City Hall out to reclaim city property

May 03, 2016 News

– dismantles Brassonic’s illegal shed, removes Stabroek Market pavement vendors
The dust has hardly settled after the massive cleaning at the Stabroek Market Square yesterday; but Town Clerk Royston King marches on with his clean-up of Georgetown streets.

M&CC workers dismantling Brassonic’s illicit shed.

Recently, citizens of Georgetown, time and again have heard King saying that he is out to restore Georgetown to its former beauty and to a state of cleanliness Guyanese haven’t seen for decades.
Yesterday King was on hand to oversee the cleaning and removal of illegal structures along Water and Longden Streets.
He stated that prior to yesterday’s exercise, all vendors and commuters were given notice on Sunday that there would be cleaning and removal of any illegal structures or stalls from the pavements and City Hall properties.
He noted that most of the vendors were cooperating and that he was “pleased and happy with the cooperation we have been afforded by the vendors and businesses.”
Kaieteur News understands that 80-odd vendors are scheduled to move into the site behind Parliament building, a move that has been delayed in the aftermath of Stabroek Square’s cleaning exercise.
The Town Clerk said that the site has to be properly prepared; lights and sanitary facilities put in place, the grounds filled so as to prevent flooding and repairs made to certain sections of the fence.

The structures to be dismantled in front of the Vendors’ Arcade.

He added that City Hall wants to ensure maximum comfort and safety for vendors when they take up their new accommodations.
As was previously reported, security will be provided by the presence of City Constabulary ranks and absolutely no illicit activities or wrongdoings will be tolerated on the premises.
King added that contrary to what some members of the media and the Guyanese public at large have been saying; he is not going after the “small persons” or the man on the street trying to earn a dollar, but that anyone found breaching city laws and regulations, big or small will have to face the consequences, whether it be the biggest business in Georgetown or just a simple fruit vendor.
The owners of Brassonic’s had a shed that was illegally built onto the pavement which was subsequently dismantled during yesterday’s exercise, King said that they (Brassonic’s) had been notified and were fully aware of the consequences that followed.
This, he continued, is proof that there is no victimization or discrimination being meted out.
This newspaper understands that the clothing and shoe vendors plying their trade on Water Street immediately in front of the vendors arcade as well as the fruit and vegetable sellers in front of Bounty Supermarket and all those on Longden Street were given notice to move their respective structures the day before City Hall moved to dismantle the illegally placed stalls.

An unprecedented change, Stabroek Market Square in the aftermath of yesterday’s cleaning exercise.

Some vendors have since asked for a day’s extension on their removal which King has granted.
This extension, as some vendors explained, is for them to remove their stocks; most of the persons that have asked for extensions are those that have built structures that are attached to the old zinc building at the side of the vendors’ arcade.
King stressed that these structures are a haven for criminal elements at nights. Robbers are known to pounce on unsuspecting passersby, especially at nights.
He continued that City Hall will be moving through all marketing municipalities to rid them of illegal structures and illicit activities, he marked Bourda Market as the next municipality to be dealt with in the near future as vendors have made a habit of encroaching the street area on North Road.
A sore point according to King is that of persons that are often seen loitering and “liming” in market areas, as they are more often than not involved in criminal activities, he stated that in the future City Constabulary ranks will be strictly monitoring the various markets to ensure that there are no loiterers and if persons that have no business are found in the markets; there will be penalties to pay.
“We want to make our markets free of such elements so that people can be safe and free from harassment while shopping, our markets need to compete with the modern supermarkets, we (M&CC) are going to restore this city to a level that is second to none, Georgetown is going to be the top city of the Caribbean.”
Telling words by the City Administrator Royston King as the M&CC continue to clean the streets of Georgetown and piece by piece restore our city to the once “Garden City” pinnacle it embraced.
This recent course of action continues to evoke mixed reactions from the public at large but citizens can only take heart by the state Georgetown’s proverbial heart (Stabroek) is now in; unimaginable before the last few days.