What is your reason for pursuing a seat in the Legislature?

I am pursuing a seat in the Legislature to actively participate and help do my part in making a difference in our community by creating laws that are important to a more prosperous Virgin Islands.

What is the top issue on your platform and what is your plan to address it, if elected?

The top issues on my platform are small business, agriculture, and the environment. Small business, agriculture, and environmental initiatives are important to drive economic growth and to help the USVI to strive to become more self-sufficient. If elected, I will continue to work with my colleagues to implement changes that favors small business and that will allow us to have more equity in federal programs and access to grants and micro loans.

What have you done in your community in to promote change in the last five years?

In 2013 I created a venue for small business owners to expose their business through my Just Us programs (www.usvijustus.com) on various stations. Through my radio program, Just Us, my goal was to inspire the next generation by hosting guests that provide a background of their journey to greatness, just as I was inspired early in my career. I later expanded to include Just Government, a program that offer the community current-event topics and issues that inform the community of happenings that are of importance, and of interest. Most importantly, the open dialogue includes discussion on solutions for the betterment of the community. Finally, I created Just Quelbe and Fungi program.

Why should people vote for you?

As a small business owner, former Administrator, working on the Board of Elections (6 years as chair), volunteer, and through my Just Us program, I have done my part to help our community. People should vote for me because I am passionate in my work for making our community a better place and known as an action man that gets things done. 

What is your strategy to have a good working relationship with your senate colleagues, the executive branch, and the judicial branch?

My strategy to have a good working relationship with my senate colleagues is to continue to hold them accountable to the people of the Virgin Islands and doing what is best for us as a community. As a small business owner, former Administrator, working on the Board of Elections (6 years as chair) and through my Just Us program, I have had to work with individuals with different perspectives. Diversity of perspective and constructive discussion will help our community as long as we have the same mission/goal: a more prosperous Virgin Islands.

What is your top Small Business legislative priority that you plan on focusing on if elected?

I believe deeply in entrepreneurship and have held privately owned businesses for over thirty years. Owning a small business is tough and throughout the journey funds need are beyond those on hand; therefore, I would work with commerce through partnerships and collaboration, to ensure there are programs to help small businesses who to manage, fund, and sustain their businesses.

Do you believe the Economic Development Authority and its associated tax incentives are a benefit to the Territory? If so, why? If not, what changes would you make the existing structure of incentives offered under this program?

The Economic Development Authority has an important role in driving economic development by providing local jobs and training in skills that allow us to provide to enhance the skillset and diversity of our workforce. One specific change I have discussed with my team is to champion the causes of local business owners and promote for a tax sabbatical for local businesses. For every six contiguous years in business, our local businesses should get 100% abatement on the seventh year.

There have been discussions in the both the legislature and executive branch about the need to diversify the Territory’s economy. What is your vision for the Territory’s economy in the next ten years? What legislative actions would you take to accomplish that vision?

Diversification is important in driving economic growth in the territory as it is in any business. My vision for the Territory’s economy is one that continues to drive for self-sufficiency through legislation that will help small business, compliment the work done by our nonprofits and other small business that do so much with their limited resources. I will support the newly established Virgin Islands National Park. We need to diversify our open space and make it more friendly to industries that will help sustain our economy in the long term. Setting aside large tracks of land for agriculture in St. Thomas and working on public/private partnerships with small businesses that are environmentally, socially and culturally conscious will help drive economic success of these islands. Together we can make this happen.

Given the territory’s challenges around data collection and the rapidly changing ecosystem our children and families live in, what do you propose to improve data collection and usage for policy decisions in the USVI?

In 2017, the Department of Health held a successful data summit to bring together the myriad of departments, agencies, and local non-governmental organizations engaged in collecting data. The goal of the summit was to identify which agencies were collecting what data and how best to share the data, to eliminate duplication of data collection efforts and bring the data into one hub to execute economies of scales in data collection and management. Check out this recent Washington Post article that demonstrates how we can use data to identify root causes in our community.

I highly recommend reducing the costs and efficiency of data collection and management via creating an office within the University of the Virgin Islands or elsewhere in the GVI to focus solely on centralizing and managing data. Data science and analytics is the direction to which the territory should move. While the USVI depends largely on data collected at the national level, it is critical for data to be collected locally that describes our population. Therefore, I believe it is critically important to have the capacity for the USVI to be able to convert data into high quality information to be used for decision making at all levels of government. 

What is your top Agriculture legislative priority that you plan on focusing on if elected?

