Successful communities adapt to changes in their environment. They deal with and adjust to negative trends that are affecting them, and they seize opportunities. In the current economic age, these communities are often the ones that have made themselves attractive to talent.
Sometimes, even flexibility and creativity are not enough to cope with some overwhelming trend or event, and a community declines, but these are the exceptions. Looking back over time, one can often spot the source of decline in a failure to adapt to technological, social or other trends. We see these sources of decline in seaports that fought rather than adapted to containerization, in communities that thought they could simply ignore the HIV/AIDS epidemic and it would go away, and in others that would not grasp that whatever they were doing wasn’t working.
The world around the Virgin Islands is changing in numerous ways, many of which, if not addressed, pose a threat to the future well-being of the territory. In some instances, global warming being the most notable, the problem is well outside the realm of local control. In other cases, however, local action is possible. But these actions are rarely taken.
It is difficult to name a "crisis" in the past 20 years in which the territory's political or business leadership has guided the Virgin Islands to a successful resolution. In most instances, fiscal mismanagement being the most dramatic example, the government has made a bad problem progressively worse. Why is this the case? And is there anything that can be done about it?
Four critical needs
The primary source of the Virgin Islands' accelerating decline is its political and governmental system and the local culture that they have spawned. All one need do is to look at the various candidates' campaign posters to see that, even more than mainland politicians, these individuals have basically lost contact with social reality. The biggest part of that social reality is the need to change and take certain risks. I would suggest that those risks — and the opportunities that go with them — take the form of meeting four critical needs.
These needs are:
– To restructure the jobs program that currently passes for the territory's government.
– To make the Virgin Islands a significantly more attractive place for legitimate business.
– To reduce substantially, largely through criminal prosecution, the corruption that increasingly taints the territory's reputation.
– To address openly the issues of racial prejudice and hostility that divide communities and islands from one another.
The problems that beset the Virgin Islands feed off and reinforce one another. In addition, what is bad for most is good for small groups that care the most and have the most to protect. These are also daunting problems, and no one knows exactly how to resolve them without major disruptions at best and social turmoil at worst. There would, however, seem to be several keys to starting down the road to rebuilding healthy communities on all three islands.
First is to acknowledge the depth and nature of the problems. It is worse than useless to mis-define or downplay these problems. You can't solve it if you don't understand and acknowledge it.
Second, at the "front end," is to identify ways to reduce negative impacts on affected parties, particularly front-line government workers, but also others.
Third is to make the assault on corruption frontal and public.
Finally is the profound need to rebuild and, in some instances, build for the first time, solid links across racial lines on all three islands. This will be a difficult and painful process in many instances, but, as elsewhere in the world, it is clear that fragmentation, mistrust, misunderstanding and broken communication provide fertile soil for a whole series of other ills to grow and flourish. The Virgin Islands is too small for there to be the "other." In successful societies, there is only the "we."
Community leaders from all sectors and all three islands need to come together to build what might be called an agenda for the future. The very fact of people gathering and honestly discussing the real problems can be expected to have a salutary effect on a dispirited and pessimistic community. While Chairman Mao was wrong about most things, he was correct when he stated that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

Editor's note: Management consultant Frank Schneiger has worked with V.I. agencies since 1975, most recently as consultant to United Way of St. Thomas/St. John. He is one of the founders of the St. Thomas/St. John Youth Multiservice Center.
We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Successful communities adapt to changes in their environment. They deal with and adjust to negative trends that are affecting them, and they seize opportunities. In the current economic age, these communities are often the ones that have made themselves attractive to talent.
Sometimes, even flexibility and creativity are not enough to cope with some overwhelming trend or event, and a community declines, but these are the exceptions. Looking back over time, one can often spot the source of decline in a failure to adapt to technological, social or other trends. We see these sources of decline in seaports that fought rather than adapted to containerization, in communities that thought they could simply ignore the HIV/AIDS epidemic and it would go away, and in others that would not grasp that whatever they were doing wasn’t working.
The world around the Virgin Islands is changing in numerous ways, many of which, if not addressed, pose a threat to the future well-being of the territory. In some instances, global warming being the most notable, the problem is well outside the realm of local control. In other cases, however, local action is possible. But these actions are rarely taken.
It is difficult to name a "crisis" in the past 20 years in which the territory's political or business leadership has guided the Virgin Islands to a successful resolution. In most instances, fiscal mismanagement being the most dramatic example, the government has made a bad problem progressively worse. Why is this the case? And is there anything that can be done about it?
