By Trudy Simpson, Staff Reporter
Workmen pile the remains of confiscated stalls into a bulldozer during clean-up operations by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), yesterday at the Old Wolmer's Yard, near the Kingston Parish Church, South Parade, downtown Kingston. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
THE KINGSTON and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) will know today whether it can go ahead with plans to carry out a massive removal this weekend of vendors' stalls from several 'no-vending' streets in downtown Kingston.
Errol Greene, the Town Clerk, said last night that he had been promised strong police support to back up plans for a big removal on Saturday night but he needed to confirm their support and finalise details with the police today.
Earlier yesterday, after a clean-up at the Old Wolmer's Yard, South Parade, and a meeting with the police, he told The Gleaner that "come Saturday night, we plan to clean up the areas we had cleaned up before. We are hoping that the police will take charge after that and that the vendors won't come back because the police are out and they have established a presence. We'll be starting at Old Wolmer's Yard and working our way back."
The lack of adequate police support was cited as one reason for the failure to implement vendor-removal plans last year and was a major concern of Michael Ammar, Jr., president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, and Francis Kennedy, head of the chamber's Urban Renewal Committee.
While both men were unaware of the KSAC's plans yesterday, they welcomed moves to return law and order to downtown
Kingston. "If that is the exercise they are starting with, we would welcome it," Mr. Ammar, Jr., said. "In terms of whether it will be successful, I think you have to look at it as part of a process rather than a one-off thing that can be done. The success or failure of it will depend on the commitment of the security for-ces but it is in-evitable that they will have to deal with it soon, whether it is this weekend or next weekend or whichever weekend, because downtown is in a terrible state. The first step in restoring downtown is the restoration of public order and the rule of law."
Mr. Kennedy agreed, adding that "if they are doing it, I say thank God. We are taking a step in the right direction."
The police offered strong support to KSAC officials and clean-up crew along South Parade yesterday, as they pulled down tarpaulin and stalls and used bulldozers and trucks to cart away scores of stalls in the Old Wolmer's Yard, which adjoins the Kingston Parish Church.
The Town Clerk said that the KSAC usually did clean-up operations during the night but the state of the Old Wolmer's Yard necessitated early action.
It was the second time in two weeks that the KSAC was removing stalls from the area.
For its part, the United Vendors' Association, one of two vendors' associations representing 2,000 plus vendors, said it would not support any "brutal" removal of vendors by the police.
"While we support the removal from the streets of downtown totally, as was agreed in December 2002, we are urging the police not to use force to move the vendors. Our lawyers are at present looking at the situation downtown with a view to taking action against the Government if force is used to remove the vendors," said UVA official, Egeton Newman.
Mr. Newman said the arcades and markets must be in proper working condition before vendors move in and reiterated that a recent tour of these sites by officials showed that most of these designated vending areas are unsatisfactory.
The Government last year allowed vendors downtown to operate as usual on no-vending streets for the Christmas period but promised to get them off the streets come January. Prime Minister P.J. Patterson also mandated a group to look into co-ordinating plans to redevelop downtown. The group is to present recommendations to Mr. Patterson by the middle of this month.