As part of the changing face of Blowing Point, a road-side building is under construction to serve as the headquarters of the Elected Representative for District 6, Mr. Curtis Richardson, as well as accommodation space for members of the community.
Mr. Richardson, the Minister of Infrastructure, Communications, Public Utilities and Housing (MICUH), visited the construction site – and his workers on Monday, July 2 – where he spoke to media representatives.
“I grew up in the Blowing Point area, but my parents and siblings lived off the road there,” he recalled. “My father [the late Pastor Ambrose Richardson] gave me some property in the back where we grew up but, over the years, we went to West End where my dad gave me a piece of land to build my family home. So I ended up living down at Rendezvous West – some people say West End.”
The former High School Mathematics Teacher continued: “When I got involved in politics I recognised that I really needed to come back more in the centre of the Blowing Point community, and God made it possible for me to get an opportunity to acquire this property where I am presently establishing ‘the Curtis Love Headquarters.’
“It will be a building where I can sleep sometimes in the village and have functions with the people in the community. Downstairs will be sleeping quarters. It is an office space, as well, with four different desks. If persons want to rent or share an office space with me, it would be an opportunity for them to do business here.
“I want to create a collage: a mix of different activities to give the community a lift. There are a lot of people on the Blowing Point Road who are doing business in the community, so I want to mix in with them and give the area some more prominence.”
Mr. Richardson went on: “It is all part of my 2020 Vision. When I was elected, in 2015, I gave the people a commitment that I was coming back into the community – and this building is to register my presence as a Blowing Point man out of Road South.
“The plan I have for the building will demonstrate just how much I want the people in the community to be part of what goes on here. I am not going to wall in the living room, dining room and kitchen. This space will be open for people to come off the road, from the community or elsewhere, sit down and talk with me as if they have come to my house.
“There was an old abandoned house here for many years but I tore it down. As you know, I am called ‘the Minister of Demolition in Anguilla’ so that was the easy part for me to do. As long as I have the clearance to go ahead, I am also a person who knows how to build and I will demonstrate to the people of Anguilla, including the people here in Road South, that I can knock down something and put it back in a short time as long as I have the necessary funding and support. Every building I built, I have been the supervisor or contractor because I understand construction – and I lean on people who have the know-how in construction. When it comes to space, I am a person who loves adequate space. I am very cluster-phobic. Anytime you squeeze me in a small space, you kind of shutdown my brain – so I like big spaces.” He named Ramou Brooks and Lennard Bennett as being among the builders assisting him.
Mr. Richardson added: “Just this morning my wife told me to make it a two-storey building, but I was planning to build one storey with a section for the community. The two storey-building will stretch me, but I will find a way to build it overtime; but I intend to have the parts for the office space and for the community done by August – in four or five weeks.”
