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Some Truth Behind the Ferries, Centerline Repairs & More??

Article and image courtesy of Active St. John
Article and image courtesy of Active St. John

Some things are too good not to share. I know it’s late and many of you may be sleeping, but this just posted over on Active St. John’s page and we felt the need to share (with their permission of course).

Courtesy of Active St. John: 

(Public Works Commissioner Darryl) Smalls said the ferries should be in operation by Christmas (2013).

This is not a story about ‘Island Time’ or as Active Fan Shelley M. quoted “Are u still on this??? Gawd let it go! They will sail when they sail! There are 1001 other things about st john you can post!

This story about the ferries being unclaimed by the two franchise operators that have held the sole ferry contract since 1985 and is just another promise by Mr. Smalls, the head of Department of Public Works, that will never arrive and the complete lack of accountability for his actions. The ferries cost you $6 million federal tax dollars as this route is considered a federal highway. This was funded and built with much fanfare by the governor himself completely unaware that Varlack Ventures and Transportation Services who hold the sole contract for this run did not want these new boats, as they were to be forced to lease them and they already owned their own boats. Read the St John Tradewinds this week and read the quote from Varlack where they state there needs to be serious negotiations before they take over the new boats. These boats were built before an agreement was obtained by the franchise operators on the lease and now unless the government caves to their wishes these boats will never run…..

This in not the 1st fail by Mr. Smalls with our tax dollars. If you drive in St Thomas and look at the Bridge to Nowhere, this cost you $8.8 million dollars and was built before ownership of both ends of the bridge was obtained, end result was the bridge was built and never completed. Does this bridge look like it is worth 8.8 million dollars? Why would you build a bridge unless you owned each end of the bridge, might seem like common sense to some. The costs of this bridge were justified as an emergency for floods and now seems like the emergency is less then an emergency now the funds have been spent.

Mr. Smalls is the lead on the Center Line “Fedral’ Road Repair. He proudly proclaims on the sign every driver has to witness when bravely passing this road block from 2010 Emergency Road Repair that is costing more then $1 million dollars that he said was to be completed in March, and as of such there has been a concrete pour and an admission there was not a permit from DPNR for this project. Appears this project was never approved by DPNR as he never got the permits. This is why there is months of no activity on this project when drivers sit waiting on a red light that might be there for the next couple years.

Acitves simple question, are you happy with Mr. Smalls receiving a paycheck?

-Active St. John

Edit from News of St. John: The Chamber of Commerce is giving Mr. Smalls the Wilbur “Bill” LaMotta Community Service Award on April 12. The award “recognizes the contributions to the U.S. Virgin Islands of public officials and private citizens whose achievements reflect the commitment and dedication exemplified by the life and work of Bill LaMotta … The award is presented to individuals who exhibit dedication, sincerity, forthrightness and ethics in the performance of his or her duties or in the practice of his or her business or profession.”

Feel free to comment away.

4 thoughts on “Some Truth Behind the Ferries, Centerline Repairs & More??”

  1. I have recently heard that DPW Commissioner Small has informed the ferry operators NOT to speak to the media any further.
    Why? The Operators are not afraid to speak the truth about why they are not operational and Mr. Small does not want the public to know the truth as to why they are not operational because it places his “leadership/reputation” in question. The builder also has been contacting Mr. Small about the negative press his business has been hearing in regards to these ferries and as to why they are not operational, to which the builder says are not truthful.

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