fbpx

on-stjohn

$15 million to fix airport’s runways

Cyrilkingairport They promise it won't further screw up operations at the St. Thomas Airport.

The Virgin Islands Port Authority has begun a nine month project which will see the first major repairs to the runways since the airport was built in 1991, almost 20 years ago.  In its report of the project, The Virgin islands Daily News reported 95 percent of the money for the job is from the federal government.

The Port Authority said all the work will be done at night. As construction workers lay down new asphalt under the moon, by daylight it will be tested to make sure its safe for use.

One reason it's taken so long for this kind of work to be done is that the feds refused to allow the Virgin islands to request such help.  That's because the Territory failed to close a landfill near the St. Croix airport.  Finally, the VIs gave the feds a plan and a timetable for a closing, which they accepted.  The Daily News said, however, the Territory has already missed one deadline for that project.

Wrong-way Roundabouter

The Roundabout construction in Cruz Bay is almost done. Some folks are calling it the island's first four-lane highway.  (Four roads converge on the circle, get it?)Roundabou

The Islandia Real Estate blog published this photo of the circle which shows (1) the project's looking good, and (2) school kids are still crossing where they always have.  Some people suggest the crossing be  moved closer to the front of the school to get the kids away from several lanes of traffic.

Not everyone's figured out the Roundabout, though.  People used to driving on the right side of the road have an adjustment to make when going in a circle.

Noseeum And then, a driver, caught in the act by No See Um …      "OK! Check that white SUV  (marked by a red circle), pretty much in the center. Snapped this as they drove ON THE RIGHT through the roundabout, narrowly missing a collision with the red Jeep Cherokee (marked by a black circle)."

Blues Festival starts rocking tonight

Deanna Deanna Bogart, Maryland-based blues and boogie pianist and saxophonist, kicks off the  eighth annual Johnnie Walker Blues Festival at Mongoose Junction's Sun Dog Cafe at 8 p.m.  An hour later, the group Groove Thang appears at the Beach Bar at Wharfside.

And so begins concert promoter Steve Simon's latest week long series of free(!) blues concerts for the island.  Additional concerts are scheduled Thursday and Friday night in both Cruz Bay and Coral Bay (See the schedule here.) There will be a warm up Blues Revue at Skinny Legs Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m, too.

StJohnBlues_LogoSmall "It's going to be a huge week," Simon said.  The long time island resident has become an international blues concert promoter over the past five years.  He's packaged musicians' tours in the Middle East and the states, but St. John is home and where he puts on the biggest show of the music he loves.

The St. John Blues Festival's extravaganza show is Saturday night at the Coral Bay Ballfield.  Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the gate.  Food and beverages will be available thanks to volunteers from St. John Rotary, the Gifft Hill School and Sheila's Pot.

St. John planner’s job includes St. Thomas

Stuart Smith, the newly-hired Principal Planner for St. John, told an island Rotary meeting that he won't be spending all his time focused on St. John.  He'll also give some attention to the new ferry terminal and its operations as well as earth change permits around Red Hook.  He'll also be, too, in the controversial Alpine Energy project development, if it gets government approval.

Smith said he's visited St. John several times and is now living full time on the island.  He moved from Wilmington, N.C.  His education has concentrated on real estate, urban analysis and community planning.   

Clearly he'll be doing a lot of driving in his new job.  He has an office at the St. Thomas Airport, where the Department of Natural resources has its headquarters, and a St. John office at the Marketplace.

Mark, Lauren, Brett and Bo make music

Mark If you're stuck on the east coast, you've just been through a heck of a windy, wild, wet weekend.  You could probably use a shot or two of St. John. 

Courtesy of videographer Bill Stelzer, here are three video pick-you-ups.  Just back from helping with an orphanage and earthquake relief in Haiti, Bill's returned to his video work.

He took a couple of cameras to Rhumb Lines in Cruz Bay where Mark, Lauren, Brett and Bo were performing.  Featuring St.John's own Mark Wallace playing guitar and singing.

Click … sit back … and enjoy:

Street addresses for St. John?

Maybe it's the suburbanizing of the island.

Craig Barshinger, the St. John resident who is the VI Senate's At Large Member, wants the island to have street names and houses to have addresses.  At a recent Rotary meeting, the Senator used a GPS unit to show how such a system would work. Street addresses would be determined by the distance from
the beginning of a road, based on its latitude and longitude, according
to a report of he meeting by Bob Schlesinger.

Barshinger plans to introduce legislation to allow neighbors to choose their street's name and agree on a sequence of numbers. He is hoping condominium associations and homeowners groups will help him gather information on how such a project could be completed.

Each road name has to be different to the island, Barshinger added.  He's even thinking of having an arbitrator involved to make sure organization is clear.

Got an idea for a street name?  Suggest it here.

Why your iPhone doesn’t work

Iphone Several Coral Bay residents say their AT&T cell service is awful.  Dropped calls and garbled conversations are common, they told the St. John Source's Lynda Lohr.

AT&T is the exclusive cell service for Apple's iPhone.  AT&T sells other phones, too, and service on them is also, at best, iffy.

A spokeswoman for AT&T, in Puerto Rico, told the Source that maintenance people recently worked on the company's transmitter tower on Bordeaux Mountain, but customers are still complaining.

Read moreWhy your iPhone doesn’t work

Paradiso: Under new management

Paradiso copy Tom Theleman is back in the restaurant business where he started 13 years ago.  But this time, he's the boss. 

The long-time St. John resident began his restaurant career handling food and beverage operations at the Westin Resort before Winston Burnett hired him to handle the front of the house at Paradiso while the iconic, beloved Ted Robinson was in the kitchen.

The pair worked together for five years, long enough to know they could do better together and so off they went to launch the late, beloved Tage.  Now, Ted's back on his own, and Theleman has returned to Paradiso.

"I'm just a young guy (37), doing this on my own for the first time," Thelemen said. "I want to show people we're living up to what Paradiso used to be."

"We've got a brand new menu," he told The Inquiring Iguana.  "We've gone back to what Paradiso was in its heydays, American Continental.  Food layered with flavors, high quality, and an emphasis on locally-sourced ingredients."

Read moreParadiso: Under new management

Details of a St. John property tax deal

The government is offering taxpayers a five percent discount to pay property taxes within 60 days of the tax bills being sent. 

There's a reason they want the money fast. Property taxes have not been collected in four years and the government is in deep red kimchee due to its dispute with the US government about the fairness of the system.

In a news release, Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis offered the details of the plan the Administration would like the VI Senate to approve.  It also calls for allowing people to pay their taxes in installments, although a six percent penalty would be added.

The tax bills for two years would be issued using valuations from 1998.  They are significantly … significantly!!!! … lower than the ones calculated a few years ago in the Territory-wide reassessment.

  • The Lt. Gov.'s plan can he read at http://bit.ly/b6XyVS.  He is taking public comments until March 23.

Quartet of artists’ show

The Michael Banzhaf Gallery in Cruz Bay is featuring the work of four island painters this month. 

Banzhaf_2

Kat Sowa has been on the island for nearly 14 years and has become well known was the Resident Artist at Caneel Bay.  Her Web site is http://www.katsowa.com/. 

Joan Farenkopf, when she's not creating art on the island, makes a home in North Carolina where she is a yoga therapist.

Bente Hirsch, has worked with Holiday Homes Real Estate and has a rental villa http://www.bentesfancy.com/. She is showing some of her watercolors.

Andrea Leland, a pastel artist, is also an accomplished film and video director and producer.

(Photograph of Banzhaf and the artists, courtesy of Bob Schlesinger of TropicalFocus.com