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Saving Charlotte Amalie

Posted by CaribShout on August 3, 2009 at 7:00pm

By MEGAN POINSKI ST. THOMAS - Downtown Charlotte Amalie has been renowned worldwide as a charming and historic city. On a walk through downtown, many beautifully restored buildings line both sides of the streets. Their brickwork, facades, windows, roofs and structural styles evoke historical years when Charlotte Amalie was the nerve center of the island of St. Thomas. But on that same walk through downtown, there are buildings that have been forgotten since those past glory years. Many are missing walls, roofs, proper doors. Buildings that have been abandoned by their actual owners for generations and are now the residences of illegal squatters. Many of these buildings were once beautiful, but now they make the city appear blighted. "Downtown is full of potentially beautiful buildings," said April Newland, a St. Thomas-based Realtor. "Some have burned down. Some have been neglected. Some are full of vagrants. Some have people raising fighting dogs next to them. It is really a shame to let some of these beautiful buildings get to where they cannot be saved."

Daily News Photo by SEAN McCOY Long-abandoned buildings dominate a downtown view. Several obstacles stand in the way of improving those buildings, however. Most of them are privately owned, and current territorial law does not allow much government intervention in private property. Some of the owners want to hold on to their property - but don't want the high property taxes that would come with improvements. Some may not have the money it takes to rehabilitate their property, which is subject to several guidelines because it is located in a historic district. Some would be happy to sell their property, but their selling prices are higher than buyers are willing to pay. The result is a downtown area that looks dilapidated in places. A downtown with several havens for drug dealers and vagrants. A downtown where people feel unsafe and can only enjoy some of the scenery. "Vacant property damages the neighborhood, sometimes irreparably," said Kerstin McConnell, president of the St. Thomas Board of Realtors. "This is a formula for blight in every sense of the word. Rundown buildings leave the neighborhood looking depressed." The Board of Realtors, policymakers, preservationists and people who do business downtown are coming together with their ideas to turn the downtown district around. Projects and legislation are in the pipeline that could show immediate results. "Our historic buildings have a lot of significance and importance to our community, both from a cultural aspect and for tourism," Senate President Louis Hill said. "I think that the government has got to be more involved and engaged in making sure they are restored." What happened? Through the looking glass of history, St. Thomas-St. John Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Felipe Ayala can see a Charlotte Amalie that was quaint and charming. Charlotte Amalie was never a planned city, so different building styles and traditions stood next to each other along the streets. Ayala said the look of the town was distinct and interesting. Today, he said, there are 400 historic buildings in the downtown area. Some of those date back before 1837, when the town of Charlotte Amalie was surveyed for the Danish king. However, some of the buildings look like they have been neglected since then. Attorney Tom Bolt, who works downtown in Royal Dane Mall, outlined part of the problem. "Back in the day, we had people, families, who lived, worked and did everything in the Charlotte Amalie town area," Bolt said. "In the 1960s, they all moved to the country, to a new horizon, which became Tutu. "Then people started raising their families there. The rented their house in town for income, and lived outside town to raise their kids. "The kids moved to the states and their parents or grandparents passed away. They would sell the house in Tutu, and keep the one down here. They were fined no money and had no incentive to do anything else with it, so they just left it alone." Sometimes, properties were well-tended - until hurricanes damaged them, that is. Downtown Charlotte Amalie is full of buildings that still haven't recovered from severe damage in hurricanes more than a decade ago. Hurricane damage played a major role in transforming the wooden building on Norre Gade that housed the former Squirrel Cage restaurant into the shambles it is in today, Ayala said. "The building passed from one generation to another," Ayala said. "Instead of securing everything at that time, the problems compounded and got bigger." Another problem that spawned derelict buildings is the territory's long and outmoded probate process. If a property owner dies without a will, the property is given to that person's heirs. This policy has resulted in some properties being jointly owned by more than 10 people. Realtor Newland said that it becomes problematic when the owners are trying to decide what to do with the property. "I had one property up here owned by 11 heirs. All of the heirs want to sell it except for one. So it cannot be sold," Newland said. "In the meantime, people have pried off the boards so squatters can stay." Financial difficulties of many varieties also come into play. Ayala said several owners are interested in improving their property but cannot afford to do what is needed. There have been programs in the past that gave small grants to property owners for improvements. Ayala used to be in charge of the scrape-and-paint program in Charlotte Amalie, which gives funding for properties to be repainted. Ayala said it worked wonders. However, the funding for the scrape-and-paint program dried up several years ago. "The cash flow is tight," Ayala said. "When it comes to this, it's always preservation issues versus quality of life things. Preservation always loses." Some property owners have the wherewithal and desire to make improvements but fear the tax man, Newland said. Keeping the property in derelict condition maintains low property taxes. If the property was in better condition, the tax bills could skyrocket. Other property owners are ready to sell - but for a hefty price. Newland, McConnell