Dear Source:
I read with some dismay, that the proposed Veterans Memorial and Museum on St Croix has been put on hold because the governor has not yet signed off on the land to build the complex. The governor has had five years to complete a simple transfer of government land and, to date, has failed to do so. This is just another example of the fruitless debacles that will become the present governors legacy. It shows that veterans are unimportant in the mind of the governor. There are only three weeks left before the next governor comes into office. I have high hopes for Mr. Dejongh and feel confident that issues such as these will receive immediate clearance. It would be a shame to lose the possibility of having a Veterans memorial and medical facility because the government failed to act on time.
On the matter of Innovative Communications, how could the GERS, which is so grossly in debt, even consider managing a telephone company? What were they thinking? To take an obvious lemon such as Innovative and consider running it, is gross incompetence on the part of GERS officials. Why should the government even consider bailing out Prosser? On the same matter, the PSC has refused to allow competition in the phone industry even though the federal government mandates that no monopolies should exist in mass communications. Remember the AT&T debacle? President Clinton signed a law that disallows monopolies when is comes to public utilities. The PSC is in opposition to federal law by not allowing other competent companies to set-up a phone service in the Virgin Islands. We still are part of the United States-right?
The government, at last, has installed a government-wide data base connecting all departments. Alas! It doesnt seem to work. Vendors are not getting paid because the interface did not go smoothly. As a person who believes in planning ahead, it seems the government, again, has dropped the ball.
What else will happen during this administration?
I, for one, cannot wait for the new governor and legislature to take office and end the nightmare of the past eight years. Yes, some strides have been made in terms of fiscal responsibility over the past four or five years but it is far from being a smooth running machine. Mr. Dejongh, our hopes are with you-please help us find our way as we ease out of the mess of the past two administrations.
Paul Devine
St. John
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