SKINNY LEGS IS SITE OF 'SMITTY' FUND RAISER

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Many of the musicians on St. John, as well as some from St. Thomas, will be getting together at Skinny Legs in Coral Bay on Sunday, April 16, to put on a benefit concert in memory of a fellow musician and friend, Michael "Smitty" Smith.
Organized by Denise Kinslow and presented by her, Skinny Legs and Zozo's, the event is being billed as a Coral Bay Music Festival and Benefit. The music and a raffle will go from 3 to "at least 9 p.m.," with proceeds to be donated to Smith's wife, Susan.
Smitty was "a Coral Bay drummer who played with Chris Carsell, Magickal Childe and a couple of other bands and also worked at Zo Zo's," Skinny Legs co-owner Mo Chabuz said. "He was just one of those wonderful guys that everybody liked." He passed away earlier this year on St. Thomas, where he had started a business, Chabuz said.
Funds will be raised in two ways, Chabuz said: through the raffle and via a special bar Skinny Legs and Zozo's will set up where "every dollar will go directly to the benefit."
According to Kinslow, the participating musicians, in addition to herself, include Barbie and Michael, Adrianna and Eddie Bruce, Wanda Burgos, Electric Blues.com, Emily, the Hatch band, Greta and Greg Jones, Linda, Marigold, Rebecca and Tom, Sarah and Ryan, Stepho, Swan, T-Bird and Treading Water.
Topping the raffle prize list is a package that combines a sunset sail for two aboard the Adventurer, dinner for two at Zo Zo's and a two-night stay at the Westin Resort. Another is a Martin Backpacker guitar that comes with a one-hour guitar lesson and a set of hand-painted bongos. Still another is a two-night stay at the Kokomo Cottage with dinner for two at Chateau Bordeaux.
Other prize contributors are All Glazed Over, Awl Made Here, The Clothing Studio, Grapevine, Low Key Watersports, Mongoose Restaurant, Mumbo Jumbo/Flashbacks, Open Palms, Shady Days, Shipwreck Landing, Sun Dog Cafe, Syzygy Gallery, Today's Flowers and Verace/Freebird.
"Come dressed in your best western garb!" Kinslow says.
"It's a family affair," and there will be free toys for the kids and security, Chabuz says.

MANAGEMENT MUST FOCUS ON WHAT'S MANAGEABLE

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"Lean on Me," the movie, is not an example of school management but an entertainment effort for patrons who can afford it. The movie has been touted by media and others as a solution to school violence, followed by "The Substitute" forever sequels. Management is more.
A good manager is a person who knows that all the work to be done is his/hers and that when it is too much, he/she must find and convince others to do it at a profit to him/her. The principal in "Lean on Me" should have had a baseball bat attitude for his subordinates, not the students.His subordinates needed to be inspired to deal directly with the curriculum, students and operational resources of the school.
Two of our esteemed educators, Rosalia Payne and Terrence Joseph, the two district superintendents for our Department of Education, are the authors of a newspaper column that appears once or twice a month. Their thrust has been at parenting. While they have excellent ideas and theories relative to parenting, do they really have academic expertise in the area of parenting? Are they inadvertently being misdirected by "Lean on Me" in that they are giving advice in a field that we do not pay them for? Should they not be giving advice on their strategy for affecting the delivery of education as a product wherein our children will be the well received recipients? Can they tell us where they propose to use the baseball bat of "Lean on Me"in the managing of their staffs?
Our police are just as misguided.When is the last time you heard of a principal or supervisor, captain, lieutenant or sergeant transferred, demoted or chastised for not doing his/her job? When is the last time you heard of a police officer or teacher being congratulated by the bosses, not the public or community groups? When is the last time you heard of the administrators of any of our government agencies seriously giving attention and congratulations to their staff instead of themselves? Is it really okay for a principal, in "Lean on Me" or in real life, to be seen chasing students as opposed to chasing his/her staff with guidance, resources, infrastructure repairs and maintenance? If there is uncontrolled violence in schools beyond the control of the on- site administrators, replace the administrators. If there are increases of crime and continued reported crimes in a zone, replace the captain, lieutenants and sergeants.
Management 101 works when pressure is placed on what one controls or owns: supervisors, subordinates and others. However, teachers and police officers cannot put pressure on what they do not own: parents, students, trespassers or school youth violence.
Krim Ballantine
St. Thomas

