Governor’s Chance To Show Residents He’s Listening

To the St. John Coalition:

By now you have heard that the Legislature voted to reward Sirenusa with seven extra units through a rezoning, bringing their density up 20 percent. But this is not over.

The governor can veto the bill. He will have 10 days to veto or sign the bill once he receives it. He may have received the bill from the legislature as early as Wednesday last week. We will notify everyone via email as soon as we know he has received the bill. We need to band together to encourage Governor deJongh to veto Act 27-0040.

If the governor vetoes the bill, we can go back to the Legislature to encourage them not to override the veto (this takes 10 votes) by educating the senators about all the continuing problems they missed in the first round. For instance, last week’s rains are showing that Sirenusa is not dealing properly with their stormwater. People’s properties are being flooded today!

Remember Grande Bay. They were stopped from adding more units by the last governor’s veto. We need to do it again! This is Governor deJongh’s first chance to show us that he hears the concerns of St. John about our infrastructure, planning, and density problems.

What can you do right now?

First – Make a quick phone call or send an email to the governor today! Call 774-0001 and leave a message requesting the governor veto the Sirenusa rezoning and/or write an email to john.dejongh@go.vi.gov or fax 776-4912.
Second – Share this with other friends on St. John and ask them to communicate with the governor too. Call three friends on St. Thomas and ask them to call the governor too, now!

Third – Send a letter back to the St. John Coalition at stjohncoalition@hotmail.com indicating how you may be willing to help the week of April 30 with getting detailed messages to the Governor and the Legislature about what needs to be done to get this project on track for St. John’s future.  

There may be a rally, meetings, a march to the governor’s office, letters to the editor, visits with senators, etc. What ideas do you have to get the points across? We need individuals to step up during the next two weeks to manage activities, organize, write, and raise public awareness to get the veto through and avoid a veto override. We especially need neighbors to stand up and share their problems.

Show the governor that St. John cares what choice he makes, on this first decision affecting St. John directly.

Don and Katie Porter,
St. John Coalition Steering Committee
representatives for Sirenusa concerns