The Inquiring Iguana learned from reading the Virgin Islands Daily News yesterday that the Port Authority wants to create a parking lot at the Enighed car barge dock. The plan calls for 150 parking spaces. The lot will be built using about $2 million from a PA bond issue, the Daily News said.
To get to Cruz Bay from the lot, most people would either walk north, past the fire station, then take a left and walk into town; probably a 10-minute trek.
Of course, parking has been a critical problem for Cruz Bay for years. One recent idea was to building a parking garage where the tennis courts are, which is also close to the Moorehead Marine Facility aka the Enighed car barge dock.
There’s little question whether people would prefer free or paid, but the Authority says it will make that decision when it awards the construction contract.
The Inquiring Iguana is urging the PA to make the lot free. That will insure it gets used, which is the point after all, to decrease the stress of going downtown. Furthermore, the PA’s record on overseeing the finances of the barge company revenues is pretty poor. It doesn’t make sense to put another cash business under the agency.
- The Daily News story is at http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17640523
Should be a nice lot for 42 billion.
Ha – 42 billion?! I think you meant $25 million – which still seems ridiculous for parking lot. And to think we bought the whole Virgin Islands for $25 million.
oops I meant you meant $42 million.
damn typos
Fat fingers all around … shud be $2 million.
Is this map from Google? Starfish Market is in the wrong place. They put it where the tennis courts or motor vehicles dept. should be.
Yes. It’s Google. They’re confused 🙂
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=st+john+usvi&sll=39.026043,-77.279778&sspn=0.008135,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=St+John,+US+Virgin+Islands&ll=18.327498,-64.793018&spn=0.00497,0.009645&z=17
We can only hope that some of the money will be used for better street lighting and police patrols along the route. The walk from town to the new parking lot could be scary particularly at night.
David, you are correct. This could be dangerous. Will the drivers have to pay to park in the garage?
I have to wonder if making it a “pay” lot would keep the myriad of “permanent” spots or commuters from filling it up like they do now by the post office and inspection station lots. Or maybe make those two pay lots and leave the new one open for commuters. Then, of course they will have to use a bunch of spaces for the lunch trucks which are inevitable.