Lakeland City Vice Mayor visits Federation
…possible trade agreements for St. Kitts-Nevis

By Stanford Conway
Editor-in-Chief-SKNVibes.com

Vice Mayor Mark Hartz [seated] and his good friend Terry Crookes

Vice Mayor Hartz made these pronouncements among others during an exclusive interview with SKNVibes on Wednesday, May 14 before paying a courtesy call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs at his office in Government Headquarters on Church Street, Basseterre.

“My stay in St. Kitts and Nevis has been great…it’s been amazing! We have been to the beaches, we have been to the restaurants, toured the city and we have enjoyed the architecture. My dad was an architect and so I love architecture. We have also been to your market and met the people. The people here in St. Kitts are amazingly friendly. Everybody says good morning when you pass by on the streets; it’s an amazing place to be,” he said.

Hartz, who arrived in the Federation on May 6, said he and his wife came to visit some very good friends they met a few years ago and “we thought we could have seen them in England, fortunately they moved here last August which allowed us to meet with good friends in Paradise [St. Kitts]”.

Asked if his visit had anything to do with commerce, Hartz said, “There always can be good byproducts of visits to any place and Lakeland is a unique kind of residential development that has some commercial that we can always benefit by meeting folks. There is always the possibility that we will actually become friends across the sea and could benefit each other.”   ~~Adz:Right~~

He added that there are always things to learn when one is in government, such as the application of serviceable law which is an important factor. He pointed out that there are always points of law that could be improved to better serve the people, because government is all about serving people through discussions and cooperation.

“And there is also a possibility that there could be some commercial situation that could be worked out between a city like Basseterre and Lakeland, Tennessee,” Hartz added.

Addressing the issue of the effects high fuel prices have on the rapidly rising cost of living, the Vice Mayor posited that more time should be devoted to developing agro-business in the Federation.

“Particularly on the windward side of the island you got opportunities for good growth. It seems that the crops that are grown here are highly nutritious. When we went to the market we saw some amazing local vegetables and much more could be done in an agro-business situation with various crops that may be able to be exported from the island…and when you work out trade agreements that become more equal, the economy can be balanced easier. So, if you have a little bit more to export, agro-business could help,” he said.

Hartz pointed out that the Federation has many quality artists and the opportunity may also exist for them to export their products. He also declared that an empty room in his house would be island-designed with Caribbean calypso colours and art from both St. Kitts and Nevis on his return to the USA.

~~Adz:Left~~ The Vice Mayor promised that on his return to Lakeland he would encourage residents to visit the Federation, noting he has to get “some folks to come down here and see what a wonderful place this is”.

Asked if his next visit to the Federation would be import/export oriented, Hartz said, “There is a good possibility! We have a wonderful retail development in Lakeland that is in the process of being redeveloped and it is a prime time for us to do something with our new development project called Lakeland Station. It would be a good opportunity perhaps to bring imports of island-art and island-products to Lakeland.”

He added that Lakeland Station is going to be a unique shopping experience and part of that uniqueness has to have some island-flavour.

The Vice Mayor and his wife Nancy, whom he said loves the Federation, flew out of St. Kitts on Wednesday, last.