Four critical needs
The primary source of the Virgin Islands' accelerating decline is its political and governmental system and the local culture that they have spawned. All one need do is to look at the various candidates' campaign posters to see that, even more than mainland politicians, these individuals have basically lost contact with social reality. The biggest part of that social reality is the need to change and take certain risks. I would suggest that those risks — and the opportunities that go with them — take the form of meeting four critical needs.
These needs are:
– To restructure the jobs program that currently passes for the territory's government.
– To make the Virgin Islands a significantly more attractive place for legitimate business.
– To reduce substantially, largely through criminal prosecution, the corruption that increasingly taints the territory's reputation.
– To address openly the issues of racial prejudice and hostility that divide communities and islands from one another.
The problems that beset the Virgin Islands feed off and reinforce one another. In addition, what is bad for most is good for small groups that care the most and have the most to protect. These are also daunting problems, and no one knows exactly how to resolve them without major disruptions at best and social turmoil at worst. There would, however, seem to be several keys to starting down the road to rebuilding healthy communities on all three islands.
First is to acknowledge the depth and nature of the problems. It is worse than useless to mis-define or downplay these problems. You can't solve it if you don't understand and acknowledge it.
Second, at the "front end," is to identify ways to reduce negative impacts on affected parties, particularly front-line government workers, but also others.
Third is to make the assault on corruption frontal and public.
Finally is the profound need to rebuild and, in some instances, build for the first time, solid links across racial lines on all three islands. This will be a difficult and painful process in many instances, but, as elsewhere in the world, it is clear that fragmentation, mistrust, misunderstanding and broken communication provide fertile soil for a whole series of other ills to grow and flourish. The Virgin Islands is too small for there to be the "other." In successful societies, there is only the "we."
Community leaders from all sectors and all three islands need to come together to build what might be called an agenda for the future. The very fact of people gathering and honestly discussing the real problems can be expected to have a salutary effect on a dispirited and pessimistic community. While Chairman Mao was wrong about most things, he was correct when he stated that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

Editor's note: Management consultant Frank Schneiger has worked with V.I. agencies since 1975, most recently as consultant to United Way of St. Thomas/St. John. He is one of the founders of the St. Thomas/St. John Youth Multiservice Center.
We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Successful communities adapt to changes in their environment. They deal with and adjust to negative trends that are affecting them, and they seize opportunities. In the current economic age, these communities are often the ones that have made themselves attractive to talent.
Sometimes, even flexibility and creativity are not enough to cope with some overwhelming trend or event, and a community declines, but these are the exceptions. Looking back over time, one can often spot the source of decline in a failure to adapt to technological, social or other trends. We see these sources of decline in seaports that fought rather than adapted to containerization, in communities that thought they could simply ignore the HIV/AIDS epidemic and it would go away, and in others that would not grasp that whatever they were doing wasn’t working.
The world around the Virgin Islands is changing in numerous ways, many of which, if not addressed, pose a threat to the future well-being of the territory. In some instances, global warming being the most notable, the problem is well outside the realm of local control. In other cases, however, local action is possible. But these actions are rarely taken.
It is difficult to name a "crisis" in the past 20 years in which the territory's political or business leadership has guided the Virgin Islands to a successful resolution. In most instances, fiscal mismanagement being the most dramatic example, the government has made a bad problem progressively worse. Why is this the case? And is there anything that can be done about it?
Four critical needs
The primary source of the Virgin Islands' accelerating decline is its political and governmental system and the local culture that they have spawned. All one need do is to look at the various candidates' campaign posters to see that, even more than mainland politicians, these individuals have basically lost contact with social reality. The biggest part of that social reality is the need to change and take certain risks. I would suggest that those risks — and the opportunities that go with them — take the form of meeting four critical needs.
These needs are:
– To restructure the jobs program that currently passes for the territory's government.
– To make the Virgin Islands a significantly more attractive place for legitimate business.
– To reduce substantially, largely through criminal prosecution, the corruption that increasingly taints the territory's reputation.
– To address openly the issues of racial prejudice and hostility that divide communities and islands from one another.
The problems that beset the Virgin Islands feed off and reinforce one another. In addition, what is bad for most is good for small groups that care the most and have the most to protect. These are also daunting problems, and no one knows exactly how to resolve them without major disruptions at best and social turmoil at worst. There would, however, seem to be several keys to starting down the road to rebuilding healthy communities on all three islands.
