There’s No Basketball on St. John

Dear Governor deJongh and Senators,

St. John has no basketball courts! There used to be two courts, one at Pine Peace and one in Coral Bay. Both are closed now.

After T-Rex and the Moravian Church carved a deal to develop Coral Bay, a first act of T-Rex was to close the court, citing liability issues. For about $1,000 per year, you can get $1 million coverage of liability insurance.

As T-Rex will be designing, permitting and funding the project for a couple years before construction, why can’t the government, T-Rex and the Moravian Church permit our youth to use the courts while a new sports area could be developed in Coral Bay with basketball, tennis and a playground?

St. John’s other court, which is at Pine Peace, has been underwater for months, prohibiting use of the court and playground, and has become a huge breeding ground for mosquitoes. The Christian Academy, which is next to the court/playground, cannot use the playground because of the mud and mosquitoes. These students miss their playtime.

Why doesn’t Housing, Parks and Recreation care? Why doesn’t our government care? Why doesn’t education care? Why don’t our senators care? Why don’t any of our elected leaders care about the youth of St. John? Add to this, starting in September, another grade level of Sprauve School will be sent to St. Thomas for their education.

So you know, our two basketball courts normally have about 50 kids around each court and at the playground. Hopefully, a bunch of young Tim Duncans. Since the closing of our two courts, does anyone wonder where the kids are playing now?

Steve Black
St. John