Crosby: Pump $$ into Renaissance Project

“Resurrect the St James Renaissance Project.” That’s the suggestion of Earl Crosby, president of the St James Community Improvement Committee, also called the We Beat Committee. Crosby said there was no need to pump $13 million into the Ariapita Avenue Tourism Project, when there is the Renaissance Project, which was designed to serve the same purpose.

He told the Sunday Guardian the Rennaisance Project was started a few years ago, with the St James Arch and the Amphitheatre, with the intention by Tourism and Industrial Development Corporation of T&T Ltd (Tidco) to have St James as the hub of entertainment, and a tourist attraction. “We could build on it, rather than start something new,” Crosby said.

Crosby is willing to lend his committee’s expertise to the Ministry of Tourism, and the Tourism Development Company (TDC). He said St James, the city that never sleeps, is the ideal place to develop the tourism thrust, as Woodbrook residents are having problems with the noise levels at the bars, cars blocking driveways and limers urinating on walls. They fear the Ariapita Avenue venture will add to the problems.

Crosby called for the amphitheatre to be developed, with infrastructure—toilets, seating and a security fence—and used to put on events for cruise-ship travellers and locals year-round. The amphitheatre is maintained by the We Beat Committee, which is having problems with vandalism. About the recently-concluded We Beat Festival, Crosby said he was satisfied with this year’s attendance. “It was better and brighter than last year.”