Red Man

Don’t argue with me, WAPA making progress ….😬

“God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called.”

Popularity comes with a price that you have to be willing pay 🤷🏾‍♂️

I so glad I old now … I going in my bed 8pm sharp 😂

Jamalia !!!!!!!! …..Shake it Shake it ……Shake it like ah Polaroid pikchaaaaa ‼️

The man you want, want his wife … das why yo single ‼️

Last night was our second VI Small Developers Roundtable, and honestly, I walked away from that conversation with a completely different perspective.

For a long time, as someone who has always been interested in development and the future of the Virgin Islands, I looked at our historic buildings differently.

I understood their importance, but I also felt like our desire to preserve everything sometimes came at the expense of progress. I wondered how we could create jobs, create opportunities, build new businesses and move our communities forward if we were constantly restricted by what already existed.

Then I sat down and listened to Felipe Ayala.

The way Felipe explained the nuances of our historic buildings, the architectural details, the history behind them, where they came from, why they were designed the way they were and what makes our towns unique completely freed me from my ignorance.

And I mean that sincerely.

Sometimes you can have a strong opinion about something simply because you don’t know enough about it.

Listening to Felipe made me reconsider how I look at development in the Virgin Islands. It didn’t make me less interested in progress. It made me understand that progress doesn’t have to mean erasing what came before us.

We can rehabilitate buildings.
We can restore buildings.
We can bring abandoned and dilapidated properties back to life.
We can create businesses, housing, jobs and opportunities.

And we can do all of that while maintaining the architectural and historical integrity that makes our towns uniquely Virgin Islands.

John Wood and Felipe Ayala reminded me that there is a difference between preserving something and simply refusing to change it.

There is a way to honor our history while building our future.

And that’s really what Save Our Town is beginning to mean to me.

Saving our towns isn’t simply about saving old buildings.

It’s about understanding what we’re saving, why it matters, and finding ways to give those places a new life.

It’s about developers, business owners, government and the community sitting at the same table and figuring out how we can bring our towns back to life without losing the identity that made them special in the first place.

Last night reminded me that sometimes progress isn’t about proving that you were right.

Sometimes progress is being willing to sit down, listen, learn and allow someone else’s knowledge to change the way you see things.

I’m grateful for that conversation.

I’m grateful for the people willing to share their knowledge.

And I’m even more excited about where this conversation can take us.

Save Our Town.

Not just preserve it.

Not just rebuild it.

Revitalize it. Invest in it. Live in it. Build in it. And give it a future.