March 22, 2009 — The dedication of the new community center and recreation facilities at Castle Burke Saturday didn't mark the end of a process, residents and officials said, but another triumphant milestone in a journey that began in devastation almost 20 years ago.
The breeze blowing through Saturday's dedication ceremony was a more gentle reminder of the savage winds of Hurricane Hugo, which ripped through the Virgin Islands in 1989 and incidentally gave birth to the Castle Burke community.
After Hugo tore through the Caribbean, Castle Burke became the site of a trailer park established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and stayed that way until 1995 when Hurricane Marilyn came through and wreaked further damage, according to Roy Canton, territorial director of planning and development for FEMA.
In recovering from the second major hurricane, the government asked FEMA to try something other than another park of emergency trailers. Lawmakers and government officials put together a plan by which residents could buy homes built on the site at a subsidized rate.
That community now consists of 117 tidy, well-tended homes along with the remnants of the last few battered old FEMA trailers, which one day will be gone.
"Some of us have been together almost 20 years," said Glennis Tyson, president of the Castle Burke Homeowners Association Site 2. "It's been rough, but we're here, and we're staying here. We'll see it through to the end."
Residents and territorial officials dedicated the community center and recreational facility that had been built with a $79,000 Community Development Block Grant obtained by the homeowners, plus funds allocated by the Virgin Islands Legislature. The 2,500-square-foot community center includes a meeting room available to residents for meetings, parties, classes and other events, a laundromat with eight washers and eight dryers, and space for a convenience store. Recreational facilities include a lighted basketball court and two playgrounds.
"This is for the kids," Tyson said, a community where they can live and grow up and share a sense of pride. "After we're gone, wherever you are in the world you'll always have a place to call home."
In their prepared remarks, St. Claire Williams, commissioner of the Department of Housing, Parks and Recreation, and Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis both noted how well maintained lawns and homes were, and complimented the residents — especially the children — for taking care of the area and keeping it clean.
"Do not let anyone come in and take it over," Williams said, referring to recent gang trouble and violence that has disturbed the island. "It was built for the community. It was built for the children of the community."
In his invocation at the start of the ceremony, the Rev. Gerald Williams of the Lord God of Saboath Lutheran Church, offered thanks and prayed that the development of the community, as symbolized by the new facility, would encourage youths "to pick up the basketball and put down the gun."
Also on hand for the ceremony, alongside community members, were DHPR Assistant Commissioner Dodson James and Sens. Nellie Rivera-O'Reilly, Sammuel Sanes and Terrence Nelson.
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