M&CC introduces environmental fee for street vendors

Aug 18, 2015 News

The Mayor and Councilors of the City of Georgetown will soon introduce an environmental tax on vendors who ply their trade along Regent, Robb and Water Streets.

Street vendors will have to pay an environmental impact tax.

The new fee, which will be implemented from September 1, is to offset cleansing of the areas where these vendors operate.
According to the M&CC, the new environmental impact fee, however, does not give the vendors the unlimited rights to council’s thoroughfare, but is part of the council’s reorganizing of the operations of vendors along certain popular vending areas.
The M&CC noted that street vending has been a sequel of the socio-economic circumstances of many Guyanese and has developed into means of livelihood for many.
Council said while it understands the circumstances under which many people live, at the same time a measure of order must return to the city.
“Vendors who ply their trade along Regent, Robb and Water Streets would not be allowed to do so in an unsystematic fashion. They will have to conform to set standards as it relates to type of structure, size of the structure and how the structure is positioned,” a statement from the M&CC indicated.
The M&CC observed that many vendors, after selling during the day, leave their immediate environs in an untidy state. This has placed a burden on Council’s resources, hence the implementation of the fee.
Street vending has been a contentious issue over the years, with even the City Council at one time being divided on the matter.
Late last year Mayor Hamilton Green and then Acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba were at each other’s throats over the removal of street vendors who had come out in their numbers to cash in on the spike in sales for the Christmas holidays.
Green had contended that Sooba cannot remove vendors who vend along the pavements in and around the city. Sooba had said she would be working closely with Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker to remove persons who vend illegally around the city, putting up structures, adding to the existing ones on the pavements. She had contended that the crowd would stop the free flow of traffic which could result in serious accidents.
On the other hand, Green noted that street vending had nothing to do with the traffic buildup, which he said was due to poor planning. He said persons can vend all across Georgetown without disrupting traffic if there are proper strategies in place.
Sooba is now out of the way and it would seem that the M&CC is moving ahead with the possible regularization of street vending throughout the year. In addition, the anticipated fee is expected to go a far way to bolster the revenue of the cash-strapped Council to cater for clean–up work in the city.
Meanwhile, the M&CC will hold a Public Forum tomorrow at 10:00am at City Hall, to discuss the restoration of Georgetown. His Worship the Mayor Mr. Hamilton Green will unveil Council’s broad plans for the restoration process.
The Council is soliciting the involvement of various stakeholders; which include religious organisations, political groups’ Private Sector organisations and citizens. M&CC stressed that it is imperative that every facet of society be involved in the City Council’s restoration programme.