Latest update April 17th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 09, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
The vendors are once again being used as pawns. They have been used before and they will be used again.
They have been used in the past for political support. They were actively encouraged to vend on pavements, in front of established businesses and on reserves. They were used then and they will be used again.
When certain forces wanted to apply pressure on Carol Sooba, the support of the vendors was solicited and they led protest demonstrations calling for her removal. They were used then and they will be used again.
There is a problem. The Old Bedford School building needs to be pulled down. It cannot be pulled down without falling on those persons who are vending along its eastern perimeter. Those persons have to be removed in order to facilitate the dismantling of the building.
They know that. They know that they cannot remain there while the building is being dismantled. They know that they had to go. But they also know that the issue is not just the dismantling of this school.
There is a bigger problem in the economy. There is a loss of business confidence and it is not getting better even though the government has begun to spend the $160 billion that it proposes to spend this year. The completion of the budget debate has not made any appreciable impact on the fortunes of business.
In the meantime, vendors feeling that they have a sympathetic government in place are swarming all over Regent Street. They have even taken over those spots outside the GUYOIL Gas Station which for decades have always been off-limits to vendors.
The pavement outside Fogarty’s which usually did not have many vendors is seeing a small invasion. The vendors feel that they have a sympathetic government and they feel they can sell wherever they want.
It is difficult to walk on Regent Street these days because there are persons selling all along the pavement. There is simply little space to walk. On top of that one particular store brings out a stereo system on Saturday with a DJ sitting on the pavement playing music. The situation is becoming a Wild West case.
There is no control. There is no order. I would not be surprised if some vendors are brazen enough to sell outside of City Hall. In fact, if City Hall loves the vendors so much why some of them are not relocated outside of City Hall?
The problem is not the vendors on Orange Walk. There are enough empty stands at Merriman’s Mall to relocate these vendors. But they do not want those spots. They want to sell where they were selling even at risk of that old building tumbling down on their heads.
The vendors are not the problem. There is a bigger economic problem. The economy is stagnated. Businesses are closing down. A lot of people have shops and stores but there are no sales. This is the reality and it is not the first time that it has happened.
Many years ago, the situation with vending on Regent Street got so bad that the entire street was converted into a tent city by vendors. Buyers stopped going to shop because they could not get to go into the stores and enjoy shopping.
Business slumped and the City Council was forced to move against the vendors. They cleared the entire street of all vendors including provocateurs who were trying to encourage resistance. One man did a dance when he was beaten by City Constables that would have been in the envy of any Carifesta.
Within months of this activity business began to boom and huge investments in renovation and improvement took place within the business community in Regent Street. Businesses began to boom and a great many jobs were created.
The same situation is happening again. The economy is in a slump. Vendors are taking over Regent Street. Business needs breathing space and so the vendors have to be removed.
This is not about pulling down a building alone. It is also about raising up the fortunes of the business community at the expense of vendors. They have been used before. They will be used again.
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