Greene
Glenda Anderson, Staff Reporter
VENDORS in downtown Kingston continue to ply their wares in the streets in defiance of orders by the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation to relocate into the markets.
But even with this open defiance the KSAC says it has not abandoned its mission to get the vendors off the streets.
The corporation had given the vendors a November 6 relocation deadline after spending more than $20 million to refurbish the markets. However, there have been other deadlines after that, while the new-look markets remain empty.
When The Sunday Gleaner went downtown last week it was business as usual on the streets and only a few vendors at the Oxford Mall arcade.
One woman, Esmina Henry, said that she had recently come over to the arcade and had no problems with either security or sanitation. She explained that while mid-week was scanty, on Saturdays vendors from the rural areas often came to sell in the facility.
The area was clean and while work on the bathroom and toilet area had been completed the doors were padlocked. Vendors instead used the facilities in the adjoining arcade.
At the Queens market, fixtures and renovations made to the bathroom facilities late last year are now malfunctioning. In the male toilet, there was an overflow and cardboard placed on the floors to absorb the water. The Metropolitan Arcade on Church Street which had boasted several burgundy fabric tents to house vendors, stood in shambles for weeks. Now the lot was completely empty and the place deserted.
Instead vendors had taken over completely, the parking lot of the Kingston Parish Church, South Parade and the roadways of Beckford and Orange streets.
But Town Clerk, Errol Greene says that the plan to relocate hundreds of vendors and hawkers to newly renovated vending areas in markets or arcades is still in place.
"We have not given up on the plan, we are still working on it," he said of the arrangement which he said was still in a "preliminary and delicate stage".
Mr. Greene, however, would not give details on any discussions or further arrangements. But he pointed to inherent problems such as the idea of inforcement which he said could not be left to the efforts of the police alone.
President of the markets committee, Gassan Azan, was unavailable for comment but indicated that the committee's present position on the vendor relocation would be addressed in a presentation to the media.
Last year vendors on the streets of downtown Kingston were asked to stop selling on the roads to allow for ease of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
The refurbishing programme for the markets included repairs to a variety of properties including the Coronation, Queens, Redemption and Jubilee markets as well as the Oxford mall, and the Pearnel Charles arcade. Also included were the Portmore and rural bus termini, the Kingston Craft and Red Rose markets and the Queens market annexes.
