City Hall meets with vendors

May 07, 2016 News

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– Water Street vendors to stay put for now
The Mayor and City Council yesterday met with vendors to discuss their pending relocation. There were other issues that arose over the course of the last week or so.

The meeting saw more than 100 persons present to ‘consult’ with Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and Town Clerk Royston King, as well as other members of the Council.
The M&CC had launched a clean-up campaign on Sunday in the Stabroek Market Square which spilled over to Monday and extended to the Water Street area as well as Longden Street.
These areas were cleaned and cleared of illicit structures and vending in the streets and pavements for the reorganization and beautification of the designated areas. These cleaning exercises are all part of City Hall’s plan for restoring Georgetown to the ‘Garden City’ it once was.
These efforts at reorganizing and ridding the city marketing municipalities and streets of illicit vending have been met with some amount of discontent and resistance by the now displaced vendors while the  public is divided in their views of the move by City Hall.
The M&CC has since run into a legal hurdle in the form of an injunction filed against them by a Water Street vendor, Peter Warner. Warner’s injunction has prevented City Hall from removing several vendors that have structures in front of the former Guyana Stores Bond now owned by Mr. Malcom Panday.

Town Clerk Royston King stated that the relocation of the vendors displaced by the Stabroek Market Square clean-up will begin on Saturday. Vendors have to register with the Clerk of Markets beginning at 10:00am after which they will be granted a stall number. They can then take up their allocated stall in the location south of Parliament Building on Hadfield Street.
The vendors will have to sign a contract agreeing to occupy the new plot of land provided by the Council for three months after which they will be relocated to buildings that the M&CC would have found to facilitate their permanent move.
Mayor Patricia Chase Green noted that the council will not stand in the way of the administration performing its duty. She urged those who have stalls to return to them and to stop using the stalls as storehouses. She further indicated that “a ship is setting sail and you (vendors) need to get on board.”
On Sunday a vendor was found to be living in his stand as he had a microwave, fan and a music system. Many had mattresses. “We cannot allow ten to make ten thousand uncomfortable,” Mayor Chase-Green said.
She repeatedly urged the vendors to “work with us.”
“We are not your enemies, we are your friends. Time has come for the change we voted for; it’s hard for some of us while it’s easy for the rest.”
King served a verbal notice to the owners of a shop on the western side of the Parliament building that he said, “Encourages strip tease and all sorts of lawlessness”.
“Even when our ancestors were in chains they used to keep their surroundings clean, so let us who are not in chains keep Georgetown clean. We are on a mission to make Georgetown the greenest, cleanest city in the Caribbean.”
“We will also be meeting with the private sector where they are found not complying; they will be dealt with accordingly. Anybody that is found breaking our laws will be dealt with, big or small.’’
The City Administrator also noted that the Council is in the process of procuring some one hundred and fifty tents to house the vendors at the new location.
He said that around 130 vendors would be able to occupy the land once they would have been registered with the market authorities. These persons will be asked to pay $1,000 per month for cleanup services.
King stated that under no circumstances would persons be allowed to return to the Stabroek area. Well over 40 vendors are owners of stalls in the market. He again pleaded with them to return to their respective stalls.
The Water Street vendors are not allowed to put down fixtures. They are however allowed to walk and sell. He urged them to “not leave your stocks; carry home your property.”
King contended that a meeting is slated for next Wednesday for the purpose of looking at the progress of the relocation.
King said, “We have to be fair and just, vending must be done in an organized and legal way.”
Food vendors in certain areas around the market square were permitted to vend from 19:00hrs to 05:00am (7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.). However they will not be allowed to erect structures that include tables and chairs.
Mayor Chase-Green urged vendors to see the positives of the Council’s efforts to clean and beautify the city, while they (M&CC) seek to organize those persons that are a part of street vending.
The Mayor said that the Council accepts full responsibility for the expanded vending situation and conceded that over the years, vending got out of control.
“We take responsibility for losing control over the vending situation,” she said. She blamed the past Council’s political predicaments and noted that City Hall’s, “foot soldiers” had not done justice with inaccurate reports of the streets.

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