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF TRAFFIC 'PLAN 8'

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"Wake up, everybody, no more sleeping in bed.
"No more back-thinking, time for thinking ahead . . ."
How poignant are the words sung by Teddy Pendergrass over 25 years ago? It seems, when we think about solving our traffic woes in Downtown Charlotte Amalie, we have been studying various approaches to this problem for almost 30 years and still can't seem to get off of square one. More recently, the government of the Virgin Islands has put forth a solution labeled Plan 8 as a cornerstone for solving the traffic problems downtown.
A special interest group which includes the St.Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce has published much rhetoric against Plan 8 incorrectly asserting that:
– It will forever sever the traditional maritime link between the town and the harbor.
– A highway is inconsistent with the character of a Danish town.
– The total project cost for improving the Windward Passage to Raphune Hill corridor is underfunded.
– Construction will disrupt the business district.
I have always found it puzzling why the opponents of Plan 8 continue to talk about Veterans Drive as if it does not already exist. That roadway is almost 50 years old and will very soon be considered historic itself. It has become part of the soul of Charlotte Amalie. You cannot divorce Veterans Drive from Charlotte Amalie. How can improvements to Veterans Drive sever the so-called maritime link when it has been severed for almost 50 years? Anyone who has lived on St. Thomas for more than 15 minutes knows that Veterans Drive narrows to two lanes by Fort Christian, thereby creating a large traffic bottleneck. All the Public Works Department is trying to accomplish is to complete a continuous four-lane roadway from the Windward Passage to Mandela Circle. It is not trying to build an eight-lane highway, as has been falsely stated.
Veterans Drive has been labeled as being inconsistent with the character of a historic Danish town. Again, this statement appears to be made as if the roadway does not presently exist. Many of the buildings which front Veterans Drive from the Windward Passage Hotel to Fort Christian are, in fact, younger than Veterans Drive. Can we refer to International Plaza, Palm Passage, Royal Dane Mall and Chase Manhattan Bank as sterling examples of historical construction or even fine examples of historical Danish architecture? Take a walk downtown sometime and count how many structures you see along the waterfront that were there before the construction of Veterans Drive. Most of the buildings which front Veterans Drive are, in fact, modern improvements. This is not to say that I don't believe Veterans Drive needs improvement. It certainly does. This is why the federal government will be paying for major urban improvements as a part of the Plan 8 project.
These improvements will include a landscaped promenade or boardwalk across the entire length of the project. A new park will be built on the harborside of the roadway as it passes in front of the Legislature building. The park area around Fort Christian and the Legislature building will more than double in size once the road is moved from that area. Vendors Plaza will be rebuilt with uniform West Indian-style bungalows for the vendors. The historical link between Fort Christian and its Barracks Yard building, i.e. the Legislature building, will be re-established once the traffic is removed from between the two. The dilapidated Fort Christian fire station will be relocated to a new, modern facility. Fort Christian and the Legislature building will be renovated. These are just some of the improvements that the federal government considers important as mitigation measures and integral to the success of the project.
The critics of Plan 8 have said the cost of improving the roadway from the Windward Passage Hotel all the way to the top of Raphune Hill is not entirely funded. This is true. A part of the almost $70 million required to do the entire system is in place. This will allow the government to construct a major piece of the system. An important step in the next part of the planning process is to put together a financing plan for the remaining portion of the funding. This will likely involve options such as leveraging the annual highway funding as well as public-private partnerships where applicable. It should be pointed out, though, that another famous underfunded project in St. Thomas was the expansion of the Cyril E. King Airport. If we had taken the approach 25 years ago to wait until all of the funding was in place, I daresay we would still be landing by a pre-World War II hangar at the Harry S. Truman Airport.
The critics of Plan 8 have said it will disrupt business during construction. One reason Plan 8 was adopted by the Public Works Department is that, when compared to other alternatives, it has minimal effect on the business district. This is because most of the construction takes place from the water side and can be staged so that the existing capacity of the roadway will not be affected during the daytime. This is in sharp contrast to the road project six years ago which had a tremendous disruption to downtown businesses while sidewalks were being constructed. That work is completed and need not be repeated.
But to me, the major issue is not whether Plan 8 should be the preferred alternative or not. The major issue is, should we do a roadway solution at all? The alternatives promoted by the Chamber of Commerce seem to suggest that expanding the existing roadway system is not necessary, and that utilizing traffic management alternatives such as park and ride, enhanced public transportation and water taxis will solve the traffic woes of downtown. The chamber presumes the people of the Virgin Islands will support these alternatives to automobiles or that they can even work on our island.
The selection of the type of transportation a person will use to get from one point to another is by and large going to be based upon how mobile that transportation is perceived to be. This is why in a city like Manhattan, many people will select a subway, because it flows on its own route. But, in more suburban or rural applications, as St. Thomas may be considered, the automobile is the preferred choice for mobility.
Public transportation exists here where the density and topography on this island support it. We cannot force it into areas where those two factors do not make it possible. Additionally, public transportation is heavily subsidized by the communities it supports. In recent testimony, Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson stated that Vitran operations would be severely cut back due to fiscal constraints. How can we expect our financially strapped local government to expand the public transportation system when it cannot even afford the system we have now? That can only be done through increased taxation. Even then, there is no certainty the ridership will increase and use the expanded service.
We should be realistic regarding what can be an expected high level of usage. New York, which has the nation's highest level of public transportation usage, has only 35 percent of its traffic being handled by public transportation. According to 1990 U.S. Census figures, a high level of public transportation use by national standards is 19 percent. In a traffic study done six years ago, the two-lane portion of Veterans Drive took 50 percent more traffic than its designed capacity. Even if we reach the impossible high level of New York City, it will not resolve that traffic bottleneck.
Will park-and-ride work? It presumes car pooling and public transportation. It also presumes you don't have a need for mobility during the work day. How are you going to catch the bus, which does not exist, in the Bolongo Bay area, take your child to school at E. Benjamin Oliver, go to work in downtown Charlotte Amalie, pick your child up (as many parents do) at 2:45 p.m. and get back to work with car pooling and buses? In fact, a fairer question is "who will be the first to make the sacrifice and give up
their car and do this with car pooling and buses?" I doubt any of the critics of the roadway expansion will make this sacrifice. Those vehemently opposed to the roadway improvement project expect all of the rest of us to use public transportation while they continue to use their vehicles.
Water taxis will be viable only for tourist-related traffic. It is unrealistic to presume that everyday working people will park at some remote satellite lot and utilize a water taxi to get into town. It is also unrealistic to presume water taxis will take the bulk of tourism-related traffic. If we were to promote water taxis at that scale, it would severely damage the land-based taxi industry and our beautiful harbor would be cluttered with so many water taxis it would begin to resemble the Floating Boat City of Hong Kong.
The critics of roadway expansion maintain national trends indicate that expanded highways generally reach their capacity upon completion; therefore, we should not expand the road. Once again, we compare national trends that have little or no relation to our particular situation. The primary reason this occurs in the United States is that expanded highways achieve their capacity from induced traffic. This induced traffic comes from other sources and flows onto the improved road, making it reach its designed capacity right away.
Where will this induced traffic on St. Thomas come from? The population is not going to change overnight. If induced traffic comes to Veterans Drive, it will be from the streets in the historic area, such as Main Street and Backstreet. If that happens, those areas, which have some of our most historic structures, can be developed more along the lines of heritage tourism than can be done while they are main traffic arteries. In fact, how can a concept such as the Main Street Mall ever be done if the roadway system is never expanded?
I feel 30 years of studying this problem is long enough. Must we wait for downtown Charlotte Amalie businesses to choke themselves and lose their competitive edge to other tourist destinations before we improve the traffic? Acting Tourism Commissioner Rafael Jackson recently stated the major complaint of tour operators for the hotel and cruise industry is traffic congestion. The airport was studied for over 20 years before the disastrous crash in the 1970s forced us to make a decision. Do we need an economic disaster before we do something? The time for action is now. Do not allow a special interest group to dictate your future. Wake up, everybody!
John P. Woods
St. Thomas

Editor's note: John P. Woods is a principal in the Jaredian Design Group, a consultant to the Public Works Department on the Veterans Drive improvement project.

MANAGEMENT MUST FOCUS ON WHAT'S MANAGEABLE

0

"Lean on Me," the movie, is not an example of school management but an entertainment effort for patrons who can afford it. The movie has been touted by media and others as a solution to school violence, followed by "The Substitute" forever sequels. Management is more.
A good manager is a person who knows that all the work to be done is his/hers and that when it is too much, he/she must find and convince others to do it at a profit to him/her. The principal in "Lean on Me" should have had a baseball bat attitude for his subordinates, not the students.His subordinates needed to be inspired to deal directly with the curriculum, students and operational resources of the school.
Two of our esteemed educators, Rosalia Payne and Terrence Joseph, the two district superintendents for our Department of Education, are the authors of a newspaper column that appears once or twice a month. Their thrust has been at parenting. While they have excellent ideas and theories relative to parenting, do they really have academic expertise in the area of parenting? Are they inadvertently being misdirected by "Lean on Me" in that they are giving advice in a field that we do not pay them for? Should they not be giving advice on their strategy for affecting the delivery of education as a product wherein our children will be the well received recipients? Can they tell us where they propose to use the baseball bat of "Lean on Me"in the managing of their staffs?
Our police are just as misguided.When is the last time you heard of a principal or supervisor, captain, lieutenant or sergeant transferred, demoted or chastised for not doing his/her job? When is the last time you heard of a police officer or teacher being congratulated by the bosses, not the public or community groups? When is the last time you heard of the administrators of any of our government agencies seriously giving attention and congratulations to their staff instead of themselves? Is it really okay for a principal, in "Lean on Me" or in real life, to be seen chasing students as opposed to chasing his/her staff with guidance, resources, infrastructure repairs and maintenance? If there is uncontrolled violence in schools beyond the control of the on- site administrators, replace the administrators. If there are increases of crime and continued reported crimes in a zone, replace the captain, lieutenants and sergeants.
Management 101 works when pressure is placed on what one controls or owns: supervisors, subordinates and others. However, teachers and police officers cannot put pressure on what they do not own: parents, students, trespassers or school youth violence.
Krim Ballantine
St. Thomas

SUNSHINE SUPERMARKET PRICES LOWEST ON ST. CROIX

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Sunshine Supermarket edged out Pueblo-Golden Rock by 32 cents in the latest Licensing and Consumer Affairs Food Basket Survey.
Of 20 items surveyed at three stores Sunshine Supermarket came in at an aggregate of $34.36 followed by Pueblo Golden Rock at $34.68 an Plaza Extra at $35.21.
The report f rom DLCA pointed out a 10-pound bag of Uncle Ben's Rice was $6.99 at Plaza Extra and Sunshine Supermarket , but only $5.99 at Pueblo. The release from DCLA reminded consumers to "shop around."
Further information or a copy of the survey are available by contacting Alli Paul, director Consumer Protection Division, at 773-2226.

PLAZA EXTRA PRICES LOWEST ON ST. THOMAS

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Plaza Extra on St. Thomas showed the lowest aggregate price in the latest Licensing and Consumer Affairs Food Basket Survey.
Of 10 items surveyed Plaza Extra came in at $15.12 followed by Pueblo Four Winds with an aggregate of $16.16 and Pueblo Subbase at $16.23.
Fresh broccoli showed the greatest price disparity, selling for $2.49 a bunch at both Pueblo stores and $1.50 a bunch at Plaza Extra.
Further information or a copy of the survey are available by contacting Alli Paul, director Consumer Protection Division, at 773-2226.

HANSEN SUIT CLAIMS FORT IS V.I. PROPERTY

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Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen’s efforts to prove that the Chrisitansted National Historic Site belongs to the Virgin Islands rather than the National Park Service has taken on a new target -– Fort Christiansvaern.
Hansen and her attorneys, Lee Rohn, Amelia Joseph and Michael Joseph, have long contended that the downtown historic site, which includes Fort Christiansvaern, the Scale House, Customs House and Steeple Building, belongs to the people of the Virgin Islands. Spurring her protests have been the Park Service’s unilateral decisions to replace parking lots with parks.
Last September, the Park Service began work to turn a 12-space downtown lot into a park. The agency contended that because the property is part of the Christiansted National Historic Site, NPS was within its rights to undertake the project.
Hansen and Amelia Joseph, however, disagreed and were granted a temporary restraining order by a U.S. District Court judge temporarily halting the project. But a few days after granting the restraining order, Judge Raymond Finch reversed his decision, noting that only the governor can take legal action on behalf of the V.I. government. The judge questioned whether Hansen, acting as a private citizen, had standing in the case.
But that hasn’t dissuaded Hansen’s team, said Michael Joseph, no relation to fellow attorney Amelia Joseph. He said Rohn has filed a new suit that will "prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these lands belong to the people of the Virgin Islands." The suit claims the fort is V.I. property.
In addition, he said, a legal technique will be used to force Gov. Charles W. Turnbull to become a plaintiff in the suit.
"We’re attempting to make Turnbull an involuntary plaintiff," Michael Joseph said on WSTX Friday.
The ownership dispute stems from when the V.I. government handed over management control of the historic area to the Park Service, Michael Joseph said. The land, which he said went to the local government after the U.S. bought the islands from Denmark, was never transferred through a deed or lease to the federal government.
"Under Virgin Islands law, you can only convey (government) property with the governor’s signature or approval of the Legislature," Michael Joseph said. "Nothing like that has been done."
Meanwhile, the Park Service has almost finished turning the former asphalt area between the Scale House and the wall that surrounds the Post Office into a 4,200-square-foot lawn with an information kiosk, benches and palm trees. The new park project completes the Park Service’s controversial move of April 1998 that turned the 70-space King’s Wharf lot into a grassy park.
That project spurred similar protests from former Gov. Roy Schneider, who also claimed the V.I. government owned the property. He later backed off those claims. But Hansen and her attorneys say the Park Service’s assertions that it owns the property haven’t been proved.
Neither Joel Tutein, superintendent of the Park Service on St. Croix, nor Government House spokeswoman Rina McBrowne could be reached for comment Friday.

WATER OUTAGE SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY

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The V.I. Water and Power Authority has scheduled a water interruption for April 17 to repair the Savan Booster Pump.
The interruption will start at 9 a.m. and last until 4 p.m. and affect residents in the area of Hill Street, Solberg Road and Palm Court. Residents in those areas are urged to fill their cisterns and store water in preparation of the water interruption.

REPORT CRIME ANONYMOUSLY TO POLICE

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In the wake of drive-by shooting murders on St. Thomas in the last week, the V.I. Police Department has set up additional telephone lines for residents to report criminal activity.
Callers can report crimes anonymously by calling the department at 777-8711, the Investigation Bureau at 774-2196 or the Safe Street Task Force/FBI at 776-9440. For general emergencies individuals should call 911.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education will hold a Pre-Carnival Violence Prevention Conference on April 18 at the St. Thomas/St. John Curriculum Center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call Dr. Blanche Oliver Bello or Mrs. Daisy LaFond at 775-2250, extensions 222 and 226 respectively.

SENATE HEARING ON FIVE-YEAR PLAN POSTPONED

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The Senate Finance Committee’s review of the Turnbull administration’s long-awaited five-year economic recovery plan won't take place next week as planned.
The committee, chaired by Sen. Lorraine Berry, was to have met April 18 with the task force drafting the plan. But John deJongh Jr., chairman of the task force, informed Berry on Friday that final delivery of the plan has been extended from April 17 to April 27 to allow task force members to submit comments.
Berry said a new date to discuss the plan will be announced soon. At that meeting the committee will hear from CORE International, the firm contracted by the Interior Department to draft a five-year fiscal management plan, and task force members. The two groups are expected to disclose the details of a comprehensive fiscal recovery plan for the territory.
Berry said the committee will still meet April 19 to receive an overview on the territory’s financial status from Gov. Charles Turnbull’s staff and off-island fiscal and technical advisers. Finance Committee members want to learn how proceeds from the proposed WAPA partnership with Southern Energy would play into the government's cash flow as the Legislature prepares to consider related financial matters.