Driving Away The Last Customer on the Islands

Crime isn't the ONLY issue that will continue to effect our lives and our tourism product.
Our islands look quite shabby in comparison with other destinations with all the closed and abandoned buildings falling into decay,
all the closed and for sale businesses, long stretches of shabby ill kept buildings in areas that everyone must drive by to get from point A
to B, that are eyesores, the huge amounts of trash and garbage that litter our roadsides on a daily basis, the roaming chickens and roosters that infest our islands, the ill lit, ill paved, pot hole ridden roads, unpainted roadways and overgrown roadsides, the lack of enforcement on zoning issues, the high prices for everything including electricity all effect how the USVI as a tourist destination is perceived.

We are going to lose it all if we do not start taking better care, which means having leadership that is effective, actually cares and does their jobs effectively as they are paid to do.

More violence on STX last night. The owners of Coconuts were robbed and pistol whipped. Their truck was stolen.

STT used to have a thriving downtown nightlife with lots of bars, restaurants, places with live music, clubs and fun.
Not anymore. It's a ghost town after dark and you risk being assaulted, robbed, mugged and victimized.
Sorry to hear about the latest victims of crime in the VI. Hope they find the criminals that did this and the owners will be okay.
It's a sad commentary on how values have decayed, our communities and our businesses are endangered by crime and violence..

There is a major lack of respect or care for this island. Just hollow pride.

There are some great people here and a lot to love, but it's certainly not trying to thrive and very few people are on the same page.

I remember STT downtown in the late 80s. The Greenhouse had live bands!

qparrot the violence has always been there at least since the 80s. I don't see much changing.

"The roaming chickens and roosters that infest our islands"
Awwww.....I like the chickens and roosters.

If the VI wants to continue to welcome 2-3 million guests a year, and enjoy the tens of millions of dollars they leave, the VI needs to do more to keep small businesses open. "Selling" WAPA and the Hospitals to the private sector are two obvious first steps.

I remember STT downtown in the late 80s. The Greenhouse had live bands!

qparrot the violence has always been there at least since the 80s. I don't see much changing.

Not that I would trust vipd's stats from 1980-2013, BUT it sure does seem like more gun violence.

Then blu, I would suggest reading up on the 1995 Pulizer Prize for Public Service...

Edit: seriously, read some of the statistics in the second article Guilty: V.I. Allows Crime to Rage Unchecked

An Officer Assassinated is an interesting read as well as The Cocaine Vanishes. Maybe the problem is from the inside? Agents of Corruption.

blu, i think the difference today is the reporting. I remember the Daily News had to sue the police dept. to get access to the blotter. I'm surprised by http://www.vipd.gov.vi/Public_Interest/Press_Releases.aspx to be truthful.

sheiba, i agree

The first time I remember seeing a gun in plain sight was 2009. Since then I've seen several. I actually saw a hand gun fall from gentleman's trousers outside of Pueblo this summer. Maybe it's my perception or maybe I'm just more on the look out for not-so-concealed weapons. VIPD gets extra grant money based upon stats, which may be the reason for a step-up in record keeping.

If the VI wants to continue to welcome 2-3 million guests a year, and enjoy the tens of millions of dollars they leave, the VI needs to do more to keep small businesses open. "Selling" WAPA and the Hospitals to the private sector are two obvious first steps.

i couldn't agree with you more!!!! until we privatize wapa first hospitals second there sems to be little chance for survival for this beautiful island i have called home for a decade...could anyone please tell me of any other place under the us flag where the utilites and hospitals are owned by the government???? we also need to put every effort possible to protecting what little remains of exsisting businesses and resturants..obviously the police force has no interest or needs extreme restructuring to even begin to do so!!!

ps iamconfused as to why this is not on the original relocation forum and what constitutes the difference between where posts are located.

Islander gets to decide in what forum posts are placed.

blu, i think the difference today is the reporting. I remember the Daily News had to sue the police dept. to get access to the blotter. I'm surprised by http://www.vipd.gov.vi/Public_Interest/Press_Releases.aspx to be truthful.

