Good Morning! Thank you for joining me today at this important Press Conference regarding the Economic Recovery of St. Croix.

By now it is no secret that Governor Turnbull has tasked me with the development of a comprehensive plan to stimulate the economic recovery of St. Croix.

Aside from my statutory duties as the Commissioner of Insurance, Chair of the Virgin Islands Banking Board, as well as responsibility for the seven Divisions under the Office of the Lieutenant Governor: The Divisions of Banking and Insurance, Cadastral, Corporations and Trademarks, the Passport Office, Medicare, the Recorder of Deeds and the Tax Assessor's Divisions, my responsibility now includes that of the charge for the economic recovery of St. Croix.

As you can see my plate is very full. Nonetheless, I am energized and as anxious as you and others are to see positive changes occur on St. Croix.

However, I think it is important that in order to experience meaningful and far-reaching change on St. Croix, or in the Territory, we must do a better job at planning.

During my Inaugural Speech as Lieutenant Governor, I stated "Government alone cannot solve all the substantial challenges before us. I also said that challenges can be surmounted by sharing the responsibility."

I believe that the economic recovery of St. Croix can only come about with all sectors of the community at the table, Public-Private and Residents. We all have good ideas and energy to share! However, it must be harnessed towards the development of ONE VISION and ONE PLAN.

It can be done! But we must come to the table with trust -that is trusting that we all want the same thing for St. Croix and that we are in this together for the long haul! We can do no less if we are to move forward steadily and progressively.

Having said that, I want to give you some background of the steps that I have taken to arrive at this point.

The debate over what is best for St. Croix has been cause for much contention over the past decade. Many reports from the GVI's Economic Recovery Task Force Five Year Operating and Strategic Plan, V.I. Port Authority - St. Croix Economic Development Action Agenda, the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategic Plan of 2001, to the Comprehensive Land and Water Use Plan, and scores of others have all pointed out the dismal facts about St. Croix.

Moreover, what is abundantly clear is that even though there have been a number of reports, plans and recommendations, St. Croix remains the same.

I believe the time has come to collectively design an action agenda that fosters ONE VISION - ONE PLAN. Together we can be stronger; together we can bring our wealth of talents energy and expertise together to share ONE VISION and ONE PLAN.

In accepting the "charge" if you will, to spearhead the revitalization of St. Croix, I believe that it is an effort that no one person can undertake. One person can lead - however, everyone must participate!

It is my firm belief that in leading there must also be sharing. So in assuming this "lead" role, I encourage and welcome everyone's involvement.

My Inaugural Speech called for "Citizen Participation." For the establishment of working committees of citizens, businesses, existing advisory groups, task forces, organizations, advocacy groups and the Executive and Legislative Branches. The overriding goal to work together to set milestones for achievable and sound progress.

For too long our approach to economic development and attracting investments has been hodge-podge, and catch as catch can. We have witnessed my attempts fall to the way side because of poor planning. I think the time has come to take a sound approach to St. Croix's development. It is imperative that we take the time to assess the overall situation, to implement strategies and policies that fall under one comprehensive plan, under one umbrella. It is time to truly focus on St. Croix.

Many reports such as the TRIAD Report documents St. Croix's strengths and weaknesses.

On the positive side, the TRIAD Report also reported that St. Croix possesses "a number of strengths and assets upon which to build adevelopment strategy. Some of these strengths include: location, proximity to North and South America and the Panama Canal; also the protections of American Law; additionally, stability of the American financial system which presents opportunities for European, American or even Asian firms that wish to have a presence or base operations in a US environment. St. Croix can also capitalize on its access to the Global Crossing fiber optics network."

Similar reports have also documented St. Criox's strengths and weaknesses.

And for the most part, the weaknesses appear to outweigh the strengths and cause much grief. I believe however, the time has come to capitalize on St. Croix's strengths! Consequently, we must take into account that there have been enough studies done to document the malaise of St. Croix, and we must forge ahead in seizing the opportunity to create ONE VISION/ONE PLAN. One that we all participate in, one that we all agree on, and one that shares the responsibility, shares the tasks.
It is important to caution here that even though a 'Plan" may be developed that we all come to consensus on, there must be room for adjustments and refinement even changes from time to time. There may be elements that we cannot control, so we must be open to changes as necessary.

