Steve Black St. John July 20, 2010 Good Evening and thank you attending this opportunity to address the future of Cruz Bay. As I have several sections to this presentation, for the time allotted I ask that you hold your questions and comments until the completion of my presentation. I believe, with proper design and management, that Cruz bay could become the prettiest village in the Caribbean. Cruz Bay is our town, our gateway to the park, our ports, our island’s largest business community, and at present what is commonly heard, “who wants to go into town anymore?” So our desire tonight is to improve our design and to find ways to broaden our economy. In this time of economic uncertainty and worldwide fears, we all have to do our part to make our island the best managed show piece possible or we risk losing our already fragile economy. We all have to selflessly work for the benefit of our town and community, or we may all fail. In this humble effort to design a better village, I have sought to consider an expansion of economic opportunities for our local community, to create attractions which stimulate our economy and to open new opportunities for our local residents and businesses, while providing a better ambience for our visitors. Also, I have tried to be realistic about what funds the government has financially to create a better town, so the changes I wish to show you will cost very little compared perhaps to some other plans which may be put forward. What good is a plan which will sit on a self for decades because there simply aren’t the funds to do the project? Cruz Bay has a very rare opportunity to redesign itself. Normally, when a town is master planned, it requires demolishing buildings to get the space for the changes. Cruz Bay, however, has nearly 5 acres of vacant land which could provide a new and better town. The 5 acres of land at the Enighed Pond can open many doors of opportunity for us. Therefore, I wish to offer my design to reshuffle the town to be a better and more usable place while expanding the economic opportunities of our people. I wish to begin with the simplest of solutions. By simply changing the ferry traffic pattern, we could decrease the traffic throughout Cruz Bay immensely. At the Red Hook terminal, as well as other ferry depots on the other islands, the Port Authority offers a parking lot dedicated to the ferry parking and the pickups and drop offs of their passengers. Unfortunately, on St. John, every drop off or pick up on the ferry requires the driver of a vehicle to wait in a line in front of the taxis, and then the vehicle & driver drives thru town, past Wharfside, to the Catholic Church, makes a left, down to the bank, makes a right or straight to get out of town. How often do we see the same vehicles driving around in circles? I suggest making the Customs Parking Lot an area dedicated to ferry pick up and drop off use. By taking this parking lot from all day commuter parking, we make the area flow to allow a car to come down from the roundabout, thru the lot, and back out to the roundabout without driving all thru town. This will greatly decrease traffic congestion and confusion and may help to create a walk around town. Something we all have talked about. Also in the western section of this lot, the area in front of the restrooms, I suggest we should have this become our “Villa Managers Meet & Greet.” Why should they have this? These villa vacationers spend between $5000-$10,000 per week on St. John. They are one of the biggest contributor to St. John’s economic community. These visitors rent the homes, rent the cars, shop in the stores, eat in the restaurants, ride the taxis, and yet we now meet them at the end of the dock with chaos and confusion. Having a villa company saying “when you get off the ferry, go to your left until you see a big sign and tent saying “villa guests welcome”-right in front of the bathrooms. What a better way to greet some of our biggest contributors. The rest of this parking lot should be metered for one hour parking only. This should be a service lot. Not where you park to go to work on St. Thomas for the day. Just imagine with a few signs and a traffic pattern, we have created a better and less congested ferry pattern. Now, I wish to address the critical issue for St. John and our economy. Did you know that there is not one place on St. John, where a boater can come in, tie up, to have a meal at a restaurant, do shopping, or do provisioning for their boat? St. John offers no services for boaters and this must change. While the BVI’s have become successful, we have become known for our neglect of boaters. Our island’s businesses get nothing from boaters, the Port Authority gets no fees for their coffers, and an entire economy is lost to somewhere else. Why should St. John be the only island in the Caribbean without a marina? I wish to suggest that we take the dock at Customs and turn it into a pattern of boat slips for short term visitors. As you will see later, I believe that the relocation of Customs and its security required depot should be moved to the Enighed Pond and that the Creek create a dock area for boats. This will drive a better economy for all of