On Tuesday, Aug. 6, the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs (DLCA), led by Commissioner-designee Richard Tomas Evangelista and its staff, in collaboration with Avery Lewis, the St. Thomas and Water Island administrator, the Department of Tourism representative, the Department of Public Works Commissioner Nelson Petty and the Department of Property and Procurement Commissioner Anthony Thomas, hosted a mandatory town hall meeting with the permitted merchants of Vendors Plaza at Emancipation Garden.
Licensing and Consumer Affairs called the meeting to address the current abysmal state of Vendors Plaza, to review pertinent DLCA and Virgin Islands Police Department rules and regulations, to share the team’s priorities for the upcoming 2019-2020 tourism season and for the Department of Public Works to update the vendors on the waterfront project and its future impact on Vendor’s Plaza.
Permitted vendors have a grace period until Aug. 19, to comply with existing rules and regulations as well as any other existing territorial or federal violation. “DLCA shall educate before it regulates,” said Evangelista. He also said, “DLCA shall be firm but fair.”
Commissioner Thomas of the Department of Property and Procurement announced the upcoming renovation of a white building across from Vendors Plaza, formerly housing a federal office, to provide restrooms on the first floor for the patrons and permitted vendors of Vendor’s Plaza in the next 12 to 18 months. Thomas also announced plans to provide wireless internet to Vendors Plaza. In the interim, Administrator Lewis announced that air-conditioned portable restrooms shall be placed adjacent to the westside of Fort Chr istian.
Commissioner Petty of the Department of Public Works announced plans to provide vendor spaces along the waterfront during the second phase of the downtown revitalization project.
The next Vendors Plaza Town Hall is scheduled for the first quarter of fiscal year 2020.
