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Congestion at Stabroek Market being addressed – Clerk of Markets
Intended to ensure that vendors who operate around the periphery of the Stabroek Market do not exceed their stipulated boundary, the Market Authority has commenced an earnest campaign.
Clerk of Markets, Schulder Griffith, made this disclosure yesterday while commenting on concerns that have since been raised by some vendors as it relates to the municipal operation.
Illegal vending on Water Street
According to Griffith, the municipality, based on the provision of City bylaw 39, is within its duty to remove obstructions that hinder the smooth operation of the vending facility.
He said that City Constables have been enforcing the bylaws and even have the authority to seize the merchandise of vendors if they are placed beyond the recommended boundary.
He explained, though, that depending on the space around a vendor’s operation, he or she could be permitted a one foot concession to accommodate merchandise.
Griffith added that sustained efforts are being made to reduce as far as possible the congested state of the market, adding that a congested atmosphere could lend to the perpetration of criminal activities.
However, 41-year-old Karen Nedd, a vendor who claims to have operated on the eastern periphery of the market for most of her life, said that the municipal operation is being done in a most unfair way.
Nedd said that she pays a daily fee and a monthly rental for her stall but yet she is left to compete with other vendors who illegally accommodate sections of Water Street.
According to the greens vendor, her attempts to display her merchandise to attract customers in order to get rapid sales is hindered. Her stock is seized even if she extends one inch beyond her boundary.
The woman explained that since she sells perishable items, there is no way that she could have a delayed mode of sales in the face of competition from those who do not have the same restrictions she has.
According to Nedd, she has personally witnessed persons taking money from the illegal vendors to secure their place.
But according to Griffith, the prevention of illegal vending in the city streets comes as part of the mandate of the City Constabulary and is not a responsibility of the Market Authority. The municipality has over the years attempted to put an end to roadside vending but to date has not been able to successfully put an end to the practice.
City Mayor Hamilton Green has on several occasions emphasised that roadside vending is an illegal act and that earnest attempts are continually being made to clear the city streets and pavements of congestion.
“People are always vending on the streets and on the pavements. We are even finding now that the business owners are coming out too. In fact they (business owners) have even bigger displays than the regular vendors,” the Mayor had opined late last year.
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