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In reviewing the approach other cities and jurisdictions have taken to revitalize their economy, what is revealed is that lasting changes, lasting impact on the physical, social and economic conditions of distressed economies and distressed areas must include:

¢ A focused and sustained approach with the involvement and collaboration of all sectors of the community; and with strategic placement of investments and capital resources;

¢ Additionally, the goal of economic development and economic recovery must be to promote strong families, individuals and business who have the earning and spending power to circulate monies in the community, and;

¢ Businesses and investors must be 'good corporate citizens' by contributing profits locally to strengthen the local economy. They must share a vested interest in community well being.

These precepts were reinforced on my visit to study the experience of Washington, D.C., where I had the opportunity to meet with Mayor Anthony Williams, and his staff. Senator Luther Renee, Chair of the Legislature's Committee on Economic Development also accompanied us. Mayor Williams shared his concerns that in planning any agenda that is important that it be flexible and adaptable.

The D.C. experience has been similar to ours. D.C. was once on the brink of bankruptcy and through strategic planning and marketing, they were able to make a strong comeback.

Mayor Williams also stressed the importance of his direct involvement as a major point person in marketing D.C. He committed extensive time to serving as the spokesman at major conferences and every opportunity where there was the potential for attracting investment and business opportunities.

I have begun following his example by most recently co-sponsoring a conference of interested HedgeFund investors here in St. Croix. I will also speak at 2 upcoming marketing opportunities on behalf of EDC.

There are indeed lessons to be learned from the D.C. experience, as well as cities such as Detroit, Baltimore and others.

The most important lesson I believe is, that
St. Croix's economic recovery and the health of our communities depends on the extent to which scarce resources can be utilized to mobilize and align public and private sector action with resident priorities.

If meaningful and lasting changes are to occur, we must implement an action agenda based on ONE VISION AND ONE PLAN, under one umbrella in which everyone is united in purpose and committed to the attainment of ONE VISION.

So with these guiding thoughts in mind I have begun a process which I believe places us on the path that will lead to St. Croix's revitalization.
Given the charge by Governor Turnbull, the first step that was taken and necessary was to understand what the resources of the Government are.

In doing so, a meeting of various governmental agencies and semi-autonomous agencies was convened to begin mapping governmental resources.

If you follow on the power-point presentation, you will see that the objective of the governmental group, (which I will refer to as the 'Public Sector' group), was to begin the process of mapping of what the government has available to contribute to the St. Croix economic recovery.
We begun with the 'Public Sector' responding to a 'Resource Inventory.' What is it that the government -internally- has? "WHAT DO WE HAVE?"

WHAT ARE OUR LOCAL RESOURCES?

As you can see, to name a few, what we have are:
" Land suitable for development;
" We have an attractive environment;
" We have tax revenues from citizens and businesses;
" We have local government capital and programs in the form of:
" The Economic Development Commission and its various programs;
" We have various grants and loans available through programs such as the SBA;
" We have exceptional tax benefits/incentives; and
" We have internal human capital/human resources.

The question then begs: HOW CAN RESOURCES BE COMBINED TO MAXIMIZE IMPACTS AND PROMOTE ONE VISION/ONE PLAN?

Then we looked at our "External Resources."
What do we currently have at our disposal?

WHAT WE HAVE:
" Federal Government Capital and Programs in the form of:
" Tax exempt bonds and;
" Targeted Federal Programs;

" We have Non-Profit Entities, Capital and Programs that allow for:
" Grants, debts and/or equity investments;

" We have For-Profit capital and Programs that are structured through:
" Debt and/or equity investments;

" And we have outside human capital to tap into.

However, HAVE WE MAXIMIZED OR LEVERAGED THE EXTERNAL RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO US TO THE FULLEST EXTENT POSSIBLE?

Have we done our research into all the possibilities for funding? I believe that there is much more out there that we have not capitalized on. I have encouraged the Governor to establish a Federal Grants and research office that can employ individuals who spend their time exhausting all possibilities for grants, etc.

Next, the "public sector" group was tasked with responding to the following questions.

In addition to 'What we have,' What is it that we need?

WHAT DO WE NEED? From a self-assessment perspective, how do we answer the following:

" Do we have sufficient infrastructure? How would we grade ourselves in:
" Telecommunications;
" Power;
" Water;
" Transportation and Roads.

