MAYOR OF Spanish Town Dr. Raymoth Notice is bracing for the ire of market vendors in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, tomorrow in the event the St. Catherine Health Department carries out its threat to close the Princess Market on Cumberland Road.
Yesterday, the Parish Council scrambled to secure funds from the Ministry of Local Government to help to relocate vendors who will be affected by the market's closure.
"At this point, it is impossible to do all the work needed to avert a crisis before Wednesday. The market is in a terrible condition, and some areas will definitely have to be closed. This will be an economic disaster for those persons who depend on the market, and an embarrassment to the country," Dr. Notice said. He said the Parish council was awaiting the allocation of $4 million to effect repairs, remove rubbish and do other cosmetic repairs.
COMMON SENSE
"We hope common sense will prevail, and that the authorities will move quickly to prevent the closure of the market," he said.
When the funds are disbursed, the Parish Council hopes to clear a weed-choked, garbage-filled open lot adjacent to Manchester Street dubbed the 'grassyard' as an area to temporarily relocate the vendors.
In the meantime, Dr. Notice said the council has already identified a suitable location at the Redemption Ground Market on Oxford Road to relocate the town's market in the near future and in the newspapers, a tender notice had been announced to invite investors willing to construct an arcade at the spot.
When The Gleaner news team accompanied Mayor Notice on a tour of the market yesterday along with other stakeholders, the vendors greeted them with a mixture of guarded optimism, and in some cases, open scepticism.
Muriel Davis, a 77-year-old vendor who has sold for over 50 years in the market, looked almost forlorn as she spoke to the Mayor about the planned closure.
"This is the worst that the market has ever been, and I don't see any hope," she said. "I really can't go anywhere else to sell at my age, how will my customers find me on the streets with everyone else?"
Other vendors were more militant in their emotions. One warned "if nothing no gwaan fi help we, is pure bangarang come Wednesday cause mi have two son fi go school."
During the tour of the market, the news team saw goats rummaging through the garbage, ghastly pit latrines in which one old man slept, and the smell of urine hung in the air. The flies were everywhere, hovering over the cuts and slices of meat in the market. Whenever a vendor chased the flies away, they would nonchalantly begin resettlement operations once his back was turned.
In June 2000, angry vendors blocked the Cumberland main road in the vicinity of the Spanish Town Market to protest against the planned closure of the market by the public health authority.
