete yet as it was just seen by the Ambassador as a need.

Coco

What can we expect from the Embassy if we need them?
Please elaborate a little more. This meeting seems a good idea.
Reply With Quote

i guess that depends on what needs you may have in mind, no?
Please elaborate.

I attended the meeting as well. I received an invitation, but not sure from whom...someone delivered it to my office while I was out. I think these meetings could be a great idea if done well and more people knew about it, although I was completed overwhelmed by the turnout. There were over 200 people in attendance, so obviously the word "got out" somehow. They passed around a sign-up sheet, so hopefully they plan on starting an email list or some other form of contact about future events. An official State Department/Embassy Newsletter would be great as well, but I won't hold my breath for that!

My overall takeaway from the meeting was that they didn't really present much useful information. The main points that were stressed were how many visas and passports they process annually, and that if you are the victim of a crime you should report it! And if the local authorities are not helping to your satisfaction, you should contact the embassy.

They also stressed that the National Police is really making an effort to be one of the "top" civilian police forces in the world... (?)

There was a discussion from the Director of USAID touching on the fact that there are still problems with implementing DR CAFTA, but they are working on it.

It was my understanding that this wasn't initially intended to be a Townhall type meeting, but rather a welcome for Ted Foster and Robert Fanin, and a farewll and thank you to Bill Kirkman (for his 20+ years of service as North Coast Consular Agent).

Perhaps if they had planned it more of a Townhall Meeting, it would have gone differently. One indication of this was at the end, when the floor was open to questions, not a single person raised their hand - isn't that the purpose of a Townhall meeting....open forum for questions and answers? But afterwards, each presenter answered individual questions and comments for over an hour.

One new thing I learned from the initial presentation was that there are over 100,000 Americans living in the DR!

But as was said above, all members from the Embassy and Consulars (Ted Foster and Mark Ellis) as well as the Ambassador himself, stayed well after the meeting ending and answered any and all questions. That part was great. So was the food!!

Here is the website for the US Embassy in Santo Domingo:

U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic