Dear Source,
I see things do not change. Once again, the government is wasting absurd amounts of money it does not have on something that is yet to even be functional.
I am speaking of the $700,000 spent on IBM to develop the Department of Tourism website, which is not yet working because the commissioner of the Department, Pamela Richards, claims they are waiting for money to pay the $50,000 a year IBM will get to host the site.
First of all, the sum is absolutely outrageous. I do not care how elaborate the site, even corporate giants rarely spend that kind of money to design a site. Secondly, $50,000 a year to host a site is almost unheard of. Thirdly, for far less, they could have hired a full-time web designer to devote all of his or her time solely to this project.
Fourth, this money could have stayed on the island. I do not care what Richards says, there are some excellent sites already devoted to the islands that have been designed by locals.
We shall see, when the site actually works, if it has been worth the expense. For $700K, it seems outrageous that we can't even have it up, if the first year’s hosting fee has been waived. If they did not have the money why did tourism commit to spending it? Oh yeah, that is the way of the V.I. Government..spend now, worry later.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A FORMER NATIVE
Leititia Brown