On July 20th our territory received a sad but important lesson in civics from the 35th Legislature. On that day 11 senators, some of them enthusiastically, voted to override Governor Bryan’s veto of legislation to change our territory zoning laws so that a local business can turn a neighborhood into an industrial zone for concrete block manufacturing. The concrete block manufacturing process is a highly pollutive process that emits lung-damaging, cancer-causing substances into the air while greatly increasing the traffic of loud trucks hauling industrial equipment and supplies on the surrounding roads.
The business owner seeking to profit from the zoning change has demonstrated the well-being of the community is of no concern to him as evidenced by the offensive ads he blared through speakers facing out from his property to all of his new neighbors. His ads touting falsehoods were heard clearly inside the businesses, homes and school classrooms nearby day after day leading up to the vote. Requests to turn it down were ignored.
Appallingly, V.I. Senators who took an oath to uphold the laws of the Virgin Islands and protect our citizens cozied up to the business owner and made clear their oath is negotiable. Despite the recommendations of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, the VI Comprehensive Land & Water Use Plan, the Governor’s office and the pleas of hundreds of local petition signers and parents, 11 senators joined the business owner in labeling those opposed to the cement block plant as “a certain set of people.” Senator Johnson was less veiled during debate on the zoning change when he said of those opposed, “They ain’t us.”
Apparently, young children attending school across the street from the proposed plant, the people of the JFK Housing community, as well as the many residents and business owners throughout the Orange Grove area “ain’t us” to Senator Johnson and his colleagues who voted to overturn the Governor’s veto. Not all Crucians have the resources to convince senators they are citizens worth protecting, but that should not matter to someone who has taken an oath to represent us all. Regardless of income level, what neighborhood they live in, or what they look like, all residents of the Virgin Islands, most especially our children, deserve to be counted as one of us.
Hopefully, the future voters of our territory will see this civics lesson as one that demonstrates the importance of electing representatives that are committed to upholding our laws and protecting our children, and the horrible consequences we must endure when we don’t.
At St. Croix Montessori we will continue to make sure our students are instilled with a sense of responsibility to love, appreciate and care for their community despite the intolerance elected officials have shown them.
Wayne Huddleston is president of the Board of Trustees for St. Croix Montessori School at St. Dunstan’s.