I miss Lee Williams and the havoc he liked to wreak with the VIPD. Anyone remember him? That "Deadly Force" piece that came out in '03 should have won him a Pulitzer.

ps iamconfused as to why this is not on the original relocation forum and what constitutes the difference between where posts are located.

Anything not directly related to 'moving here' was strongly discouraged on the other forum. Hence the need for this little piece of digital paradise.

Back to the topic..

With the loss of Hovensa and the general negative economic climate (rising costs etc.) and specifically the accompanying increase in violent crime, the only tourism we will have left on STX will be like Jamaica where you fly in and feel compelled to stay within the walls of the resort. It is a sad projection that unfortunately we are trending toward. We are becoming less tourist friendly, and certainly not business friendly.

"stay within the walls" of what resorts???? we haven't even begun to be at the point Jamaica has been for decades..i don't like the concept of never leaving the resort....BUT..at least Jamaica has promoted hospitality,food service training ,etc. they are a much larger island than stx,but have years ago worked extremely hard on increasing flights and buiding resorts!! THEY HAVE PROMOTED FOR YEARS EDUCATING THEIR PEOPLE IN THE HOSPITALITY TRADE! and many locals haved done fairly well.we can't even finalize the paperwork for the william and punch project. in my opinion the powers that be{certain families,we all can recognize the reocurring familiar names} have no intention of ever allowing this island to be out of their control

Yes, our level of hospitality and promotion is way behind the Jam's. My post was more in reference to the fact that with increasing crime, it is conceivable that tourists will be discouraged from venturing out at night by the hotels themselves. Heck the Buck is a gated property already, Divi has all-inclusive packages. And I have the feeling that we are facing an increasing us-v-them attitude among some locals which all leads toward a more 'within the walls' mentality toward tourism. This is NOT what I want to see happen so instead of driving away customers, we need to look at what St. Croix can do to promote a more tourist friendly and hospitable environment. (Not to mention being more business friendly - but that's a much bigger topic).

Let's face it, in less than 10 years we face a huge loss in tourism due to Cuba opening up. Unless we have something to offer besides being a US territory then that alone could be the near-death of tourism here.

Let's face it, in less than 10 years we face a huge loss in tourism due to Cuba opening up. Unless we have something to offer besides being a US territory then that alone could be the near-death of tourism here.

The Cuba tourism issue has been ongoing for the last 20+ years and, with all due respect, logistically doesn't affect us where cruise ships are concerned, where "Western" versus "Eastern" Caribbean cruises are concerned. There are way too many islands in our chain to affect the current routing of cruise ships to our ports. Cruise ship principals work on the fiscal issues of port to port calls. Any cutback if and when Cuba opens up is going to possibly but not probably affect their Western routes but not the route of which we're a part.

I've had several visitors who have come down and loved it here, but I've also had more people say the won't come here because they are afraid.

You can go somewhere like the DR and go anywhere and it's dirt cheap and they're happy to have you.

A large majority here seem to be happy with whatever government funds float down to them, don't care about garbage and the only concern about the ocean, is what they can get from it. A good portion of people don't even want tourism, they'd rather have the refinery reopen and nobody ever come here. It's sad, because this really is an amazing beautiful place, when you're not tripping over garbage or worrying whos got a gun.

ps iamconfused as to why this is not on the original relocation forum and what constitutes the difference between where posts are located.

Anything not directly related to 'moving here' was strongly discouraged on the other forum. Hence the need for this little piece of digital paradise.

Seriously? Despite the fact that the "relocation" forum is described -- very clearly -- as being about relocating to AND LIVING IN the Virgin Islands? I can't think of a topic more on-topic to "living in" the Virgin Islands than rampant crime and economic collapse.

You can go somewhere like the DR and go anywhere and it's dirt cheap and they're happy to have you.

Have you been there?