How To Support a Cleaner St. John

Letter to the Editor:

I am so pleased at the obvious improvements that I see in Cruz Bay since Leona Smith has become our new St. John Administrator, and in only a few weeks!

Our Post Office has gotten a badly needed fresh coat of paint; the road sides in Coral Bay have vastly improved with the overgrown bush at the sides of our roads cleared and cut down to improve overall safety; new signs have been put up throughout town; and wondrously, there are numerous new garbage cans throughout town. Bravo, Miss Leona!

I was able to point out to a number of our youth, who I noted “dropped” an empty drink container on the ground, that they were now better able to respect our beautiful island, because of this simple but important move. I have always thought that it was hard to encourage people to put garbage in its place when there is no place to put garbage. Now we can all work together to restore our pride on St. John.

We have some bad habits to change; sadly I saw someone pitch a beer bottle out of their vehicle onto the side of the road in Coral Bay recently. Now that the bushes at the roadsides are cleared in Coral Bay, it is obvious that we need some kind of community motivation to get us all on the same page in “putting garbage in its place.” It is disheartening to spend a day working on an all-community clean-up and then watch unconscious individuals continue to pitch their litter on the ground. I believe that as a community, we can come up with some creative ideas to support a cleaner St. John and encourage each other in a positive manner. It would seem that the slogan “Together We Can” would be a wonderful starting point for us to tackle this simple but important community goal. Any ideas out there? Thank you so much Leona for your leadership in improving Love City. I look forward to many good changes ahead with you in your leadership role.

Bonny Corbeil,
St. John