Vines taking over Main Street - Donald E. De Castro
He was speaking last night June 8, 2016 on his Straight Talk show heard on ZBVI 780 AM between the hours of 8:00 PM and 9:00 PM.
According to De Castro, he got a chance to go to Tortola Pier Park a few weekends ago. “And I must admit it is beautiful; however, I find it difficult to understand why there are so many buildings and such large buildings...Why are there so many businesses and such exorbitant rent?” he asked.
“I personally feel a better West Indian architecture or Virgin Islands architecture could have been designed. But apparently their intention was to destroy the businesses on Main Street and Waterfront Drive,” he said.
De Castro noted hearing many times from the Minister for Communications and Works Honourable Mark H. Vanterpool (R4) and the City Manager Janice Brathwaite-Edwards about what they are doing for the Virgin Islands' capital city of Road Town.
“But I wonder when was the last time any of them came down on Main Street and saw the vines that are growing on the electrical and telephone wires there from one house to another. It is shameful but apparently lower Main Street and lower Waterfront Drive are no longer part of Road Town or part of Tortola.”
He said that it is shameful to walk up and down Main Street and see all of these vines “growing like crazy.”
26 Responses to “Vines taking over Main Street - Donald E. De Castro”
I suggested at one point to have community groups clean and paint (with donated left-over paint from the stores) and create a programme where new entrepreneurs could get a start renting smaller spaces in partnership with government and owners. This is a perfect space to do it. Even the previous city manager had vision to protect the history of the street, turn the old post office into a boutique hotel, move the police station upstairs and create a cafe downstairs on the plaza. This right opposite the ferry dock!
Main St should be a pedestrian way anyway, to promote community and tourism. Tours and brochures and plaques could be researched by students as a school project on history to give tourists a sense of place. Mr. Decastro is so right! And those of us who were paying attention predicted this abandonment years ago.
They don't want to see their properties rot away (unless they are holding out for tearing down in order for tall modern buildings which would ruin any sense of BVI). This is what is happening world wide. Figure out a way to protect history with incentives for the owners.
First you have to get the visitors off the pier and into town. The original plan had a great idea that was promptly killed by the taxi drivers. A free tram that ran from the pier all through town dropping off and picking up visitors so they spread their spending around. Exposed to more options visitors tend to spend more money than they would on a 2 hour bus ride. Unfortunately, this is typical of the BVI as a few politically connected groups can demand all the goodies.