Old Juan Dolio

[MommC]

The 60 customers were most likely squatters. A friend of ours was fortunate this year to have an offer on a piece of property on the non-beach side of the road and sold said property just in time as a bunch of illegal Haitians had just finished 'clearing' it in preparation for building tin shacks. The new owner has built a wall surrounding the property and hired a 'watchman' to ensure it isn't taken over before he has time to build a villa.

[Matilda]

Originally Posted by MommC

The 60 customers were most likely squatters. A friend of ours was fortunate this year to have an offer on a piece of property on the non-beach side of the road and sold said property just in time as a bunch of illegal Haitians had just finished 'clearing' it in preparation for building tin shacks. The new owner has built a wall surrounding the property and hired a 'watchman' to ensure it isn't taken over before he has time to build a villa.

No they weren't. Some paid rent and lived in an apartment building which had no water nor light. it will be sold. Some paid rent for their houses to the owner of the land, who has sold the land. Don't assume that all the 'tin shacks' are squatters. A lasrge percentage pay rent and are not illegal Haitians but legal Dominicans and legal Haitians.

[dulce]

So what if they were squatters? Maybe we don't think it is right to be a squatter but it is the "Dominican way". They never bothered me but then again I didn't own land there. It was a Hatian squatter who did all the building maintenance on the apartments that I rented. His wife did all the cleaning, laundry and babysitting for the tenants. They were a very hardworking family with five kids. They made sure thier kids went to school every day too. Who do you think is building those high rises for chit pay? Maybe Hatian squatters living in JD?
IF I was a land owner I am positive that my attitude would be different. LOL
God Bless you girls for living with the changes and good luck.
Matilda, If I were you I would make sure to expand your grocery supplies to serve the new apartment dwellers. They will most likely be cooking at home instead of eating at the local resturants. There could be a good market for you there yet. Why make them travel to San Pedro to grocery shop? Hang in there!

[NALs]

You folks can say what you want.

Sooner or later you will have two choices (and you know this):

1. Accept your new reality.

2. Pack up and leave.

Which of the two you decide to act upon will have no effect on the wave of changes occuring in Juan Dolio.

Tough, but true.

-NALs

[dulce]

Thank you very much for the advice Nals. I did make my decision and moved out when the crime level went up as high as the prices. It is not where I would like to live anymore. The new cocky powers that be will price themselves and everyone else right out of business. As I said before it will be interesting to watch from a distance how things play out there.
For sure no one will go broke by the fact that I do not live there. I sincerely mean it when I say may JD prosper without me. I wish everyone the best of luck with the growth. I still have a right to voice opinons.

[Matilda]

Actually NALs there is a third choice - do something about it, and that is what I am trying to do. For the last week, mostly Haitian but some Dominican workers from the Sun Village Hotel have been building new houses. The owners have decided they do not want the workers living in the hotel as it is being constructed, so evicted them - it has been under construction for 2 years. They are busy building shacks wherever they can find a space. it is upsetting the people where they are building shacks - noise, rubbish, smoke from cooking fires, smell from 'toilets' etc. let alone the owners of the land where they build. But where are they supposed to live. It is fine to change things. But do it RESPONSIBLY. And if you are going to employ illegal Haitians at rock bottom wages then at least give or find them a place to live - don't just dump them to build a shack at the bottom of someones garden. I don't know where you live but I hope that you don't wake up one morning to find 50 people living at the bottom of your garden, with all that goes with it - and of course you have to provide them with water as they don't have any.... because that is what happens here. So let's try and do something about it......not sure how yet but I am working on it!!!

[MommC]

Down this end at MarChiara the first building that went up(where the parking lot will be) was a plywood structure that is housing the construction workers.
Granted there is no plumbing (you don't want to know where they do their morning' business') but at least they have a place to sleep and cook.
Yes it is irresponsible to have workers with no accomodation provided however, they shouldn't be allowed to throw up a shack wherever they feel like it.
Most hotels bus in employees and construction companies should do the same. Maybe it's time the gov't regulated the industry more by insisting that only those with 'legal' addresses may be employed????
Just another of the things that aren't 'right' and aren't easily corrected in the DR.

[NALs]

Originally Posted by Matilda

I hope that you don't wake up one morning to find 50 people living at the bottom of your garden, with all that goes with it...

I have never 'woken up one morning to find 50 people living at the bottom of [my] garden', but I have woken up in previous mornings years ago and been notified of illegal occupation of land that legitimately belongs to me and my family by laymen who decided to settle down where ever, disregarding private property rights and such.

I know the feeling, I know the ordeal that a person must go through to remove the squatter, I know the anger one feels when a person tries to appropriate themselves of something that was not for sale and/or they didn't intended on paying for.

However, my experiences are only limited with the encroaching of squatters on land that has been within the family for years, not the effects of evictions from a construction site.

For some reason Mommc's most recent post receives more of my attention and support than your own Matilda, and the only reason is because one feels more like a whine while the other is actually bringing forth a possible solution to a problem.

Regardless of everything said here, progress will occur in Juan Dolio and no one will be able to stop it. Maybe having a chance in modifying how progress occurs is more realistic, but stoping progress is nothing more than wishful thinking.

-NALs

[MommC]

You got that right NALs....."Maybe having a chance in modifying how progress occurs is more realistic, but stoping progress is nothing more than wishful thinking. "

Like I said....it's not that change isn't welcome - some change is badly needed. It's about what the changes are, how the change is being carried out, who the change is affecting most and why some of the change is more negative than positive.

The changes are leaving behind most of the local inhabitants of Juan Dolio (and Los Conucos).

Sitting here typing this I just saw four bus loads of Dominicans heading for the beach pass by my window. Not heading for the new 'improved' beach but rather for the old untouched beach a little down the way.
Why?
Maybe because of all the things they can't do or bring to the NEW beach!!
So they are relegated to the small older beach area.......

Maybe I should become a social justice advocate (just kidding- I'm so abrasive I'd be knocked off real quick!!) but to me it ain't right!

Also we're losing the charm that made us pick this island to live on in the first place.......

[Steve Pindar]

Many posts keep talking about the progress in JD. I don't believe it's progress. It's change, and change isn't always good.