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Charlotte Amalie
Saturday, April 20, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesGOVERNMENT NEEDS TO STICK TO BASICS

GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO STICK TO BASICS

Dear Source,

Can someone please explain to me why our government likes to venture into business endeavors that they clearly have no level of experience or track record of success? Rather than doing the job that we pay them to do, once again, our elected officials have decided to take a detour from their primary duties to go into the business of real estate development and seek to buy beachside property, which clearly requires the use of our money. After all, wasn’t the Kings Alley experience enough to teach them a lesson that government and property development don't mix?
They quickly forget that our government was forced to operate from an outdated budget simply because the 25th Legislature and the Governor were unable to agree upon a new budget without putting us into further debt. Anyone with a little intelligence knows that you don’t go shopping (looking to spend $3 million to buy parcels at Vessup and Muller bays) when you are broke.
Because of our present deficit (definition of deficit: an excess of expenditures over revenue) our government fails to pay teachers, fireman and vendors monies owed to them. Furthermore, due to low wages, our policeman are force to moonlight (just to make ends meet), which has sadly resulted in Officer Cuthbert Chapman being killed by gunmen who have yet to be arrested. Why in times like these, when policeman are dying and businesses are closing do our elected officials display a lack of sensitivity for life and liberty for our community (definition of community: a body of people living in the same place under the same laws) by seeking to spend $3 million of our money on real estate?
Let me conclude my thoughts with this sobering message to the members of the 25th Legislature: "Rather than making it their business to worry about preserving beachside property and protecting it from over development, our Legislators need to make it their business to worry about preserving human life and protecting the community from criminals who have no respect for it." To the family of the fallen officer Cuthbert Chapman, I extend my condolences. Officer Chapman was a man who lived and died "protecting and serving" our community. May he rest in peace!

Oneida Granger
St.Croix

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