St. John and create many new opportunities. It is my hope that the Port Authority sees that dedicating their Creek area to short term slip rents, will help their economy as well as our local businesses. Right now VIPA gets almost no rents as the Creek landing sits empty except for the occasional “Island Girl.” Also, as I will explain soon, I believe moving the cruise ship and its security needs to the Enighed Pond will open up the center of the Creek for the return of larger ships, like the Nantucket Clipper, who used to visit for 3 days and they spent money at the shops, restaurants, and taxis. That is the type of access we need at the port, not a big black fence suggesting hightended security. A cruise ship business, which presently ignores our island economy is not the way we need to continue. Remember how we all used the Creek Landing for years and now we are prohibited from us using it. The National Park also needs to join in the effort to improve our town and the boats that visit here. Cruz Bay is the “Gateway to the Park” and must plan to improve its access. I believe that the NPS should create a short term boat docking marina. Just as “Yellowstone National Park” has created access for their visitors, so should our “Island Park” create access for boaters visiting the park. Right now, the park provides a few moorings, and a strictly enforced 15 minute mini-dock. Boaters stand a better chance to tie up at the NP dock at Red Hook, board a ferry to St. John, to visit the park. Isn’t that foolish? So, I urge the NP to consider creating a series of slips for visiting boaters and for the NP’s fleet of boats. Again the fees collected will make this profitable. Now, to complete this Creek plan, I wish to suggest a redesign of the parking and sidewalks from Natures to Mongoose. This narrow often dangerous street needs a sidewalk on each side. People are walking on both sides and we must protect the walking public. By removing the stumps along the sidewalk and expanding the road, this opens the space for the opposite sidewalk. Also, by building a retaining wall along the spillway we can level the area, have a sidewalk, park table and benches, and lights at the base of the trees. This lighting will provide a safe feeling in this area, which is pretty scary at night. The sidewalk along Creek port will become a part of the road with a sidewalk where the black fence is now. Then the Creek Landing could be dressed with planters and short term parking on the apron. On the lot of Nature’s side, we need to dig back the hillside, build a retaining wall. This gives an extra 10 feet of space. Metered parking can be created in this area. I urge the consideration of creating a Visitor Center & Historical Museum at the Battery. This area, the Battery, is one of the prettiest spots in all of the Caribbean, and yet, no one enjoys it but the gardener. I believe we should enhance this area with a scenic overlook and trail with benches. Also, the Visitor Center could provide a much better location for learning about our sweet island, and as for the Historical Museum, this area is a major Virgin Islands historical landmark. Let’s make it shine. And now, to the Enighed Pond. Again St. John is so benefitted with this unused land. It could become such a profitable area. This 5 acres of land could solve so many of our problems with the 150 parking places, provide a land of economic opportunity, and it could be developed for a better Customs Depot and security area. Here are some of the possible benefits: Vendors Village our vendors need a home , just like every town and city, there needs to be a special place for the vendors and small business, to give an opportunity to to our fellow citizens and to make a special area as an attraction for visitors. Here we have an area, with plenty of parking, which could be developed to accommodate long term vendor rents and also for the holiday vendors. a far better place than there is now. -Fish & meat market--instead of the fish market down an obscure road, -Veggies and fruits -Restrooms -Carnival, events, and an amphitheater. The carnival, last week we saw the carnival’s budget cut almost in half. instead of being smaller, i urge we expand the number of people that can be part of the carnival event. by expanding to 5 times the space, more can be created with less funding, creating a better carnival. -Sports field so we can have parking at the school ball field Marina Several St. John business persons, including myself, have formed a corporation called Love City Marina, with the desire to create a marina at the Enighed Pond. At present, we have some engineers and architects to further design this project. Parks and recreation should team up with the Port Authority to create this sports field. Lindberg Bay playground slow the PA’s desire to contribute to youth programs and facilities. As Senator, Craig, can confirm I have been trying to get our St. John Cap Imp funds returned to us. With this we should help to?? fund these inexpensive projects. -There are no buildings, except a bathroom -There are some sidewalks and landscaping -Some parking -Dock This is the least expensive and quickest approach with the greatest results.