Quality of Life in the DR: Is it improving?

[Dr_Taylor]

"Income inequality, poorly managed government institutions, lack of public services, broken judicial system, low-hanging fruit mentality, lack of meritocracy, high corruption levels, low quality of public schools, infant and unproven social security system, slightly above average crime and violent crime levels, lack of transparency and accountability of government officials, unreliable healthcare system, completely broken energy sector, impunity and no consequences, and the list can go on and on and on."


Is the RD the only country facing these same exact issues, or are you just being selective? Yes, I know this is an RD related webforum, but the RD is far from the only country facing these same exact issues in 2019.

I can think of a few counties in a certain North American country, but this is an RD form. Some of these unfortunate items start with expectations. Such starts at home. As a young man, my family made its expectations clear. My teachers in school made their expectations clear. Income inequality, bad government, and the like is not and never was an excuse for personal irresponsibility, and frankly I am tired of some well-intentioned folks to my left asserting such a proposition. As grandmommy used to say, "I don't care what everyone else is doing or how 'the man' is treating you. We don't do [insert the item here] in this household." Grandmommy was not a high school graduate, let alone a university graduate, but she had values and expectations of her household.

 

[judypdr]

I arrived in fall 2010. The changes I have noticed:

1) More women on scooters and motorcycles...scooters mostly. In 2010, there was maybe one woman in Puerto Plata that drive a scooter or motorcycle. Now you see women everywhere on them.

2) More women going to university...especially in families where no parent went to college. They will eventually take their place in society and will be far ahead of previous generations. Not sure if I can find facts to support this theory...but my own experience says it is true.

3) More people (even expats) are following the laws about guns and drugs. Yes, there is still a problem, but it is more visible and enforceable now.

4) More government agencies are become technologically advanced. You simply have to visit the government websites to notice this change.

5) More enforcement of immigration policies...not just Haitians... as the government changes, so do the immigrants (including expats).

 

[Matilda]

Don't get me started. The DR in the early 70's was someplace entirely different than the DR of today.

Please get started! It would be lovely to have more information from you and Alterego about the DR way back then. And any other old timers of course!

Matilda

 

[zoomzx11]

Just my view but I do see a change in the last few years.
The government has discovered that computers are a wonderful tool to extort money from everyone in the country.
Unless and until the political system in the DR stops preying on it's citizens things will not change in any significant fashion.
It is still a wonderful country for people who want a great two week vacation.

 

[JDJones]

Please get started! It would be lovely to have more information from you and Alterego about the DR way back then. And any other old timers of course!

Matilda

let's see if my memory will kick in.

One of the first things I noticed when I first arrived here was armed soldiers on every street corning. Many of them were armed with Thompson machine guns.

IIRC, a Presidente back then was around 10 cents and a mixed drink was 15 cents.

Many of the nightclubs had shows with Dancers.

It seemed like everybody was transported in old school buses.

There were always huge lines of people waiting for transport.

I would never see another gringo around.

Girls went crazy over a tall white gringo with blue eyes.. lol

 

[chico bill]

It's more expensive for sure, and seems the government is more greedy on charging gringos for residencia.
And for sure more Haitian hookers and others.
But some things are slowly improving - roads, although it takes way to long to complete the work to a medium quality

Power outages are less frequent.
PN and AMET seem more plentiful and AMET enforcement is better. PN more greedy for 'propinas'

But those darn noisy Chinese cheap motos with not proper lights or exhaust proliferate. At least the stadium lights on the cars seem to have all but disappeared.

 

[ElVenao]

Wow guys... thank you for all the replies.

I guess I had been focusing too much on the negative to even acknowledge the positives. It did really lift my spirits after reading your comments about the OP. Perhaps me dueling on the every day struggles and precariousness a lot of the residents in the country go through, clouded my view. Perhaps seeing the very slow pace in which the Dominican culture and way of life change for the better clouded me from acknowledging tangible advancement (or perception of advancement, for the skeptics) in many areas of life.

The DR is certainly better than before and just like Dr. Strangelove had to learn to stop worrying and "love" the bomb, I feel like I have to learn to stop worrying and love the circumstances we're currently in. Learn to live with the bad, learn to adapt and learn to cope with realities that while they might not be optimal are our realities. This doesn't mean to keep an attitude of conformity or acceptance, but learning to embrace and work with what we have.

Development is usually accompanied by high growth (not a causal relationship) so we at least have had the good fortune of experiencing tremendous levels of growth and stability in the past few decades (post BANINTER crisis... muy solido) . Hopefully this growth can translate in better opportunities for the folks in the lowest-income quintile, but it is definitely a start.

 

[CristoRey]

Infrastructure is better. Here in Santiago, the city
is cleaner. I think for the educated, the quality of life
has improved. For the uneducated, the quality of life
was gotten worse mainly due to the cost of living and
the blatant corruption within the government which
has a direct impact on the programs specifically put
in place to improve the quality of life for the one's
who need it the most.... the uneducated.

 

[Tom0910]

3) More people (even expats) are following the laws about guns and drugs. Yes, there is still a problem, but it is more visible and enforceable now.

I respectfully disagree with your observation on this one.

 

[AlterEgo]

Please get started! It would be lovely to have more information from you and Alterego about the DR way back then. And any other old timers of course!

Matilda

JD, she just called us OLD!

Let’s see.

