I would like to share with you a story that was on the St. Thomas Source about what your Realtors are doing for you! As president of the Virgin Islands Territorial Association of Realtors I was able to obtain monetary assistance from the National Association of Realtors to help preserve the historic districts of Charlotte Amalie, Christiansted and Frederiksted. Realtors in your community are focused on giving back! We want to make our historic districts beautiful by preserving our culture and in turn creating jobs, cutting down on crime, bringing tourism in to those neighborhoods and just increasing the quality of life for ALL Virgin Islanders. Please also visit our website www.preservevi.org to see a copy of the Bill and photos of the abandoned and derelict buildings in our communities.
“I’m always explaining, making excuses,” Rawlins said about her conversations with tourists concerning the abandoned buildings, crime, drugs and other social ills that permeate the Commandant Gade area of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, where the hotel is located.
In heartbreaking testimony at Earle B. Ottley Legislative Hall, Rawlins said it was demoralizing to deal with these issues every day in an area that is so rich in history.
Rawlins was the final speaker of the day, but it began with another testifier who made a strong case for help in the historic districts.
St. Croix resident Bernard Victor said Christiansted just lost another part of its history when the first house owned by a free slave burned because homeless people using candles in an adjacent abandoned building didn’t have electricity to use for light. The candles caused a fire.
“Almost everyone wants to cry when they see an historic house burn,” Victor said.
LaVaughn Belle, who is renovating several buildings in Christiansted, said she began the project because she needed a studio for her artwork, but the project includes two buildings at Sunday Market Square and two in a Christiansted area called Free Gut because it’s where freed slaves lived.
One house, in particular, has touched her heart. She said research shows that the first owner was a woman named Elizabeth Gabriel, who was brought to St. Croix as a slave but eventually was able to buy property as a free woman.
“We need you to remember Elizabeth Gabriel, the owner of that house,” Belle said.
Belle discussed the numerous challenges she’s faced in rehabilitating derelict buildings.
“Visa, MasterCard and American Express are our dearest friends,” she said, laughing as she spoke about the monetary issues.
While everyone who testified, including those from various historic agencies and the real estate industry, appeared in favor of the bill, several expressed concerns and had suggestions on ways to make it more palatable.
At issue is the perception that property owners who can’t afford to rehabilitate their properties will lose them. However, Sen. Louis P. Hill, who chaired the meeting and sponsored the bill, said there is a provision in the bill that lets people who can’t fiscally or physically undertake the job off the hook.
Others testified that the territory’s cumbersome probate laws mean many buildings have multiple owners who can’t agree on what to do with the building. Hence it sits vacant, deteriorating, and is a haven for homeless people and drug users. Under the terms of the bill, those owners will face fines for letting their properties sit derelict.
“And most of those people have not paid property taxes,” said Nadine Marchena Kean, director of the Economic Development Authority’s Enterprise Zone Commission.
Sen. Neville James pointed out that some of the derelict buildings in Christiansted are owned by “people of wealth,” so there is no excuse for the lack of repair, he said. O’Reilly suggested that their names be posted on the derelict buildings to embarrass them.
The territorial Association of Realtors came armed with many facts and figures that clearly spelled out the problem.
According to Vandell Percival, a University of the Virgin Islands student who worked on a survey of historic district buildings for the Association of Realtors, the Charlotte Amalie historic district has 1,404 lots. Of that figure, 196 are in fair or poor condition.
Of the 860 lots in the Christiansted historic district, 125 are in fair or poor condition, Percival. In Frederiksted, 102 of the 502 lots are in fair or poor condition. Those numbers include lots with and without buildings.
But the pictures also told the story, with some showing just the bare bones of the building. Others had trees growing out the roofs. Still others were roofless.
Those senators at the meeting agreed to table the bill until amendments can be written and a similar hearing held on St. Croix.
In addition to committee members Hill, O’Reilly and James, Sens. Craig Barshinger, Carlton Dowe and Patrick Simeon Sprauve attended the meeting. Sen. Shawn-Michael Malone, who is not on the committee, arrived to ask some questions. Sen. Ronald Russell was absent.
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