Carl & Board: Deliver or get out!

By Joe Q. Public

Good evening Guam,

Thank you to the lieutenant governor for acting quickly to protect the island and its people. There are no right answers to these storms and the prep for them, however erring on the side of safety and caution is always best.

However, I could go the rest of my life without hearing the words “out of an abundance of caution” ever again. It sends chills down my spine from arguably the most inept and fumbled COVID response in the world, that went on for what seemed like 5 years.

Oh wait, it is going on 5 years and we are still paying the price tag for it! Ooopsy, my bad!

Now on to the subject at hand: the unbelievable mess at Guam Visitors Bureau and how negatively it is impacting our lives. Whether or not you are on the side of the board or the side of GVB President Carl Gutierrez, one thing is clear.

IT IS A CIRCUS AND THE MAGAHAGA NEEDS TO PUT A STOP TO IT NOW!!!! PRESIDENT GUTIERREZ AND THE GVB BOARD OF DIRECTORS HAVE NO RIGHT TO PLAY RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH OUR FUTURE AND OUR KIDS’ FUTURE. YOUR JOB IS TO BUILD AND MANAGE TOURISM AND YOU ARE ALL FAILING MISERABLY. WE THE PEOPLE DO NOT CARE ABOUT WHO WRITES THE PLAN OR WHO EXECUTES THE PLAN, WE CARE ABOUT RESULTS AND THE GVB LEADERSHIP HAS FORGOTTEN THAT THEY WORK FOR US, THE PEOPLE OF GUAM. IF YOU DON’T LIKE YOUR JOB THEN QUIT, AND LET SOMEONE ELSE TRY. WE HAVE BARS FULL OF PEOPLE IN GUAM WHO WOULD HAVE WON THE GAME IF THE COACH ONLY SAW THEIR VALUE AND LET THEM ON THE TEAM! GROW UP, SETTLE YOUR BULL**** AND STOP MAKING US SUFFER!

Again, I digress so let’s break it down with just the numbers, we are at 40% of pre-Covid tourism numbers and that is unacceptable by any account. If anyone in private sector reports this kind of performance to their board, they are done before the sun rises the next day. In GovGuam you get a $32,000 raise! The path forward is very clear, and there really is not much to argue about in my opinion.

You can extrapolate enough from looking at just the Korean market. We have 30,000 seats available each month to come to Guam. Do some simple math and multiply by 12 and it gives you 360,000 seats per year (12 x 30,000=360,000 ). I had my kids check my math and it is right. So, if every single seat is sold from Korea to Guam that means the absolute best, we can do is half of what we had pre-covid. That is it. Half of half is not enough even when you work for GovGuam!

The real issue lies in the fact that this did not happen overnight, it happened slowly over the course of several years. It is just that we don’t hear about it because we aren’t being told. Jeju Air, the #1 carrier from Korea stopped flying to Guam in the month of June entirely. There was no press release, no warning at all to anyone. When they returned to flight it was at half of the schedule it once was, again no warning, no nothing, just gone!

If GVB leadership wants to talk about the quality of the Guam experience, which needs help I admit, they have to do their jobs first, get more airlines and more flights and that is that!

Lou Leon Guerrero asked Mark Baldyga to write that plan

We love having a person who stands up to the rich and entitled, but this is not the time. Now is the time for unity, time for working together, time to put our differences aside and work towards the common good. It is not fair to call out Mark Baldyga for providing a plan he was ASKED BY THE GOVERNOR to prepare. For those who don’t know it the governor has the final say in everything and can ask anyone to do anything she wants. So, Mr. President do not yell at a private citizen who is just trying to survive, and who is one the greatest success stories this island has ever seen, be mad at your Boss and yell in her face and let us know how that works out for you!

To the GVB board, you are Mr. Guiterrez’s boss and he should never under any circumstances speak to you or anyone like that. There is no place for that in our society today. [Even Guam] rejected Trumpism, as I remember from last week.

Stop crying about financial disclosures as they are part of the deal; you knew about it when you signed up and we all know you are rich anyway. It is funny how the most qualified people for every position in every government agency just happens to have the last name Ada, Leon Guerrero, Moylan or Calvo but that is neither here nor there!

Find a way to improve whatever you can, no matter how small. We the people are tired of eating table scraps, we are tired of your bickering, and we are tired of feeling like we work for you. Just work together to help fix what you broke!

Think about it this way, you can always take credit for it later when it is fixed. No one ever remembers who started the fire, they only applaud the fireman for putting it out!

Signed,

Joe Q. Public, a deeply concerned citizen