St. Croix can change

Change will not come from the Virgin Islands government. Our government is too imbeded in its bureaucracy to help the island through this economic crisis. In fact it is creating more hardship by following the austerity programs that seems to be the idea du jour all over the world.

Change will come from within the community. It will come from those citizens that use digital technology, social media and the airwaves to wake up residents, visitors and investors alike to the idea that St. Croix is ripe for a new identity. Only we, those of us that live and work here, can create the vision that new jobs and opportunities are just waiting for us to discover and reap the benefits.

i'm sure there are lots of areas we could look into and last week i talked about legalizing marijuana. Here are 8 sub categories that have already been talked about but need repeating.

1. Energy...the end of June the gasoline market will open up. No longer will we be dependent upon the oil refinery to supply our energy needs. Entrepreneur's that have the backing of wealthy investors have an opportunity right now to corner the importing of gasoline to St. Croix and maybe the other two islands. Something like a cooperative could work where business owners pool their resources and create an entity that would benefit all of them. The government is not going to arrange any importer but will work with anyone that sees a future in that commodity. Lots of talk has revolved around the rack problem but remember Texaco used to bring it in over by the airport. Is there another rack there?
2. Alternative Energy...the island is ripe for becoming a testing laboratory for universities and companies that need to test their products before making them available commercially. Just recently i wrote to Professor Sadoway at MIT who has developed a liquid metal battery. One battery the size of a freight container could power 200 houses from the sun and wind power. If this becomes commercially available our island could solve its energy needs. i had no qualms asking him to use us as a testing ground, maybe others have their own ideas about who to approach. He did respond positively.
3. Retirement communities, nursing homes and assisted living facilities...If we could beef up our hospital St. Croix would be a perfect place for African American boomers to retire. Instead of bleeding residents back to the states to retire because of a lack of medical options we could keep everyone here and bring in more which would create jobs.
4. Sports venues...we don't have to build a stadium to get athletes to the island. All we need is better maintained roads. Local enthusiasts have volunteered to go to conventions and set up booths touting the fact that you can bike, run, and swim every day of the year. Biking races, running races, long distance swims, marathons, triathlons, biathlons all these bring in hundreds of competitors and their families that spend at least three or four days on island filling hotels, restaurants, car rental agencies and taxi cabs. We could spread out these competitions to bring in people every month of the year.
5. Technology... the technology park at the University that is trying to get companies to re-locate here and use the facilities as incubators for new companies that are on the cutting edge of the digital universe. Maybe you know someone that needs a place that will have world wide connectivity. Talk to them, get them excited about the island, put them in touch with the University.
6. Eco-tourism...we are one of the few islands left in the Caribbean that is not over-developed. Because of this we can continue to market St. Croix as a place to come that values and preserves its open spaces. A place that doesn't have high-rises blocking views of the ocean and is not so over-crowded that finding paradise just can't happen. We have beaches, hiking trails, parks for birding and boating opportunities. We could highlight its history and use this to our advantage. Already the National Park Service is renovating the properties in Christiansted and trying to create a museum that will tell more of the sordid history of slavery.
7. Entertainment...we have wonderful musicians right here, we have talented actors and their support crews. Someone could set up sound studios, filming venues, animation terminals etc. Make this into a place that draws in the huge revenues that go into making films. Don't say we can't do any of the above...we can all it takes is vision and a commitment to working together, networking and talking the place up.
8. Food Products...Everyone knows that Tabasco comes from Louisiana and we already have our signature Rums...what we need is a world renowned food product that we could export, maybe that's Ms. Anna's but maybe someone out there can come up with a new idea that puts us on the food map.

Most of us here have great skills that could be put to use re-creating St. Croix. We have so much untapped potential that i look upon this economic crisis as a challenge for all of us.

i have a sign up over my computer that says “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not FAIL? So i ask all of us...What would you do?

See ya next week.