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Death knell for La Penitence Sunday vending?
Planned road works near the La Penitence Market not only means displacement of some stallholders, but may also be the death knell for an old tradition—Sunday vending.
For years, vendors have been coming out before the crack of dawn on Sundays to ply their wares along Saffon Street between Middle Road, La Penitence to Sussex Street.
But with government plans to turn the area into a four-lane roadway, those vendors will most likely have to move their trade elsewhere. While those with stalls outside the market are reportedly to find accommodation within the market, in an area in Sussex Street, and to Punt Trench Dam, the street peddlers say that no one has told them where they will be placed.
Many who spoke with Kaieteur News yesterday expressed concern about their livelihood.
Carol Blackman leaves her home at 03:00 hrs every Sunday to set up a small vegetable stand on the roadway to provide for her family. Her husband, who had been rendered almost blind by diabetes, has not worked for three years.
“I have two children, and I have to pay the bills and maintain the home. “This is more stress on us…many of us out here are single parents.”
There was similar refrain from Lynette Knights, a single parent who has rigged up her roadside stall with clothing and footwear on the eastern side of the street.
She has been doing this every Sunday for nearly 20 years.
“I just sell on Sundays. I can’t afford to rent a spot.
“They say they will put we by Punt Trench, and next time they say that we will go inside (the market).
The vendors revealed that they have been paying the City Constabulary $300 to vend on the streets on Sundays.
Others just expressed resignation to their fate, whatever that will be.
“Wha we gun do?” one woman on the east side of the roadway said. “You got to move with the tide. I hope they will let us sell on the pave, but if not, we gun walk and sell.”
Not all of them were prepared to throw in the towel and some indicated that they will be attempting to meet with Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, today.
All of the vendors were adamant against any suggestion that they move to Punt Trench, where they said criminal activities were rampant.
Ramlakhan, whose wife has been selling green vegetables by the roadside on Sundays for some 10 years, noted that there are several alleyways in the Punt Trench area for thieves to escape into after committing robberies.
Eleanor Laundry, a vendor for nearly 50 years, has a stall but also vends on Sundays on the roadside. She queried whether City Constables who patrol the La Penitence Market area will also be deployed to Punt Trench Dam to watch over the stalls.
“Will they protect us? You don’t know if when you return next day (to your stall) if you have anything. People may have to pay to have their goods taken to and from their stalls because there is no security.
A typical scene on Sunday in Saffon Street
“They (the authorities) are treating us like animals. When you tell people (other vendors) to form a delegation (to go to government officials) they say ‘wha we gun do?’
She said that some of the vendors had suggested that the Council purchase an empty lot in Saffon Street for them to vend on, but the Council officials said they lacked the funds to make the purchase.
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