Acknowledging the severity of St. Croix’s economic crisis, seven Democratic Party primary candidates for St. Croix’s seven Senate seats in the November election partook in a question and answer forum Monday night at Frederiksted’s Pier 69.
Like last week’s forum in Christiansted where six candidates stated their cases as to why they should be a part of the 31st Legislature, Monday’s forum was to allow the other candidates a chance to voice their views.
Also like last week’s Christiansted event, Monday’s session was organized by the St. Croix Economic Development Initiative, whose spokesman Anthony Weeks started things off delivering the news of a partnership being formed with one of the event’s other nonprofit sponsors, Our Town Frederiksted.
The purpose of the partnership, Weeks said, was to “identify new funding sources that will help to pump money into Frederiksted for the acquisition, rehabilitation and revitalization of a lot of the real estate properties that you see here.”
Weeks called the partnership formation “an important endeavor.”
As the candidates introduced themselves to the more than 50 people gathered in the courtyard, candidate Eugene Lacorbeniere wasted no time telling them what was integral to the upcoming election.
“We all know what the problems are but the key in this election is not just looking at the problems but looking at your candidates and making sure they’ve been doing something in the community before asking for your vote,” Lacorbeniere said.
“That is crucial,” he added. “It’s the reason so many people complain about people getting in who don’t do anything. If you look at their track records, nine out of 10 times they weren’t doing anything beneficial for the direction of the community to begin with.”
Candidate Omar Henry cited his years of public and community service as to why he was best qualified to lead St. Croix out of its current economic crisis.
“I believe in learning your culture because, once you’ve learned your culture, you’ve learned your people and understand what’s going on in your community,” Henry said.
He also advocated for moving sites and rebuilding St. Croix’s Central High school.
Sen. Sammuel Sanes cited current projects and initiatives he’s supporting to help restart the St. Croix economy and said, because of those and his accountability and financial and time management skills, he should be re-elected.
Specifically Sanes said he wanted a “permanent village setting” that could be used to host events not even held anymore in an attempt to boost business in town.
“Imagine bringing back the jazz festival, the blues festival, the reggae festival, the ones we had in the past to revitalize Frederiksted,” Sanes said. “That’s what I’m talking about in terms of doing something effective.”
Candidate Kurt Vialet said he was right for the job not only because of his years of experience working as a Department of Education administrator, but also because he thought “outside the box.”
At one point, Vialet mentioned he’d like to see the territory have its own “office of innovation,” which in essence, he said, would be its own “think tank.”
“Like in a lot of developing countries, a place where individuals are paid to think and develop ideas on a regular basis to jumpstart the economy,” Vialet said.
He drew strong applause when he proposed boosting teachers’ salaries and also said the V.I. Water and Power Authority was “a noose around the neck” of St. Croix’s economy.
“To draw countries to come in, a lot of countries say they have low electricity costs,” Vialet said. “We need to come up with a solution for that.”
Candidate Troy Mason, who spent 16 years working at Hovensa, said his solution, or at least one he could support, was privatizing WAPA.
Mason also said that he called for WAPA to have made the switch to propane from oil in order to generate electricity years ago. He said that was because he was partly behind that decision being made while he worked at Hovensa, a decision that ultimately saved the company millions of dollars.
“WAPA should be a money generating business. We shouldn’t always have to be going to take loans or government funds,” Mason said. “WAPA provides a service that we of the Virgin Islands consider to now be at a ridiculous price. And if we can’t get it straight, then let’s give it to someone who can do it.”
Sen. Diane Capehart also participated in Monday’s forum as did candidate Paul Arnold Jr.
St. Croix’s Economic Development Initiative will host another public forum July 7 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Christiansted’s Club Comanche for candidates running for delegate to Congress and lieutenant governor.
The territory’s primary election is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 2.