" Do we have adequate public safety measures in place? Are our citizens properly protected? What is our overall approach to crime and prevention?

" Are our schools competitive? Can investors relocating find world-class schools and rigorous academic programs and curricula? What about technology in the classroom and libraries?

" What health care access exists? Can we support high level local care needs?

" What are entertainment outlets? For tourism promotion, sports and otherwise?

" Is there a pool of skilled or semi-skilled workers to support various labor market requirements?

" Are our marketing and outreach programs adequate?

" Is our political climate and system supportive of outside investment?

" Is our legal system friendly to outside investment?

" Are the permitting and licensing processes fluid and easily negotiable?

" Is there a structure in place that allows for identification of resources that are available or may become available?

" What is the Island beautification and clean-up plan?

" What must we do immediately to beautify, clean up or jumpstart projects?

Based on the above, the governmental 'public sector' group was divided into 3 main clusters:
¢ A Planning Group;
¢ A Capital Projects/Programs Group;
¢ A Financial Group.

More questions were then posed to each cluster for reports back. These question centered on the following:

" What governmental processes and departments need to be re-aligned or restructured to maximize results?

" Are Cluster reports aligned with Resource Inventories?"

" What is the 'Public Sector' short-term, intermediate and long-term goals based on responses to the resource inventories?

" What, if any legislation is required to facilitate the vision?

" What current V.I. Codes need to be revised or purged?

Based on the meeting of the 'public sector' clusters, I will now allow Commissioner Dean Plaskett, whom I have chosen as the team leader for all clusters to share with you the combined reports of the various clusters through his power point presentation.

In order to respond to the above, we looked at the short term and long term goals and decided to focus on our Capital Projects to immediately infuse monies into our economy.

When Commissioner Plaskett is finished, I will then move on to the next steps of the process to implement the ONE VISION/ONE PLAN action agenda.

(Commissioner Plaskett does power-point presentation here).

NEXT STEPS SECTION

Step 2.

At the report out of the 'public sector' governmental agency group, it was deemed that Governor Turnbull would issue an Executive Order establishing a reporting mechanism for the various governmental agencies under the Lieutenant Governor's umbrella.

In addition, Governor Turnbull would commit funds to the St. Croix recovery initiative for appropriate staffing and activities. Obviously, because of my other statutory requirements and the challenges of each Division under the Lieutenant Governor's Office, a "coordinator" will be engaged to oversee the day-to-day administration of St. Croix's Economic Recovery.

Step 3.

The Next Step that we have begun, Step 3,
Involvement of the "Private Sector."

To facilitate this step, we have begin to send out letters and a survey out to all private sector groups and organizations (see attached to your press package) designed to gain an understanding of their vision. As you can see the letter calls for meetings with all private sector groups (if there are any groups that have not been contacted, we have not done so intentionally - please call my office and we will send you the same).

Once we have met on a smaller scale, we will then hold a larger focus group with representatives from all private sector groups, in which we will ask for a few key representatives to become a part of the larger construction of a St. Croix Recovery Working Group.

We look forward to our interaction with all private sector groups. I believe that there is much that can be contributed to a common vision for St. Croix.

Step 4.

The Next Step involves the voice and suggestions from our residents.

Resident Sector

This step involves meeting with residents, housing associations and community groups for open discussion and selection of key representatives to become members of the St. Croix Recovery working Group.

This step is crucial because I believe it will provide us with the micro details of what is important to our communities. We need to understand that thriving communities can only be realized by investment in community centers, housing availability, the locating of opportunities (shopping, parks, libraries and whatever the community deems appropriate to meet family needs) and to grow strong, crime free communities.

Step 5.

It is also my intention to listen to our student presidents as well. It is important that we here their voices and let them share their "vision" for St. Croix.

I have stated that it is a necessity that all groups come to the table to share what their vision is, to share their talents and to share their knowledge. I believe that there are groups in the community doing important work and perhaps with the understanding that we are all a part of the same community, we can collaborate and join efforts.

Following meeting with Resident Groups, it is my intention to meet with other groups, particularly our Labor Leaders involved in promoting economic development activity.

I am inviting all such groups to incorporate and align with us so that they may place key representative on the ONE VISION/ONE PLAN St. Croix Economic Recovery Working Group. I am open to dialogue.

Step 6.

