Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Pier Park to get valet parking, for charity

Pier Park to get valet parking, for charity

Parking may soon get easier for holiday shoppers at the Cyril B. Romney Tortola Pier Park after the launch of a valet parking service as part of a partnership with the new Provisional Rotary Club of Central Tortola.

“We’ve had a lot of parking wars with some of the events that we’ve got here. These are some of the complaints we got, so we’re going to try that and see how that works,” park CEO Vance Lewis said during a press conference last Thursday. “The limitation is we have 30 parking spots in the pier park.

And I’m sure frequent visitors recognise that we have a lot of double and triple parking here and it causes quite a bit of consternation on people who come here to shop. We hopefully can begin this weekend. We’re working with various agencies to ensure that we have a smooth transition to the valet service.”

Because of the pandemic, the park has been largely quiet in recent weeks during what would ordinarily be one of its busiest times for cruise arrivals.

However, with the explosion in Covid-19 cases in North America and Europe, Mr. Lewis said, the park will have to exercise patience a little longer.

“The expectation that we’re going to have early resumption of cruise ships in the Caribbean was slightly dashed when there was an outbreak of cases on Seadream headed from Barbados,” he explained. “We are looking at how our protocols can merge with the protocols that the [United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] will be giving to the cruise lines so as to make sure that everyone is safe. So it’s a matter of being flexible, understanding what’s happening on the global scene.”

Vaccines


Mr. Lewis was optimistic with the recent news that Covid-19 vaccines are on their way. “Basically, I think you’ll be hearing a lot more in terms of firm timing of resumption of the cruise industry, perhaps over the next couple of weeks as vaccinations start flowing,” he said.

In the meantime, pier park officials have been working to assist tenants, according to TPP Business Development Manager Zoe Walcott.

“We have given a number of concessions to tenants to ensure that they are able to navigate these difficult times in a manner that allows their business to sort of ride the waves to be sustainable,” she said. “So how do we come out of
this? Not smelling like a bed of roses, but most certainly in a survival state.”

Besides the new Rotary partnership, she said, the decision to partner with Virgin Islands Search and Rescue on its “glice” skating rink and with the BVI Food Fete have been instrumental in driving traffic into the park and keeping residents engaged with it.

“Partnerships are critical, we recognise, even with the challenges that we are facing, to make sure that sans the ships we do have the community within our borders,” Ms. Walcott said.

New club


Shan Mohamed, membership chair of the Provisional Rotary Club of Central Tortola, explained that the TPP partnership will be just the first in a series of projects the club hopes to undertake.

“We have some innovative ideas, not only in terms of how we will raise funds for projects, but innovative ideas in terms of the type of projects that we will
undertake, and on the specific focus of projects that have sustainability,” he said.

Mr. Lewis, who is part of the club’s steering committee, added that the club already has 27 members, though more than 40 people have been attending meetings.

Some were drawn from other clubs, he said, but “the majority of the members” have never been involved in Rotary before.

“They were not interested [in Rotary previously] because they felt that it was too much of a commitment, but they like the idea of lesser attendance commitment and a more innovative approach to how we work together to strengthen the Rotary family and strengthen the community,” he explained.

The new club began meeting regularly in July, and it has submitted an application to Rotary International to be formally chartered in January.

The club, alongside various businesses, will sponsor events throughout the holiday season, starting with sponsoring its own tree next to the Lions
Club tree.

Proceeds from the valet parking and other events will go to support various charities: Spina Bifida Awareness, the Jaleel Cameron Foundation, the BVI Cancer Society, and the Family Support Network.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×