February 2008 General Meeting Agenda

February General Meeting Agenda Announced

The San Pedro Business Association will be holding it’s February 2008 General Meeting at El Divino Restaurant on February 22nd at 1:00pm. The Agenda for this Meeting is as follows:

Item #1: Taxes
Land transfer taxes and business taxes should remain in the district from which they are generated. These taxes remaining in the area that generated them would allow these areas to develop infrastructure as needed. The basic concept behind this is that an area that generates more taxes fundamentally needs it to develop and maintain its infrastructure. In the most basic terminology it is a matter of supply and demand. San Pedro generates one of the largest supplies of land transfer tax and business taxes in the entire country in return though the demand for these tax dollars to main the infrastructure is high.

Goal: The goal is to get Central Government to leave the land transfer taxes and business taxes in the district that generates it. At the same time San Pedro needs to become its own district. This would allow the local authorities, ie. the Town Board to finish the roads, purchase garbage and street sweepers as well as other necessary things to keep up with the growth of the town.

Next the issue of Hotels being 0 rated for GST needs to be addressed.

Item #2: Crime
The community response to the BDF presence over Christmas and New Years was overwhelmingly positive. We actually had area doctors respond that they had a dramatic decrease in violent crimes that led to injuries over past years.

In past meetings it has been made clear that there is no way to provide San Pedro with more police officers, they are not available. However, it is also clear that our current police force is understaffed. We believe that the solution therefore is to supplement the police force with BDF. We would like to request a permanent station of BDF on San Pedro.

Neighborhood watch program: Stephen Spiro from El Pescador is asking that anyone interested in helping set up a neighborhood watch program in their contact him. He can be reached at 226-2975 or e-mail steve@elpescador.com. He has a map that has San Pedro divided into 7 main areas and people are needed in each area. A neighborhood watch is in no way expected to take the place of the police, but rather assist in providing information.

Item #3: Garbage
At this point we believe that in order to collect garbage in an efficient, sanitary manner the town needs actual garbage trucks. Along with this plan business and residences will need to acquire the correct garbage bins.

Fines for illegal dumping of garbage need to be enforced. Does Town Board have plans for enforcing the littering fines?

Item #4: Master Plan
Many years ago the Town Board established a “Master Plan” for the island. For several years this plan was honored not because it was a law, but because of its actual merit. In recent years however things have changed and many guidelines set out by the master plan have been broken. At this point we would like to bring to the table that the master plan  become law.

Along with the guidelines already contained in the master plan this might be the appropriate time to make some additions. Our suggestion is that a sub-committee be formed to examine the master plan, collect information and take a consensus as to what could be added. This committee could then present their findings to the association.

San Pedro Business Association
Schedule February 22, 2008

12:00-1:00 pm:
Registration of New Members

1:00 pm:
Greeting by SPBA Chairman Elito Arceo
Explanation of process to have issues put on the agenda.
Scheduling of Meetings.
Update on the funds and police boat for the safety committee.

1:30 pm:
Introduction of the new Area Representative Manuel Heredia.

1:45 pm:
Issues on the agenda will be addressed one by one.  We would like to keep topic discussion to 15-30 minutes.

At the end of the meeting members can turn in a question & comment sheet that we will provide to them at the beginning of the meeting. The purpose of this sheet is for members to make notes, questions or comments on during the meeting that they would like the pass on the steering committee after the meeting.

As always, this meeting is for San Pedro Business Association members only.  If you are not a member, but would like to join and attend this meeting you may do so prior to the meeting’s start at 1:00pm. Please come to El Divino by 12:30 if you wish to join.