As a farmer and the direct descent of farmers, I believe in the importance of saving local farms across the territory so that we (as a territory) become more self-sufficient and can import less and export more. For example, I would establish a legislative-farmer partnership designed to identify means to identify and access capital through various sources (e.g., federal grants to assist farmers to get more capital run and keep their farms).

There has been much talk about agriculture, what would you do to ramp up production so that local supermarkets and vendors would have a steady supply of fruits, vegetables, meat, milk and eggs?

We need to work on getting the Arbitore up and running for our livestock farmers. Continue to work with, support and expand important coops that work with local farmers to bring fresh, high quality, local produce to the community every two weeks. The government has spent a lot of money on assessments. Now is time to get the job done. Per the Agriculture Plan productivity by 2% each year to increase locally consumed products from 3% to 35% according to the goal in Vision 2040. Increasing acreage in production by 10% each year …. increase number of individuals engaged in home gardening by 10% annually and reducing the imports by 2%. These are clear goals and we need legislation to support.

What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing our agricultural community? What legislative solutions would you propose to address them?

The biggest challenges facing our agriculture community includes support for basic necessities like feed, water, seeds, and land which is limited in these islands.

What is your top Environment legislative priority that you plan on focusing on if elected?

Healthy ecosystems clean our water, purify our air, maintain our soil, regulate the climate, recycle nutrients, and provide us with food each important to our very existence and in particular important to the main industry here in the territory – tourism. For example, in my first 100 days I would introduce a bill which focuses on developing a long-range plan with the top 10 objectives we need to put into place to protect our environment.

What do you consider to be the biggest environmental problem faced by the community and how would you solve it?

One of the biggest problem facing the Virgin Islands is something that may seem to be out of our control, climate change. We have already seen how a global phenomena directly affects us locally. The frequency and strength of our hurricanes continue to increase, our oceans are increasing in temperature affecting our marine life with coral bleaching and Sargassum (seaweed) at levels never seen before. It starts by building the consciousness of our people. We produce 40% more trash per person than stateside. Why is that acceptable? We need to do better and focus on taking care of the environment by advancing recycling research and development and teaching our children how to be good stewards of our environment.

How would you use your legislative powers to address the concerns of the Teacher’s Union, specifically workplace and classroom safety?

Safety in the workplace should be our first priority not just for teachers but for student and visitors to our schools. We live in a small community here the Virgin Islands. I believe that Teacher Union leaders and teachers should be afforded the opportunities to visit districts on the mainland and view how safety issues are addressed in the workplace. We should offer legislation to afford union leaders and teachers the opportunity to participate in national workshops, school visits, and converse with others in the field. Lessons learned from these visits should be shared with our local educators.

Recently there was a student fight which resulted in the arrest of students in St. Croix and educators across the Territory have spoken out about an increase of youth violence in schools. What do you believe is the cause of this increased violence and how would you use your legislative powers to reduce youth violence in schools?

Fights in our schools reflects not just on our schools but what is happening in our communities. If students are actively engaged in meaningful activities, with the support of their school, community, and parents, conflict will decrease. I will offer legislation and funds to provide after school working hours that are connected with businesses in our communities, or after school academic engagement hours. Offering a small stipend to students who spend expected accumulated hours in these programs is one approach. Additional rewards can be offered to parents, businesses, and students after successful program completion.

What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing students who graduate from public high schools in the Virgin Islands? How would you use your legislative powers to address this challenge?

The biggest challenge facing students who graduate from public high schools in the Virgin Islands is the limited options provided in trade industries. Students who graduate from our schools should be equipped with a trade. When our island is hit with yearly storms and hurricanes, we import many workers from other community to rebuild our land. When this happens, monies that are obtained from various external resources automatically leave our land. UVI should play an active role in the rebuilding process. Funds should be allotted to the education department to implement or enhance trade  programs and connected with a degree in the trades at UVI.

What policies and/or amendments would you advocate for to support nonprofits that serve children and families in the areas of health, education, housing, public safety, and economic well-being?

I believe in collaboration and partnerships to get things done. Working singularly or at cross-purposes is never a good approach to solving the many challenges we have in the USVI. As it is clear that with shrinking resources both human and fiscal, we need an “all of territory” approach for addressing our many challenges. Nonprofits and other grassroots organizations are closest to the ground and understand the needs. Therefore, I will strongly advocate for any policies and or amendments introduced to support nonprofits, which embrace evidence-based data that can generate tangible and measurable outcomes which fully support children and families in the areas of health, education, housing, public safety, and economic well-being.

What do you consider to be some of the primary contributing factors to the mental health challenges facing our youth, and what are some of the systemic ‘fixes’ to the Territory’s mental health infrastructure?

