Street vending to cease before CWC
- City Council undertaking legal procedures for use of unoccupied lands
Kaieteur News
December 9, 2006
Vending along city streets and pavements will soon be a thing of the past as plans are being streamlined to place vendors at a strategic venue in the city before Cricket World Cup next year.
This disclosure was made by Mayor of Georgetown, Hamilton Green, during a recent interview with Kaieteur News. Several vendors had been barred from vending on the pavements along Regent Street . They were allotted places in the New Era Shopping Mall.
However, they have resumed plying their selling trade on Regent Street and along Water Street in the city.
As such, the Mayor said the City Council is making efforts to acquire unoccupied lands in the city to place the hawkers.
He notes that legal procedures are being undertaken to acquire the use of land to effect the new vending facility.
Mayor Green said that he fully comprehends the displeasure of some vendors, particularly those who occupy the Toolsie Persaud Land along Water Street .
But this, he says, does not justify the fact that some of those vendors have chosen to vend along the city streets, which is an illegal practice.
He adds that the Council will resume ardent efforts to insist that vendors stay off the streets in order to make the streets hassle-free.
And, as the issue of vending is being addressed, Mayor Green said, efforts are also being made to deal with minibuses and car parks in the city. He, however, notes that this initiative will be undertaken with the collaborative effort of the Public Works Ministry and will be done step by step.
This, he notes, will also see a change in the parking arrangements of sand trucks on Lombard Street which, according to the Mayor, are a great nuisance to some.