Opposition spokesperson on cultural and creative industries, Dr Deborah Hickling Gordon, says the People's National Party's (PNP) promise to implement a 24-hour entertainment zone is geared towards building communities. Hickling Gordon said this initiative, which was initially "fleshed out" by then entertainment state minister Damion Crawford, is a plan the PNP hopes to take forward, about a decade later, with a fresh approach. "There were four different types of entertainment zones [from A to D].
Two (A and B) were for community-type events with a democratic system where people could give suggestions and object if they have particular issues. The C zones were commercial areas that were only used at nights for the development of a night economy in places like downtown Kingston [while] the D zones are what they are now developing which are the party zones where people can party all day, all night," Hickling Gordon told THE STAR . She noted that Crawford and his team tested the zones through professional training of sound engineers and other skilled people from the communities, going into houses in and around these areas to test the sounds' decibels and contracted experts to test if the zones were suitable.
She stated that three of these areas which passed the tests and had been earmarked to become entertainment zones were the Old Coal Wharf and Fort Rocky in Port Royal, Kingston, and JamWorld in Portmore, St Catherine. Hickling Gordon said Crawford's idea was to have these D z.