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Parking at day, party at night

Published:Friday | January 9, 2015 | 1:30 PMChad Bryan
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Winston Sill
Damion Crawford
Winston Sill
File Patrons enjoy the music at the Follow Your Sound 2014 Finals, held at UDC Car Park, downtown, Kingston on Saturday, December 2014.
Anthony Minott
File Ladies party at Magnum Container Satdazsw, a popular car park event held at Gee Wee in Cross Roads.
Winston Sill
File The Palisadoes roadway is brightly lit after the Jamaica Public Service, in collaboration with the Caribbean Maritime Institute hosted a streetlinghting ceremony last year..
Norman Grindley
File The almost empty downtown Kingston Transport Centre
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Junior Minister in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, Damion Crawford, is hoping that by next month car parks in downtown Kingston will be used as entertainment zones to accommodate much of the city's nightlife.

Entertainment zones are spaces dedicated exclusively to entertainment events at specific times and represent an attempt to address the need for venues that will not violate the Noise Abatement Act.

Downtown Kingston is already used for a number of open-air entertainment events, such as the annual Dennis Brown celebration and last year's CB Pan Chicken Championship finals.

lock-off time

"The assumption, and based on the test that we're doing, is that these areas will have limited impact on residential areas. There will be no need for a lock-off time. If you have these zones then there will be no need to have a lock-off time," Crawford said.

"The car parks' usage often ends by 8 p.m. Events don't start before 10 p.m. Therefore, there is nothing that prevents a car park from being used for an event. The car park invariably starts back use by 7 a.m. on a weekday. On a weekend there is no use for the car park," Crawford continued.

Palisadoes strip

Last year, Crawford announced that discussions were under way with the Urban Development Corporation, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation to establish the Palisadoes strip and sections of downtown Kingston as the capital's first entertainment zones.

For the proposed Palisadoes party site, Crawford said he was awaiting response from NEPA.

"NEPA is supposed to send us a report and we haven't got that yet. The report is to tell me where exactly can be used and where exactly cannot be used," Crawford said.

Crawford explained that nine sites in downtown Kingston have already been identified, with one particular location intended to become operational once the permission has been granted.

It is expected that following events held at these car parks, promoters will be responsible for cleaning the areas. Arrangements can be made with the KSAC, Crawford said.