…after years of controversy
The persistence of the vendors occupying the Water Street Mall finally appears to be paying off as the Georgetown City Council turns its attention to the transformation of a facility which, quite simply, is altogether unfit for trading.
When Stabroek Business visited the Mall “two rainy seasons ago,” the vendors were depressed and angry. The persistent downpours had turned the trading area into a stagnant cesspool, forcing the traders to abandon their stalls inside the Arcade and resort, illegally, to the Water Street pavement to do their trading. As darkness fell one of the handful of vendors who remained inside chose to terminate an interview with this newspaper rather than – as she put it – be eaten alive by mosquitoes.
Stabroek Business found then that a Committee of Vendors was in place and that in engaging members of that Committee you made reference to the City Council at your own risk. When we asked whether the Mall was usually graced by visits from City Council officials an angry group of vendors retorted with a distinct tone of menace that they were not welcome.
The transformation is far from complete but when Stabroek Business visited the facility earlier this week there was manifest evidence that change was in the making. Deputy Clerk of Markets Errol Brisport and a team of officials from the City Engineer’s Department were mingling freely with a group of vendors on the site which is now almost completely cleared of the dilapidated enclosures that were once stalls. Before the Stabroek Business team could completely explain the purpose of its visit half a dozen vendors stepped forward jostling each other to sing the Council’s praises. “We want to say that we are grateful for what the Council is doing here for us,” a woman who seemed to have some authority on the site told us.
Elsewhere, on what was once a foreboding labyrinth of dilapidated enclosures, piles of sand and stone and a few already erected columns bore witness to a new start. After years of begging and pleading with the Council change is indeed coming to the City Mall.
Brisport is engaging, keen and articulate. He is by no means unmindful of the fact that the New Water Street Mall can be a propaganda oasis, as it has been for years, of public criticism and poor press.
The New City Mall is a collaborative effort involving the vendors and the municipality. Out of the effort will come 175 new stalls, lighting, toilet and water facilities and a regime of beautification and cleaning that will put the past firmly behind.
The costs of materials and construction will be borne by the vendors while, Brisport says, the Council will provide “engineering, logistical and other forms of support.” He is unsure of what the costs are to the vendors since he points out that there are no conditions of uniformity to the booths. “People will simply give the booths as much as they can afford.
The New Water Street Mall will comprise 10 ft x 10 ft stalls and rows of stalls will be separated by 10 ft passageways. “The whole idea is to allow space in which traders and shoppers can operate comfortably. We do not want to go back to the way we were before,” Brisport says.
Interestingly, the Deputy Clerk of Markets believes that the Mall, when transformed, can significantly alter the lives of the vendors. “Our feeling is that what we are trying to do along with the vendors is to create a situation in which they can feel comfortable in a condition of ownership. Hopefully this can serve as a stepping stone to bigger businesses because there are limits to what this facility can offer.
While the rebuilding exercise is taking place the municipality has granted a limited amnesty to those who have been displaced by the exercise to ply their trade on Water Street directly outside the site. Brisport says that the Council will lift the amnesty as soon as the construction exercise is completed.
Brisport says that the pace at which work is proceeding suggests that some of the stalls will be completed in about three weeks’ time. “We are hoping that by Mash this year there will be some amount of vending activity in this Mall.”
One of the engineering issues associated with the construction of the new facility is the grading of the surface to ensure that the flooding that has plagued the Mall during rainy periods become a thing of the past. “The problem really has little to do with flooding,” Brisport says. “It is a question of an uneven surface and part of the rehabilitation plan involves rectifying the area in order to remove that problem.”
As the project unfolds there is an unmistakable enthusiasm about the vendors who will benefit from the outcome. The lots on the property have been allocated to those who, for more than five years, have inhabited it in its most trying times. Several years ago they settled there following an endless battle with the City Constabulary over vending on the streets.
When Stabroek Business visited, dozens of vendors were on the site, some overseeing construction work that is already underway and others engaged in amicable exchanges with the City Hall officials over the details of their own construction plans. One vendor told this newspaper that she felt a sense of relief that the Mall was finally taking shape. “This is something from which I can earn a living and which I can hand over to my children”, she said.
Brisport says that there are no Council stipulations regarding the sale of the properties. These facilities are their property and whether or not they change hands have nothing to do with the Council,” he says.
What Brisport says the Council is concerned about is the creation and maintenance of a facility that can add value to the environment. He says that the Council will be meeting the cost of the erection of a perimeter fence around the Mall and will also be responsible for cleaning and sanitation services. These services will be paid for by the vendors. Additionally, Brisport says that the Council will be seeking to establish a regime of good order in the new facility. “Areas have been identified for particular types of trading and we will be seeking to enforce that compartmentalization. Apart from that we are hoping that the standards here will be high enough to attract a particular quality of vendor including, for example, cellular phone businesses.”
Years of pleading, enduring, promised interventions by private sector officials and ugly confrontations between the vendors and the Council now appear to be bearing fruit. The new Mall promises to be as much a public relations boost for a much maligned City Council as a new opportunity for an intrepid band of traders whom, despite their tenacity and determination have remained on the periphery of the business culture.