Good question, right? However, there is no way of knowing who would profit (LLCs offer a “veil” beyond which the profiteers are unseen) from a “man camp” being built in a low‑density residential neighborhood, when and if a major “spot” zoning change were approved. Add to that, I am pretty sure the requested change goes against the finally signed into law USVI Comprehensive Land and Water Use Plan.
Who would not profit is crystal clear, though:
- The neighborhood
- The youth and unemployed of the Virgin Islands
- The environment
So, here’s a much better idea. How about if the man camp were to rise from the ruins of our storm-ravaged, yet to be demolished Tutu housing community?
And what if the fully disclosed, licensed contractor awarded the restoration project would be one seeking to make our community a better place by providing the opportunity to local unemployed residents to learn a trade or profession, thus assuring we will at some point in the future never again require “outside” help rebuilding after natural disasters. Reality points to these disasters becoming more devastating and more frequent. Thus, the need to act quickly and decisively while establishing a new way of seeing the meaning of “profit” for our community.
Here’s a dream that has every chance of coming true when and if our elected officials “do the right thing,” and assuming any contractor we want working for US (our community) understands the point of profit for all.
The repairs and rebuilding of our community structures and environment found listed on the Virgin Islands Office of Disaster Recovery website, provide a means for trainees to become productive and self-sufficient and ultimately provide an opportunity to take control of one basic human need, housing. This is done through converting the “profit” typically enjoyed by a contractor and assign it back to the worker/trainee, not as cash, but as an equity credit to be applied towards the purchase of a housing unit in the community that would also temporarily house workers from off island to train the now employed local workers so that in future we don’t need a Man Camp.
This idea, offered to me verbatim nearly a year ago by a Virgin Islands licensed Free Lance Artist, sketches the dream as follows:
“The overall guidelines and structure will need to be well thought out so that should those credits not utilized by the trainee (for the purchase of the completed unit) cashed out in some form, at the completion of the project and/or curriculum.
The important hidden underlying theory in this approach is that a person with a stake in the outcome will always be motivated by his or her self-interest. A very important goal is to instill a work ethic based on the tradesmen doing their best work, verses being ‘in it just for the money’ which by nature, is to give the least possible for the highest profit, which is usually to the detriment of the customer, project quality or cost. The obvious goal is to make positive physical transformations in areas that are distressed. The hidden element to this program is that once the workforce is developed, those trainees who have learned on their own property will bring an instilled and self-motivated (& higher) quality of workmanship to all their future endeavors.
Properties targeted should be pre-existing and distressed. There should be a large enough aggregate of housing units so it can support a curriculum and provide the opportunity to own a ‘piece of the rock.’”
The Tutu community housed approximately 1000 people, 284 families, when it was damaged. The “dorm‑style compound to house hundreds of off‑island workers for federally funded disaster‑recovery projects” referred to in the Source rezoning story above would be PERFECT at Tutu, which already exists and which could be reconstructed in a fraction of the time it would take to deforest our land and destroy what peace and quiet still exists in Estate Bakkroe.
It doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out where and for whom the profit between LLC (Limited Liability Corp.) and community lies. So, senators and alleged leaders: which God do you serve?
2026 seems a good year for cards to be dealt and the hands to be shown in favor of the community members, instead of the dealers.
Editor’s Note: Opinion articles do not represent the views of the Virgin Islands Source newsroom and are the sole expressed opinion of the writer. Submissions can be made to visource@gmail.com.