Hotels in SD then.... the Embajador, the original section of the Jaragua, the Hispaniola, the Naco, the Lina. Maybe the San Geronimo. For a nice meal, we went to the Lina (great paella), Vesuvio, a Spanish place on Malecon, I forget the name but I think it started with a C. The Olympic Stadium and Botanical Gardens seemed very far away in the middle of nowhere.

Over where the immigration is in La Feria there was a big bingo hall, near the Mauna Loa. And speaking of the Mauna Loa, they had top performers, live, every weekend. The Aqua y Luz around the corner on the Malecon....spent a couple of New Year’s Eves there in 70s dancing all night. There was also a big drive in movie in same area.

Boca Chica was a nice family beach to spend a day, but we also went to Playa Caribe for the waves, which everyone called Embassy Beach. No one sold anything, just some ladies who offered to braid and bead your hair.

There were only a couple of casinos.....Embajador, Mauna Loa, Jaragua, Hispaniola. The dealers were croupiers, in tuxedos, ala James Bond movies. There were dress codes.

Police with big guns were everywhere. It was pretty safe to walk anywhere anytime.

 

[KyleMackey]

Question for the people who were around in the 70's-80's, how was the trash littering matter compared to now?

 

[cobraboy]

Question for the people who were around in the 70's-80's, how was the trash littering matter compared to now?

In many areas, much, much better now than, say 20 years ago.

 

[william webster]

Litter/Garbage

Isn't Styrofoam a relatively new introduction here ?
It is the root of most of the littering.... visible and non-biodegradable

 

[JDJones]

JD, she just called us OLD!

Let’s see.

Hotels in SD then.... the Embajador, the original section of the Jaragua, the Hispaniola, the Naco, the Lina. Maybe the San Geronimo. For a nice meal, we went to the Lina (great paella), Vesuvio, a Spanish place on Malecon, I forget the name but I think it started with a C. The Olympic Stadium and Botanical Gardens seemed very far away in the middle of nowhere. .

I think you are talking about Cantabrico on Independence. It's been around forever and is still open. They have another restaurant in Silver Sun Gallery. Soooooo good.

Over where the immigration is in La Feria there was a big bingo hall, near the Mauna Loa. And speaking of the Mauna Loa, they had top performers, live, every weekend. The Aqua y Luz around the corner on the Malecon....spent a couple of New Year’s Eves there in 70s dancing all night. There was also a big drive in movie in same area.

Yup. I went to Agua y Luz once. Wasn't my style but the fountains were awesome.

Speaking of fountains, do you remember the fountain that was on the malecon where Maximo Gomez started?

There were only a couple of casinos.....Embajador, Mauna Loa, Jaragua, Hispaniola. The dealers were croupiers, in tuxedos, ala James Bond movies. There were dress codes.

Police with big guns were everywhere. It was pretty safe to walk anywhere anytime

 

[JDJones]

Litter/Garbage

Isn't Styrofoam a relatively new introduction here ?
It is the root of most of the littering.... visible and non-biodegradable

I agree WW.. Eliminate styrofoam and plastic soda bottles and that's 90% of the battle.

 

[AlterEgo]

I think you are talking about Cantabrico on Independence. It's been around forever and is still open. They have another restaurant in Silver Sun Gallery. Soooooo good.

Over where the immigration is in La Feria there was a big bingo hall, near the Mauna Loa. And speaking of the Mauna Loa, they had top performers, live, every weekend. The Aqua y Luz around the corner on the Malecon....spent a couple of New Year’s Eves there in 70s dancing all night. There was also a big drive in movie in same area.

Yup. I went to Agua y Luz once. Wasn't my style but the fountains were awesome.

Speaking of fountains, do you remember the fountain that was on the malecon where Maximo Gomez started?

There were only a couple of casinos.....Embajador, Mauna Loa, Jaragua, Hispaniola. The dealers were croupiers, in tuxedos, ala James Bond movies. There were dress codes.

Police with big guns were everywhere. It was pretty safe to walk anywhere anytime

Cantabrico! Yes, that’s it.

I don’t remember the fountain at Máximo Gómez.

 

[JDJones]

Cantabrico! Yes, that’s it.

I don’t remember the fountain at Máximo Gómez.

The fountain was built during Balaguers time. I think I saw it working 2-3 times.

Back in those days the power was so bad I think they decided to leave it off.

Kinda like the lights on the Columbus Monument. How many folks on here have seen them lit at night?

 

[bob saunders]

My adventures in the DR started much later than many on here but still I have seen mostly positive changes. When I first came in in 1997 to Jarabacoa there were few vehicles on the road and many of the people I visited hardly had a pot to **** in. Fast forward twenty-two years and many of these people have university degrees and their children do as well. Around 60 percent of the children in most of our classes go onto higher education of some sort. The standard of living for most of the people I know has gone up.
On the negative side, I observe a lot of drug dealing, criminal activity, and have attended numerous funerals of premature deaths due to moto and car accidents.

 

[AlterEgo]

The fountain was built during Balaguers time. I think I saw it working 2-3 times.

Back in those days the power was so bad I think they decided to leave it off.

Kinda like the lights on the Columbus Monument. How many folks on here have seen them lit at night?

I think I saw the beam once. I also think they should have left him in the original tomb in the cathedral, so many more tourists visit the Zona Colonial than that out-of-the-way monstrosity.

 

[monfongo]

The road from Santa Domingo to pop was dirt two lane all the way to Santiago, after they built the autopista we used to take transporte del cibao, was a long ride but they would stop at the colmado's and they would hand you beers through the windows. That was before caribe tours.