First is to acknowledge the depth and nature of the problems. It is worse than useless to mis-define or downplay these problems. You can't solve it if you don't understand and acknowledge it.
Second, at the "front end," is to identify ways to reduce negative impacts on affected parties, particularly front-line government workers, but also others.
Third is to make the assault on corruption frontal and public.
Finally is the profound need to rebuild and, in some instances, build for the first time, solid links across racial lines on all three islands. This will be a difficult and painful process in many instances, but, as elsewhere in the world, it is clear that fragmentation, mistrust, misunderstanding and broken communication provide fertile soil for a whole series of other ills to grow and flourish. The Virgin Islands is too small for there to be the "other." In successful societies, there is only the "we."
Community leaders from all sectors and all three islands need to come together to build what might be called an agenda for the future. The very fact of people gathering and honestly discussing the real problems can be expected to have a salutary effect on a dispirited and pessimistic community. While Chairman Mao was wrong about most things, he was correct when he stated that the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

Editor's note: Management consultant Frank Schneiger has worked with V.I. agencies since 1975, most recently as consultant to United Way of St. Thomas/St. John. He is one of the founders of the St. Thomas/St. John Youth Multiservice Center.
We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 11, 2002 – An employee handbook establishes the procedures for resolution when problems arise, and Wednesday, this month's WNET Roundtable will focus on how to prepare one.
Employee handbooks are something all businesses, large and small, should adopt.
The training session, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the UVI-Small Business Development Center Training Facility in Nisky Center, demonstrates how easily one can prepare an employee handbook for one's business.
WNET Roundtable is sponsored by New Image Foundation Corp. in collaboration with UVI-SBDC. For more information or to RSVP, call 777-8883.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 11, 2002 – The Water and Power Authority announced early Friday afternoon that the telephones at its Line Department on St. Thomas are out of service.
Until service is restored, WAPA asks that customers with electrical emergencies call the Customer Services Office at 774-3552, ext. 2114, 2115, 2116 or 2117. Customer service personnel will transmit callers' information to the Line Department, a release stated.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 11, 2002 – The administration reached agreement on a new contract with the Law Enforcement Supervisors Union, and the union membership ratified it a week ago. What remains is for Gov. Charles W. Turnbull to sign the pact.
Neither Karen Andrews, Government House chief negotiator, nor Sgt. Merlin Christian, LESU public relations officer, was willing to disclose details of the contract.
Shortly before agreement was reached, Christian said, the negotiations were on the verge of breaking down. But she said the parties were able to resolve their outstanding differences. "Now it's up to the governor to sign it, so we can get our NOPA's straightened out," she said Wednesday, referring to the notices of personnel action that govern the payment of wages and benefits.
According to a Government House release, the new contract covers 96 sergeants, lieutenants, captains and supervisory corrections officers. Agencies covered under the agreement are the Police Department, Youth Rehabilitation Center (operating within the Human Services Department) and the Corrections Bureau (operating within the V.I. Justice Department).
Christian said one thing that has changed is the term of the contract, which used to run between two and three years. She also said union leaders would have liked to extend the wage scale to cover supervisors who have been on the job more than 30 years.
Both sides said they will make details of the contract public once the governor completes the ratification process with his signature. Andrews said that could come as early as Friday.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 11, 2002 – The administration reached agreement on a new contract with the Law Enforcement Supervisors Union, and the union membership ratified it a week ago. What remains is for Gov. Charles W. Turnbull to sign the pact.
Neither Karen Andrews, Government House chief negotiator, nor Sgt. Merlin Christian, LESU public relations officer, was willing to disclose details of the contract.
Shortly before agreement was reached, Christian said, the negotiations were on the verge of breaking down. But she said the parties were able to resolve their outstanding differences. "Now it's up to the governor to sign it, so we can get our NOPA's straightened out," she said Wednesday, referring to the notices of personnel action that govern the payment of wages and benefits.
According to a Government House release, the new contract covers 96 sergeants, lieutenants, captains and supervisory corrections officers. Agencies covered under the agreement are the Police Department, Youth Rehabilitation Center (operating within the Human Services Department) and the Corrections Bureau (operating within the V.I. Justice Department).
Christian said one thing that has changed is the term of the contract, which used to run between two and three years. She also said union leaders would have liked to extend the wage scale to cover supervisors who have been on the job more than 30 years.
