Bill Kossler
Dec. 18, 2008 — Developer Paul Golden and the Great Pond campers have agreed in principal to talk but got stuck on how Thursday evening, with the campers insisting on meeting everyone at a country store out near the site and Golden waiting in town at a restaurant for one or two representatives to come and sit down.
Citing insurance concerns, Golden bulldozed their longstanding but illegal beach camping cottages over the weekend and has fenced the property. The campers counter they have a right to beach access under Virgin Islands law and should be allowed to camp there as they have always done. (See Golden Has Campsites Bulldozed at Site of Planned Casino. )
Golden had flown to St. Croix for a meeting and, through Roy Rodgers, his local representative, he extended an offer to meet one or two representatives at a restaurant in Christiansted to try to smooth ruffled feathers.
"I want to meet and talk like adults," Golden said, when reached by telephone afterwards. "But I’m not going to try to have a meeting out in the middle of nowhere at a convenience store. And I wouldn’t call television and the press and bring 15 people to have a talk."
The campers – who were joined by Michael Dance and others from the St. Croix Environmental Association – wanted everyone affected to have a seat at the table.
"Why should just one of us meet with him," camper Julio Encarnacion asked. "We all use the campsites, we all maintain them. We should all be able to talk to him. And we live here. We want to meet here on our turf, not at some restaurant."
So Golden waited at his restaurant table and the campers, environmentalists, television and print media watched the sun go down, looking over Great Pond to the sea.
The campers are upset not just at the loss of their shacks, but at the loss of their long-accustomed tradition. (See Easter Campers Flock to Local Beaches.)
"We've been coming here for 34 years," Carmen Acosta said. "Where do we go from here? We need access to go to the beach. We are not going to quiet down because this is our culture. I have been coming camping every Easter since I was a child."
"With crime like it is, we can say in all my years coming here, nothing bad has ever happened while the kids and the family were all camping here," Ruth Cruz said.
Golden said he can't allow camping during construction for safety and liability reasons.
"It's not going to happen while construction is going on," he said. "But once it's done, they'll have easy access. And right now we have property, ten acres on the east end, with no fence, a beautiful spot with access to the beach, they are welcome to use."
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