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City Council unsettled about roadside vending
Statutory meeting in session Monday
Within 24 hours, an official decision will be forthcoming from the Georgetown municipality as to whether roadside vending on Regent Street will be allowed or discontinued during this Christmas season.
This was the disclosure made by City Mayor Hamilton Green shortly after he excused himself from the municipal statutory meeting on Monday.
However, he sought to outline that vending could be allowed “if the pavements are clear and do not impede traffic. They cannot let the place look like a rundown shack. Persons who are in violation of the outlined conditions will not be allowed to vend,” Green noted.
According to the Mayor, while he was abroad recently, some level of confusion had transpired leading to a decision being made, without his knowledge, to allow roadside vending.
Supporting the contention that the Mayor was away at the time of the decision, Acting Town Clerk, Mrs Yonette Pluck-Cort, said that Deputy Mayor Robert Williams was acting in that capacity and was aware of the decision.
She added that it was at a meeting held last week among members of the Markets Committee that it was recommended that vending on Regent Street be allowed and that the Clerk of Markets be allowed to collect fees from them until January next year.
However Deputy Mayor Williams, in his own defence, said that he had no part in the decision making process. He underscored that it was after the meeting and the decision making that the Acting Town Clerk informed him of what had occurred.
“I was not involved in making that decision…The Town Clerk told me that this is the same thing that had happened last year and the year before that…So I guess she was saying it was okay for this year too.”
Disgusted by the mode of operation, Councillor Patricia Chase-Green, said that vending on Regent Street last year was in no way a decision that was taken at the level of council. She disclosed that it was the Public Relations Officer who had made the decision to announce on the radio that Regent Street was being freed up for vending.
“We are creating monsters. The court said that we ought not to collect money from Regent Street vendors because they were removed,” Chase-Green asserted.
This newspaper was however informed last week that while roadside vending is not a practice that is encouraged by the municipality such activities may very well be allowed to a limited extent.
Deputy Mayor Williams in an earlier interview had said that the presence of roadside vendors is now a custom each year as the festive season approaches. It had then anticipated that there would be no difference this year.
However, he noted that the municipality is geared to monitor the undesirable vending activity closely.
Mayor Green had on numerous occasions emphasised that while roadside vending is an illegal act, efforts are made during the Christmas season to restrict the vending activities rather than prevent it.
Meanwhile, the municipality has announced that extended shopping hours have been approved for the Stabroek, Bourda, Kitty and Albouystown markets from last week Monday until Christmas Eve.
Between the period of December 8 and December 15, the four markets, according to Lewis will be allowed to operate from 07:00 to 17:00 hours and from 07:00 to 18:00 hours from December 16 through 23.
However on Christmas Eve the opening will be extended to 20:00 hours.
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