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Socio-economic constraints cause M&CC to bend the rules for vendors

Dec 22, 2015 News

As long as the rules are being bent, store owners will continue to pay higher sanitation fees than itinerant vendors. This is because of the quantity of products they are selling on the pavements during the Christmas season, a senior Georgetown Mayor and City Council official said yesterday.
Currently, business persons in the commercial sector are peeved by the high charge they have to pay to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council every day. The store owners are mandated to pay $2500 per day while “illegal” vendors are asked to pay $1000 per week.
The official said that socio-economic constraints had forced the Council to bend the rules for vendors, thereby allowing them to vend on the pavements during the Christmas season. The official said that it was against Article 10 (1) of the Municipal and District Council Act for persons to leave, place, or store or cause to be left, placed or stored any vehicle, cart, dray, barrel, box, dust-bin, tree trunk, branch, limb, or other thing upon any street, parapet, pavement or footpath, or in any other way encumber any street, parapet or pavement, with any vehicle, cart, dray, barrel, box, dust- bin or other thing.
“That in itself is illegal but because of the socio-economic constraints the Council over time would have allowed them to vend there,” the official stated. It was only “obvious” that the store owners would be charged a higher cleaning fee than itinerant vendors because they have more products on display on the pavements.
Critics have raised concerns about the collection of the money by the Council being legal and if it was why the business persons, who pay their taxes, are forced to pay higher fees than the illegal vendors who pay no taxes.
When Kaieteur News visited Regent Street last week, several store owners raised their voices against the Council, stating that it was unjust for them to pay so much money while the other vendors are paying a meagre amount.
“This is unfair to us because these people are vending illegally and they are being asked to pay less while we suffer the brunt of the fees. The other thing is that the [Council workers] come early in the morning to collect the money and business does pick up until later in the day,” one businessman said.
He questioned whether the collection of the fees was lawful and why the illegal vendors were not being asked to pack and up move their products since they were selling there “illegally”. “I can’t understand how one time they against the people vending there illegally and now they endorsing the illegality by collecting the money from them to continue selling.
It already unfair that we have to compete with them selling in front of our stores that we are paying taxes for, but to allow them to pay a smaller fee than us that is ridiculous!”
On the other hand, sellers who were considered the illegal vendors were elated that they had to pay less to sell their products. “Our business is already small and we are just here to hustle a small piece for the holidays so the thousand dollar is a blessing for us,” one vendor, Denise Bradshaw said.
Another vendor indicated that the usual yearly fee was $500 per day and so he was shocked by the increase.

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