Abinader announces improvements for Sosua

[windeguy]

My brother-in-law is Lebanese, and so is Abinader, so, machatonim---jaja---we're related.

I don't disagree that steps could/should have been taken to adjust the gestalt in This Dusty Whore Town I Call Home. But what I've seen of the plans for Playa Sosua look like "Let's Make Another Punta Cana." And I actually am privy to the plans.

My professional background is in land use/sustainability/urban planning, and of course I'm wrong in trying to transfer that skill set to here. I know I'll be immediately hand-slapped/shut down by the DR-ones. Rock on. But still... I can't suppress these niggling reservations about the plans as presented. I know RD zoning is not NYC zoning. (Zoning in DR? ) But this little thing about the 6 meters from the water line....what do I know.

Are you holding out on the current plan details? Sosua beach could hardly be a Punta Cana from the pictures I have seen of Punta Cana. It is just a fly speck in relative size to the massive resorts down south and those now planned for Pedernales. It it tiny in comparison to Playa Dorada, yet Sosua Beach, that dusty whore town's beach is about to change bigly in its own small way. Seems controversial.

(That is a 60 meter mark from the ocean that is owned by the public. I am sure you just forgot the zero.)

 

[windeguy]

I was going to drive up with a few friends to watch you perform...
but my local colmado was out of eggs

Thank you for egging me on, despite Luis' absence (and yours of course) the gig went well.
(I had a gig once near my home town in a once popular bar with a very popular band in the big city played.
They wanted Lynyrd Skynyrd and we played The Cars - no eggs were tossed, but bottles were. It was like the Blues Brothers at the Country Bar).

At El Choco House of Music, there were at least as many people as the previous performance I had there in the trio I play with as just a side man. That trio normally has standing room only, but we are in the true low snowbird/expat season now. Management said it went well, although admittedly Luis' absence was noted. It is what it is.

 

[johne]

I got a chuckle out of that one.

How about this: When the laws are enforced as written, I won't mention them. When the ambiguity of what is being done now stops and the government does as it said it will do, then I won't have to discuss it. I do think its time for a change, Some my think it's disgusting, some think that it's strange. Oh, Oh... (domino)

Enforcing laws...might be a chance. However government doing what they said while politicking or in office...you know better than that. Since Adam and Eve and till the end of time THATs NOT going to happen. Like you say: Here ,there, or anywhere. LOL

 

[windeguy]

Enforcing laws...might be a chance. However government doing what they said while politicking or in office...you know better than that. Since Adam and Eve and till the end of time THATs NOT going to happen. Like you say: Here ,there, or anywhere. LOL

At least Sosua seems in for a real change. Will all the laws be adhered to? Agreed that is unlikely.

How long do people think it will take to build those plazas? Maybe by some time in 2024, give or take a year?

 

[CristoRey]

At least Sosua seems in for a real change. Will all the laws be adhered to? Agreed that is unlikely.

How long do people think it will take to build those plazas? Maybe by some time in 2024, give or take a year?

Even if they had them finished/ built in three months how many of those businesses would reopen if they were forced to close during the construction process?
I bet less than half.

 

[windeguy]

Even if they had them finished/ built in three months how many of those businesses would reopen if they were forced to close during the construction process?
I bet less than half.

I suspect it will be around 20% maximum . Just a wild guess.

 

[D'Arcy (Apostropheman)]

I suspect it will be around 20% maximum . Just a wild guess.

Do you have a spreadsheet dedicated to your WAG's vs the actual outcomes? That might be interesting reading...

 

[D'Arcy (Apostropheman)]

Even if they had them finished/ built in three months how many of those businesses would reopen if they were forced to close during the construction process?
I bet less than half.

We'll never know. I don't believe or have any faith in the notion that the current vendors, all or even most of them, will back to the "new and improved" Playa Sosua shops regardless of the timeframe. But, if they did have the opportunity I would not bet against Dominican grit or ability to wait. "If there was the opportunity" being the issue. Some of those businesses have been in the same general locations run by the same families for decades, through good times and terrible, and many don't appear to even have traffic let alone sales many/most days. They must have enough to bother but it appears to be very slow. At least if you own a grocery store or even a colmado you'd never go hungry, but the shacks selling cheap towels and T-shirts, trinkets, hats, and crappy "jewelry", you can't even eat that

 

[windeguy]

Do you have a spreadsheet dedicated to your WAG's vs the actual outcomes? That might be interesting reading...

Nope

 

[CristoRey]

We'll never know. I don't believe or have any faith in the notion...

We'll find out soon enough if Team Luis decides a "temporary" closure is necessary.

 

[D'Arcy (Apostropheman)]

Nope

That's really too bad. I'm shocked that you don't track it. Can't handle the truth? LOL

 

[D'Arcy (Apostropheman)]

We'll find out soon enough if Team Luis decides a "temporary" closure is necessary.

Just the destruction and prep timeline will be a long time, and I think 3 months would be impossible. Perhaps to only get the destruction done, including remedial work/preparation for the new construction. Just putting in proper sewers, drainage, and water supply let alone the, if done right, badly needed sewage treatment facility would take more than that. That just get to the beginnings of the construction of the new plans. 1 year minimum is my guess and if betting, definitely more than 6 or even 9 months if everything proceeds perfectly and there are no setbacks, strikes, protests, huelgas or other delays.

So 1 year, perhaps 1.5 and possibly longer with delays.

 

[windeguy]

That's really too bad. I'm shocked that you don't track it. Can't handle the truth? LOL

By the way, I am agreeing with you. Very few vendors will be left of the current ones, I don't expect nearly enough spaces to be in those buildings to sell the same junk and the same type of food would be built, and the time will be at least 1 year before such plazas are built if they proceed as discussed. A bill of goods is being sold so tear gas is not needed along with an army of PN to clear out the land. That is the most logical outcome based upon the current news.

 

[D'Arcy (Apostropheman)]

By the way, I am agreeing with you. Very few vendors will be left of the current ones, I don't expect nearly enough spaces to be in those buildings to sell the same junk and the same type of food would be built, and the time will be at least 1 year before such plazas are built if they proceed as discussed. A bill of goods is being sold so tear gas is not needed along with an army of PN to clear out the land. That is the most logical outcome based upon the current news.

Fine, but I'm more interested in seeing how many of your past predictions, of which there are so many, actually came true, or not.

Not just yours but all of the more prominent posters and prognosticators. To my memory, most do not turn out so well and of course, many are just so vague that they are not even valid predictions.

I may have to do a little coding and scraping and see what the data shows LOL (Not that I can be bothered, but it might be an interesting project for someone with the right abilities)

 

[windeguy]

Fine, but I'm more interested in seeing how many of your past predictions, of which there are so many, actually came true, or not.

Not just yours but all of the more prominent posters and prognosticators. To my memory, most do not turn out so well and of course, many are just so vague that they are not even valid predictions.

I may have to do a little coding and scraping and see what the data shows LOL (Not that I can be bothered, but it might be an interesting project for someone with the right abilities)

I await your specifics on that I predicted without doubt actually happened, or not. I expect to wait much longer than the potential completion and full up and running status of the businesses in the three building to be built on Sosua beach. A year or two, perhaps? I generally talk about plans, not certainties. Some people construe them as predictions of a definite outcome. They are not. Nothing is certain but death and taxes.