and Ayala all said that inflated property prices have caused problems. Because of high prices and sellers who have refused to negotiate their prices, some of the rundown properties have stayed that way. Newland said the Family Resource Center has been trying to buy a rickety-looking wooden building on Bunker Hill with plans to renovate it and use it to improve its services. The sale has not gone through because the seller will not accept the charity's offer of $80,000. The Rev. Jeff Gargano, former pastor of the St. Thomas Reform Church, has firsthand knowledge about rehabilitating once-derelict downtown properties. The church office building - across the street from the church itself - was a known crack house. Gargano said that the church was able to buy it because the property's executor was also in the ministry. If owners would make it easier to transfer their property, he said, downtown Charlotte Amalie would be a different place. "There are people here who are willing to buy some of these downtown properties and fix them up. People are willing to make a difference," Gargano said. "If we don't, who will?" The law does address abandoned buildings. But it does not say much. According to Title 23 of the V.I. Code, the Fire Service has authority to order the cleanup of any building deemed a fire hazard. If the building is not cleaned up, the Fire Service director can order the building to be demolished. Realtors and downtown business owners are working with Senate President Hill to change that. Newland and V.I. Board of Realtors President McConnell both advocate changing the law to hurt those who leave property abandoned where it hurts most: in their wallets. They cite laws elsewhere that have been successful in turning around places with derelict property. Laws that give property owners a limited time to take steps to improve its condition. If the property is not fixed in that interval, the property owner will receive substantial daily fines. Newland proposes something like $5,000 per day. "Once we've started the fining process, people will get off the dime immediately," Newland said. "A family of 18 heirs will come to the table and quickly make the decision whether their property should be fixed of be sold." By forcing property owners' hands and making them decide what to do with their property, the Realtors said it could be construed that they are just trying to make more money. "We do not want to make money. Not a penny," McConnell said. "We want people to have to fix it or sell it," Newland continued. "It is not fair to your neighbors or to the local government. Because of these squatters and the hazards they create, we are constantly bringing in the police, fire department and health department." Bolt said that a combination of public and financial pressure could make a difference. "If people don't fix up their property, we should have a program where the government will fix it up for you and then put that on their tax bills," Bolt said. "The government had a tax auction about 10 years ago, where they were going to sell property belonging to people who had not paid their taxes. They printed it in the newspaper, and it was about two pages of names and addresses," he continued. "You wouldn't believe how many people paid their taxes after that." Hill said he has legislation to address the derelict property issue currently being worked on in the Senate legal counsel's office. He said he has been working with Realtors and other interested parties and bringing his own ideas into the bill and is hopeful that it will meet everyone's needs. Hill said the legislation will probably be ready to be considered by the Senate in a month. "Our historic districts throughout the territory - Christiansted, Frederiksted and Charlotte Amalie - are all in need of attention," Hill said. "They are the hubs of the territory, and if they are full of dilapidated buildings and abandoned buildings, it is not a good thing." Newland has been working with other members of the National Association of Realtors to discuss the problems in the Virgin Islands. She was able to get an expert from the national organization to look over proposed legislation for the territory. Ayala, from the Historic Preservation Commission, said he has heard all of the legislative ideas. He thinks some of them might be too unpalatable for the Senate to pass. Instead of sweeping legislation, Ayala throws more of his support behind smaller revitalization ideas that will jump-start interest in improving downtown properties. Back when he ran the scrape-and-paint program, Ayala said he would target buildings that were surrounded by other buildings that needed work. What happened much of the time is that nearby property owners would get excited about the vast improvements that a little paint made on the property. It really made a difference, he said. "Then the funding gets pulled," Ayala said. "It drives me crazy. The most money that was ever spent on the program was $15,000. You'd be surprised what paint can do." Simple landscaping can also make vast improvements, Ayala said. Many local flowering plants and palm trees are easy to add to a property - and can change the look of an area. By working with the Historic Preservation Commission and the State Historic Preservation Office, properties also can see improvement. The owners of the former Squirrel Cage building just received a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office to stabilize it, Ayala said. Regardless of what kinds of policy changes may come or what kind of money becomes available to property owners for making improvements, Ayala said the most important thing is to change the attitudes of Virgin Islanders. Many people stand back and say they are waiting for the government to fix things, he said. Instead, local residents should take ownership and pride in their cities. "We tend to turn a blind eye to what is going on in the downtown areas," Ayala said. "On the board, we fight to save these historic buildings. But you have to meet us halfway. Because the whole town will win, or the whole town will lose. At the end of the day, the ships pull out of here. We live here. This is our town. These are our problems. We have to live with them."

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