The newest tenants of Orange Walk say they feel more than a trifle betrayed by the Georgetown Municipality, insistent as they are that they were promised that their original vending spots situated roughly on the corners of Robb and Bourda streets would be restored to them once the ancient Bedford Methodist school had been torn down.
Their move to the far less commercially attractive location on Orange Walk had been preceded by controversy that had reached the stage of noisy demonstrations and their near forced removal. Their relocation had proceeded in acrimony.
Two weeks after the rotting structure that was once one of the better-known urban primary schools was torn down and much of the rubble carted off, the relocation of the vendors is simply not on the municipality’s agenda. City Hall has confirmed that the land has been bought by an investor and that he has taken the precaution of filing an injunction prohibiting trading on the original spot where the vendors used to be and on the nearby roadway. A plan has already been submitted to the City Engineer’s Officer for the creation of a Fast Food establishment.
On Tuesday evening when the Stabroek Business visited the Bourda Market area the City Constabulary had reportedly only just removed two vendors who had been trading on the roadway close to the empty lot.
Tuesday’s brisk unexpected downpour had turned the actual spot on which vendors used to trade into an ugly cesspool. Still, the steady movement of traffic east along Robb Street, between Alexander Street and Orange Walk provided a poignant reminder of the