Intentional community design, beautification projects, and public art have long been known to improve community cohesion and create a shared sense of place, which is important to foster as residents return to old patterns in the months and years after a disaster and their shared recovery objectives begin to diverge. Results of the St. John Long-Term Recovery Team’s community survey indicated strong support for efforts to clean up and enhance the beauty of the downtown area.

In particular, 86.3% of respondents noted a desire for the removal of litter and debris in Cruz Bay and 81.4% desired more and better maintained trash cans. Support for improved public bathrooms, better walkability features, and painting and fixing up damaged buildings were also documented. Cruz Bay is the gateway to St. John, with approximately 1.7 million passengers disembarking the ferry annually and sets the tone for what visitors will expect of the rest of the island, potentially influencing their decisions of whether to stay and spend their money. Examples of potential objectives for this project include repainting or re-siding dilapidated or storm-damaged buildings, removing trash and debris and adding more public trash cans, and adding landscaping and repairing roadways and walkways. An “adopt-a-block” program could help to keep streets or blocks clean, as well as potentially sponsor additional improvements, such as trash cans or landscaping. This project has overlap with promoting the Cruz Bay Historic District as well as designing Cruz Bay and Coral Bay for improved walkability, public spaces and waterfront access. The project are complementary and can build upon one another.

IMPLEMENTATION STEPS: 1. Gather and coordinate volunteers that can be mobilize to complete projects. 2. Identify and prioritize key areas to focus beautification efforts that will have the biggest impact and/or are feasible in the short term. 3. Raise community support and funding for beautification. 4. Establish a process to incentivize building owners to undertake beautification projects, including monetary incentives, volunteer labor, legal aid, etc. 5. Establish a process to maintain cleanliness and landscaping – such as an “adopt-a-block” model

Key Players: St. John LTRT; Small Business Alliance (proposed) Alignment: Econ, CPCB, IS RSFs Cost: < $100,000 Timeline: One Year