Hats off to those who oppose the outright sale of the old post office building in Christiansted.
There is ample reason to believe that there was little or no smart planning at all before making the decision to sell the building. That precious old building in the historic district, and the Alexander Theater in Sunday Market Square, should be earmarked for renovation and development into significant and dignified places for cultural tourism projects.
With that in mind, here are two self-sustaining cultural projects that can be created and developed for these two sites:
A CARIBBEAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL, CULTURAL AND ART MUSEUM — St. Croix would be the ideal location for a full-fledged contemporary museum of Caribbean life, culture and art. This museum, if developed properly, would be a tremendous source of inspiration and pride for every resident on the territory.
It would celebrate the universality and diversity of the Caribbean people. Crowds of school children, residents and visitors would go there to learn about the amazing histories and cultures of the people from every corner of the Caribbean – Antigua, Cuba, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, etc. Aside from the cultural and educational value, this state-of-the-art facility would add a new and exciting dimension to the St. Croix tourism package.
A MULTI-MEDIA SPORTS MUSEUM — St. Croix is long overdue for a first-class sports museum. Just imagine the glee in the eyes of young and not-so-young people observing multi-media exhibitions with video clips of the heroics of Horace Clarke, Emile Griffith, Jose Morales, Valmy Thomas, Tim Duncan and the many other homegrown stars.
The impressive list of VI heroes includes baseball and basketball players, boxers, Olympians in all sports, collegiate players, sailing champions, and others. Imagine the thousands of visitors who will visit and learn about the awesome contributions of Virgin Islanders to the world of sports and entertainment.
The possibilities for self-sustaining, cultural-tourism projects on St. Croix are endless, but it would take new vision and highly motivated Crucians working together to make things happen.
It would take an entrepreneurial public sector willing to put community assets, like the Post Office building and the theater, to productive uses for the benefit and growth of the community. Finally, it would take a proactive and civic-minded private sector willing to invest and actively work to convert ideas into viable projects that would propel our economic growth.