By the same token, it is my intention to meet with various committees of the Legislature. Economy recovery may require some changes to laws and funding priorities. I have already met with the St. Croix Legislative Caucus.

Step 7.

After meeting with all the respective sectors and key representatives have been selected, the meat of the work will begin.

All key representative from public, private, resident, legislature and other groups will come together to form a "St. Croix Recovery Working Group."

As a part of these formations, I will hold a "Retreat and Visioning Session" so that we can come together and move forward together though the development of a mission. We will define the mission, the objective, form sub-committees to focus on specific areas, define responsibilities and target goals and timelines for implementation of a Recovery Action Agenda.

After the Retreat and Visioning Session, we will detail for the press the "work" schedules of sub-committees; the benchmarks they plan to accomplish and timelines. The progress will be transparent to the public through the implementation of a 'scorecard' approach to tracking progress of each group.

A specific and defined intervals, all subcommittees will come together to showcase progress on their individual components of their Action Agenda to share with the larger group. Once the Vision and Plan for the Action Agenda is completed, we will begin an implementation phase.

As we arrive at each "STEP" a press release or conference will be held to notify the public of the progress along the way.

There has been tremendous concern on what is happening on St. Croix. It was important that before preceding a clear understanding of existing resources and projects need to be inventoried.

To move forward, one must first know where they stand. My meetings with the "public sector" groups were to accomplish just that. I want to make it clear here that meeting with the governmental agencies in no ways dictates that government shapes where we go from here. We - the "St. Croix Economic Working Group," on behalf of their respective groups will shape the future of St. Croix through the development of ONE VISION and ONE PLAN - One Comprehensive Action Agenda.

While Commissioner Plaskett has outlined the many projects of various governmental agencies, it is important that we keep in perspective that these are projects and initiatives already on the drawing board, and I say again, already on the drawing board with funds committed to, so that the normal course of business must be to continue to see them through.

The challenge of completing the resource inventory is to see precisely where we are, to eliminate the barriers to their immediate implementation so that we could jump start construction and employment activity on St. Croix.

A number of significant capital projects have languished due to the impediments faced in obtaining licenses, permits, zoning, etc. To this end I have appointed Commissioner Plaskett, Commissioner Biggs and Commissioner Rutnik to join together to streamline the often tedious process of obtaining the necessary clearances by making it more fluid and accessible.

The capital projects outlined by Commissioner Plaskett represent a cumulative infusion of $78 Million expected to begin on St. Croix.

A list of all projects is included in your press package.

These projects will also create 730 jobs over the life of short-term projects. In addition to the 730 jobs, each job created supports an additional 1.3 jobs in the Support Industries. This translates into 949 jobs in Support Industries. For every $90, thousand spent, it supports 1 annual job in the Construction Industry.

The addition of 1680 jobs will have been created or maintained.

So in concluding, as you will note, St. Croix enters a challenging era of economic recovery and revitalization. There are many projects on the drawing board.

On a side note I also want to mention information that is relevant to the number of companies seeking to do business in the Territory. In the Office of Corporations, one of my charges, a reported $77,185.00 dollars was received in revenues by companies filing for various licenses and trade names to do business for the period of January 2003 to April 30, 2003. That represents a total of 750 registrations for new businesses.

As previously mentioned I have also impressed on the Governor the necessity of establishing a Federal Grants and Research Office. I do not believe that we exhaust every possibility to in terms of receiving and utilizing federal grants and other foundation grants.

Additionally that are any number of government properties that can be developed as equity investment for attracting major investors or developed as a tourism product. In other countries, history and tourism are blending into the creative development and promotion of what is promoted as "Historical Tourism."

St. Croix and the Territory has a fascinating history, it should be capitalized, such as has been done in Africa and Egypt and other places.

However, as we move forward, we must engage in an effort that will produce tangible results - not pie in the sky efforts.

It is also important that we understand that Rome was not built in one day and the problems plaguing St. Croix have compounded in recent years. We must carefully move forward if we are to realize lasting changes, and I want you to know that I am serious.

I will now open the floor for questions - but first let me say that in the very short future, I will also share with you my first quarter status report of the Lieutenant Governor's Office. We have made some significant strides in the various Divisions and it will enable you to see that I am indeed "on the job," along with fulfilling the charge of St. Croix's recovery.