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‘Craft's Alive a big mistake in RT!’ – Hon Julian Fraser RA
So said Chairman of the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) and Representative for the Third District Honourable Julian Fraser, RA.
Hon Fraser was at the time closing off a fruitful meeting last night September 17, 2014 with residents from across the Territory who were all gathered in the Abraham Leonard Community Centre in Carrot Bay for yet another meeting of the VIP.
The turnout was one to be commended despite the fact that there were conflicting activities that prevented a lot of others from attending the meeting.
Honourable Fraser made the statement about Craft's Alive while alluding to the vast economic potential that lies in the Carrot Bay area. “You see that Craft's Alive thing that they built in Road Town? Terrible mistake, I think that places like Carrot Bay would have been the perfect venue; I am not saying it would have been the same layout as it is in Road Town but this is what we need as far as forward thinking is concerned to [revitalize] communities,” said Honourable Fraser.
He drew a picture of a facility like Craft's Alive being in an area like Nibbs Estate and the many tourists that traffic the district ever so often. "It would have brought life to the community but putting in the heart of Road Town killed Main Street, it’s a blemish to Mrs Maria’s hotel that she just built for millions of dollars, and then they are going to do the cruise ship development which is not only going to kill Craft's Alive, but a lot of other businesses in the area.”
He noted the number of small shops that have been springing up alongside the roadways in the district among other small businesses being attempted by some residents for which they have been getting serious hassles. “Listen, this is your country, Tortola belongs to you the people not some officer up in town dictating to you what should and should not happen,” he said.
He insisted that when the ‘big one’ comes to their community for meetings it is important that the residents tell them what they want as opposed to being told what they should have. He also noted that development comes at a cost and if the current government wants to have a reserve on people’s property they should be pay the people.
“If you are going to tell me I can’t use my land, well ok, pay me. No government should dictate to its people what it should and should not do. You know what democracy is? It is a government by the people and for the people, people come first, second, third and last,” he stressed.
The West End Ferry Terminal was another point of discussion at the meeting. “That’s a must, it should have happened already, this is not a political football, it should have happened already and it’s a must. It’s more important than the airport project,” said Hon Fraser.
He dares anyone to try getting out of the Territory through the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport at Beef Island by traveling to San Juan. “If you reach the same day you lucky and when you coming back prepare to sleep in San Juan the night because you will miss every flight coming back,” he said, adding that the VI is just not ready for prime time.
“Let’s develop the things that are working for us,” he urged. According to Hon Fraser good service changes everything and that is one reason why they need to have the hub returned to West End. “I think they need to bring back the hub to West End with proper services, and that’s a priority, Hon [Andrew A. Fahie] has been asking for that for a long time, it is time the people of West End get it,” said Hon Fraser.
He said that the VIP has always been a party for the people which was one of the reasons the team was in the district last night. “We are doing something that the other party wouldn't do,” he said.
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18 Responses to “‘Craft's Alive a big mistake in RT!’ – Hon Julian Fraser RA”
Hooray! Finally somebody had the guts to say it. THE BVI IS NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME! Never was a truer word spoken.
Until government realizes that they must maintain and grow that which we already have, we never will be ready for prime time. Our infrastructure cannot support what we already have because it has been allowed to deteriorate substantially. We can't even open our outrageously expensive hospital because, although it is ready, we can't afford the equipment. How ridiculous is that!
Government is so busy chasing rainbows, that they have forgotten how to keep their feet on the ground and common sense has been left by the wayside.
Mr. Fraser, I completely agree that the airport (which everyone knows is being built strictly because the o..er of Oil Nut Bay wants it done) cannot possibly be sustainable AT THIS TIME. That is not to say that it shouldn't be considered at some point in the future, but for now it is financial suicide to even attempt it.
The West End and The Road Town Ferry Terminals both need major expansion and updating. Indeed, the ferry services as a whole need a major overhaul and government needs to regulate those services to a much greater extent. For the most part, the boats used are nothing short of pathetic.
Main street needs to be cleaned up and all businesses and home owners in the area should be required to paint their buildings on a regular basis. Parts of Road Town look like a slum while other parts look very nice. It is common practice all over the world that businesses are required to maintain a certain visual standard in major tourist areas. For instance, there are strict regulations in Niagara-On-The-Lake in Ontario Canada. They even have building colour restrictions! We visited there this summer and it is beautiful!
Both Soper's Hole and Crafts alive look lovely. Why can't all of main street and all of Road Town look lovely too? Paint is cheap. Why isn't the town manager working on such a project to beautify the downtown area? A 5 year plan could easily be implemented which would give people sufficient time to budget the funds necessary to maintain and beautify the exterior of their buildings. This would then become a bylaw and part of the building code requirements for all tourist areas. People could do things on their own time, within the next five years. It wouldn't cost a lot to have a designer come up with an approved colour palette to be used. Owners would select whichever colour palette they like within the range chosen by the city manager or town planner or whomever is put in charge of such things.
We need to work with an improve what we have and stop kowtowing to the likes of Oil Nut Bay and others who believe they can manipulate OUR government to do their bidding. We simply can't afford the new airport and how many of us will really benefit from it anyway?
It is THE PEOPLE who will be paying for all these things we can't afford so that the rich and famous won't be inconvenienced. Well, where does our bread and butter come from? Does it come from the rich and famous who can afford to stay at Oil Nut Bay, Necker Island, Guana Island, etc. or from the thousands of "every day visitors" who visit year after year? Are the rich and famous likely to come to Road Town to shop? Are they going to take taxi tours of the islands? Eat at the various restaurants? No! They are going to barricade themselves into their exclusive resorts, hire private helicopters or high end boats owned by the various resorts to tour the islands and have the resorts arrange to bring them anything they want. Since many of these resorts bring in outside contractors, very little of the wealth gets spread throughout the local economy.
Our priorities are messed up. The government is busy catering to the whims of the wealthy while the majority of visitors (who largely pay our wages) are being shipped in from St. Thomas on cattle cars and arriving at crumbling ferry terminals. Welcome to the BVI folks!
For the first time EVER, I wholeheartedly support everything Mr. Fraser said!