While there are major differences over the tax bills that Congress is studying, where everyone seems to be in agreement is that equating the time in the DR to the time in the Eastern Seaboard of the US was a big mistake. Now the sun is up at 5 in the morning, and it’s begins to get dark around 4:30 pm. The winners: farmers who get up early, sports runners and other athletes that train early in the morning, airport operators that can charge higher night fees during the afternoon, banks that work with US banks, etc. The losers: school children that attend the afternoon shift that now get out at "night", tourists who are short changed of their time on the beach, households and businesses that are expecting higher power bills due to having to turn on the lights earlier at peak hours. Will the government recognize it made a mistake? Or will the country have to wait for April to make the change? Francisco Perez of Catalonia resort in Punta Cana says that if one waits for April, the clocks will have to be set ahead two hours. Then come October, clocks should be set back only one hour, and then leave it that way. He says if this is done, then all year round it will be nighttime at 8:30 pm and at 6:30 pm from October to April. Perez says that the way things were was the right way. That is time in the DR was one hour ahead, or -4 hours in regards to the UTC of Greenwich. This provides for more hours of daylight in the afternoon hours than in the morning hours. Pérez also alerts that the earlier nighttime will cause an increase in criminality. He recommends reading this web site that shows there is a direct relation between criminality and the hours of daylight. http://lash.une.edu.au/~drobinso/DSTacc.html Pérez says that what is right in the US is not necessarily right in the tropics. The California Energy Commission explains that equatorial and tropical countries (lower latitudes) don’t observe Daylight Saving Time since the daylight hours are similar during every season, so there’s no advantage to moving clocks forward during the summer. http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html Former Vice President Carlos Morales Troncoso, writing in El Siglo, estimates this mistake will cost the country 3-4% more in energy consumption. Ironically, the rational behind the change of times was to save energy. On the "Botando el Golpe" radio program last Friday, popular Jochy Santos asked everyone at 5 pm to turn on their turning signals if the time switch was a bother. The city became a festival of lights. The mention was made in a comment on the time change in the Aserrín column of El Siglo, where the author suggests clocks be reverted on 1 January 2001. Frank Rainieri, president of Punta Cana Group, says the measure has brought about an increase in beverage consumption at hotels. When the sun goes down around 5 pm, the tourists hit the bars. In the past they would squeeze out the last minute of daylight lounging on the beaches. Antonio Espín, president of the Association of Industries of Haina, and Jose Torres, executive director of the Free Zones Association both say the measure affects productivity in a negative manner. They would like the clocks to return to where they were. Several companies have set earlier entrance hours so that employees can get off earlier. Jenny Polanco, a leading clothes manufacturer, says that workers start at 7:30 am and leave at 4:30 pm and the decision, proposed by the employees, was accepted unanimously. Prior to the 29 October 2000 change by President Mejía, time in the DR had been stable since it was last changed by then President Salvador Jorge Blanco (1982-86). (21 November 2000)
