. hand outs for years. we know and have been going for years. Has killed the island. No not very popular, but people that know the island and what it was., know that that the goverment take money to put in pocket.. Pelican keys??? had restrictions. no more. do what you want there. no restrictions, and the key now is a circus. this is now a now grade place, once a high grade place. this was paradise now is a have been...
If I had any say as the govt. of the Netherlands, I would be pressing to wash my hands of the island entirely. Let them pay their own bills and deal with things every other "country" has to. See how far that would last. Why the people who can vote don't get rid of these thugs and users is beyond me---except that if they are all corrupt---maybe there is nobody uncorrupt to take their place. Pretty sad!!
Having just returned from the island, I remember a conversation I was having with a local about a well known business person on the island. She mentioned that they had not been paying taxes due the island for many years. But she added that since many of the elected officials were not paying theirs either, there wasn't much they could do about it. Sounds like she was right.