Both sides said they will make details of the contract public once the governor completes the ratification process with his signature. Andrews said that could come as early as Friday.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 11 2002 – The administration reached agreement on a new contract with the Law Enforcement Supervisors Union, and the union membership ratified it a week ago. What remains is for Gov. Charles W. Turnbull to sign the pact.
Neither Karen Andrews, Government House chief negotiator, nor Sgt. Merlin Christian, LESU public relations officer, was willing to disclose details of the contract.
Shortly before agreement was reached, Christian said, the negotiations were on the verge of breaking down. But she said the parties were able to resolve their outstanding differences. "Now it's up to the governor to sign it, so we can get our NOPA's straightened out," she said Wednesday, referring to the notices of personnel action that govern the payment of wages and benefits.
According to a Government House release, the new contract covers 96 sergeants, lieutenants, captains and supervisory corrections officers. Agencies covered under the agreement are the Police Department, Youth Rehabilitation Center (operating within the Human Services Department) and the Corrections Bureau (operating within the V.I. Justice Department).
Christian said one thing that has changed is the term of the contract, which used to run between two and three years. She also said union leaders would have liked to extend the wage scale to cover supervisors who have been on the job more than 30 years.
Both sides said they will make details of the contract public once the governor completes the ratification process with his signature. Andrews said that could come as early as Friday.

Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 11, 2002 – While chatting at a Frenchtown Bastille Day celebration in July, Odile de Lyrot expressed disappointment that she wasn't hearing more French being spoken at the event, or elsewhere in the Virgin Islands.
De Lyrot, the territory's honorary French consul, is a woman with energy that belies her petite stature. Since Bastille Day, she has founded Friends of the French Culture, an organization in which one can parler francais to one's heart's content, or not.
That's what most of the people were doing Thursday evening at La Petite Fenetre in Frenchtown, where the group met Christophe Bouchard, the French consul general for the Miami region. De Lyrot has chosen La Petite Fenetre — "The Little Window," named after the side window at the late Bar Normandie, long a popular place to collect a beverage and chat for a bit — for the group's weekly meetings. The size is right, for the time being, but the group is rapidly growing.
De Lyrot said about 50 people are involved right now. Bouchard looked over the group, along with the Fenetre regulars, with a big smile, although he was bewildered by the Frenchtown patois, which differs considerably from formal French.
Bouchard traveled to St. Thomas to tour the French naval frigate Ventose, which had been scheduled to arrive Friday at the Crown Bay dock. However, on Wednesday, the French Navy canceled the visit, much to the distress of de Lyrot. "I cannot tell you how disappointed I am, we all are," she said.
She said she received a call from the navy's American-based headquarters in Washington, D.C., saying that a major operational change meant the V.I. visit had to be called off.
"The spirit aboard the Ventose is quite down," de Lyrot said, "but there will be another occasion."
Spirits at the gathering Thursday evening were anything but down, as people conversed in French, English and patois. Attorney Susan Wolterbeek, although not French, said, "This is such a wonderful opportunity to keep up my French — it's about the only opportunity I have."
Also on hand, enjoying some of proprietor Henry Richardson's, conch chowder, was University of the Virgin Islands professor emeritus Gilbert Sprauve. Although he's retired, Sprauve still teaches some French courses at UVI. "I'm developing a new French course embracing all the French-speaking islands, Francophonie en Marche," he said.
Sprauve said he looks forward to bringing some of his students to the Friends of French Culture gatherings, which are usually on Wednesday evenings. "It would be a good experience for them," he said, "but it conflicts with class hours right now."
De Lyrot is eager to create more things with a French accent and to make the islands' French heritage better known. She is actively supporting and soliciting funds for the Frenchtown Museum, now under construction across the street from the Fenetre. Richardson is president of the Frenchtown Civic Organization, which is building the museum.
De Lyrot stressed that one need not be French or able to speak French in order to join the Friends group. For more information, call her at 776-1140, ext, 1009, or 771-5452.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 11, 2002 – UVI's Cooperative Extension Service, 4-H, and Family and Consumer Sciences Program on the St. Croix campus will offer short courses on Parenting and Basic Money Management beginning Oct. 14 and 16, respectively. Classes are free. Call Dorothy Gibbs at 692-4089 to register or for details.
Courses include:
–Parenting Oct. 14-Dec. 9. Meets on Mondays, from 10 a.m. to noon, in Cooperative Extension Service building Room 133.
–Basic Money Management Oct. 16-Dec. 4. Meets on Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. to noon, in Cooperative Extension Service building Room 139.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.