I concur that youth in the USVI have similar challenges such as isolation, high rates of poverty, unemployment (doubled in the last 15 years), and a loss of hope in the future, thus, a systemic approach would be the most effective way to strengthen our mental health infrastructure. Comprehensive behavioral health initiatives and increased funding for outreach programs to offer a positive learning environment while keeping our children safe is necessary. As a legislator, I would do three things: 

1) lobby for funding for programs to increase the number of mental health professionals in the territory, 

2) partner with the University of the Virgin Islands to create a curriculum-focused program that builds the next generation of local mental health professionals, 

3) work with the Department of Health to accelerate the recruitment of qualified mental health professionals via mentorship and or on-site internships as part of the employment credentials.

As senator, I will support comprehensive behavioral health initiatives and increased funding for both policing and outreach programs to keep our children safe and to maintain a positive learning environment.

What do you believe is the biggest challenge facing students who graduate from public high schools in the Virgin Islands? How would you use your legislative powers to address this challenge?

The biggest challenges facing students who graduate from public high schools in the Virgin Islands is being offered options to be productive members of society. Students who graduate from our schools should be equipped with a trade. When our islands are hit with yearly storms and hurricanes, we import many workers from other community to rebuild our land. When this happens, monies that are obtained from various resources automatically leave our community. UVI must also be shared in the rebuilding process. Funds should be allotted to the education department and UVI, to implement such a program and connect with a degree in the trades at UVI. I will support legislation  that supports developing trade programs in the USVI.

What specific steps and strategies would you develop to reconnect the 16-24 age population?

To engage the 16- to 24-year-old population, we need to return to some of the fundamentals which makes our culture the envy of other communities. Parents should focus on trying to spend more time with their children. This means being actively involved in their children’s education and knowing well their friends and associates. Be your child’s biggest advocate. Cheer them on by attending after school events, sports teams, and their other extracurricular activities. Parent should encourage their children to reach for the stars and they should have a voice in their futures to teach them the importance of community activism and voting (i.e., offer a voter’s registration drive at the same time as there are discussions on selective service, informational sessions offered by the Department of Motor Vehicles or with the local driving schools). 

In addition to the parents being more involved with their children’s lives, parents cannot do this alone. It takes a village to raise a child, therefore our community cannot stay silent. We must come together to offer opportunities for our youth to set them up to be productive and contributing members of our territory and society as a whole. Either we all will rise together, or we will all sink together; therefore, we should guide our children to join community activities early in life (know thy neighbor), for example, Friends of the National Parks. 

Another strategy lies with our education system. Vocational programs in high schools in areas where we have worker shortages (i.e. electricians, plumbers, carpenters, masonry, information technology, and healthcare and mental health workers) needs to be created or expanded. Partnering with small businesses that would be willing to provide opportunities for apprenticeships for youth eligible or becoming eligible to enter the labor market can supplement this approach to make it even more successful. 

The 16- to 24-year-old demographic is our future and this population is the one that will keep society running. Therefore, it is crucial to reconnect this age group as it is not just about their futures, but to all our futures. We have an aging population that will soon depend on this generation to move our territory forward. 

The VI Taxi association has been faced with turnover and members who have not been paying due to hardship during the pandemic. What can we do to improve the experience for our local taxi drivers.

The VI Taxi Association plays a critical part of our tourism product. A taxi driver is usually the first and last person a visitor sees and is a major factor of their island experience. It is important that we provide training necessary to give accurate information and find many of the places that are difficult to find with the spike in air bnbs. As the owner of a transportation service, I often work with the taxi association to identify needs for our disabled citizens and visitors. I look forward to being their voice in the senate.

WAPA made a big investment in natural gas with a promise of reducing the cost of utilities significantly. Here we are years later. What would you propose that would support WAPA in reducing the cost of electricity in the islands?

It is difficult for any large utility to be successful with the limited number of customers available on a small set of islands. The staff of WAPA should be commended for doing so much for the virgin islands without much fanfare. Diversification is important for WAPA in both the fuel it consumes and products they offer. Microgrids, Wind Turbines, and new oceanic technologies should continue be explored. We have plenty of natural resources such as sun, wind, and ocean that we can used to help make things better in these US Virgin Islands. Each of us, individually, also have our part to play by doing what those before us thought us including not wasting water, turning off lights, and recycling when possible. We have a lot of smart local Virgin Islanders who can get together to help us solve the issue.  As your senator, I will be your champion to make sure that we leverage our resources in a responsible fashion that benefits our environment and continue to make the US Virgin Islands a place for all of us to be proud of.