Low hanging fruit

There’s a saying that it’s easier to gather “low-hanging fruit,” which in its literal sense is true.

It’s a saying that all businesspeople understand.

But sometimes there’s another saying that comes to the fore: “The harder the effort, the greater the reward.”

Great leaders have used variations of that saying in their speeches in times of challenge. 

If there is one issue that the Journal regularly receives comments and complaints about, it is the permitting process in Guam.

This is an essential multi-pronged process that must be accomplished before a business can proceed to open its doors. 

In Guam, a delay costs not only money, but additional stress and issues. Employees who have accepted job offers tire of waiting. Businesses juggle the need to finalize furnishing and fittings with a permitting process that proceeds in jumps and starts. 

This is an issue that the governor of Guam said in her first State of the Island address in March 2019 would be fixed by the end of that year.

The permitting process involves multiple Government of Guam agencies, all of which must approve their area of oversight.

Various suggestions for improving the process have been suggested and discussed.  

These have included digitizing the parts of the whole, allowing businesses to calculate exactly where they are in the process.

Lt. Gov. Joshua F. Tenorio said in 2023 the Guam Economic Development Agency was tasked to lead the effort to implement the self-certification processes as proposed by the Governor’s Task Force to Reform Government Permitting Procedures. 

Most recently, Tenorio spoke to the general membership of the Guam Chamber of Commerce in February to discuss the permitting issue. He said the permitting agencies would be directed to hold public hearings on the issue “to generate public input and discussions.”

He said the administration would use the Administrative Adjudication Act to make meaningful change.

That certainly sounds like gathering low-hanging fruit. 

But if it’s hard effort, so be it. The business community deserves no less. mbj