A comment relating to posts from Road-blocks on the Saipanda issue:

Read Road-blocks if you want to.

From a marketing stand point, the Saipanda mascot is a great figure in relating to tourists for generating revenue for the CNMI’s economy. Now when the campaign took off in 2000, just like anybody else in Saipan, I did not understand the concept except that the name matched with Saipan (more info on Saipanda). I was one of the others who thought that this was a joke and should portray the sea turtle or coconut crab as a mascot, but not sure if this would relate or appeal to tourists from a marketing aspect. Also, not sure if a fanihi would probably scare tourists away, but I did think about this as a mascot too. Hmmm… If only we were open minded to how we could market our islands and think outside the box rather than sticking to what we know as Saipanda “a figure of jack in the box”. Some also gave Saipanda a local name "Pikaru" to try and convince themselves that we could accept this mascot, but then again, not sure how many viewed it as a sure thing. I would like to see an educating subject in Saipan Tribune or Marianas Variety if possible for others to know what Saipanda has grown into, what it has generated for the CNMI, and what the world thinks about it, instead of misc. news such as neighbors threatening each other with a machete (In other news Issue 1, Issue 2, Issue 3). Every body talks about tourism for the economy yet some negate the Saipanda figure that is intended for this reason. Lets take a survey, bota bota! How many of you think Saipanda should stay or go based on what you know? If Saipanda is still bringing home the bacon for the CNMI, I say stay.