The Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC) plans to permanently end vending along the section of the Merriman Mall between Cummings Street and Orange Walk.
This decision comes two months after the M&CC asked those wholesalers who plied their trade in the area to move east and operate at what was once the “skating rink” to facilitate the creation of a car park to ease congestion in the city.
It also comes one day after the municipality announced that it had temporarily suspended vending operations along thatstrip and issued vendors a one-week deadline to get themselves in order. It had said that the suspension was as a direct result of the Council’s observation that the area is very untidy, which is inconsistent with its vision to make Georgetown clean and green.
Town Clerk Royston King yesterday told reporters that the city “wants to give back this particular facility to the young people, particularly those involved in skating and allied activities and other activities such as volleyball and basketball.” He explained that this endeavour is part of council’s mandate to provide vital municipal services and facilities, inclusive of recreational space.
The entire section between Cummings Street and Orange Walk, he said, will be reserved for “cultural and social uses, such as open air concerts and sporting activities.”
King noted that the council is not necessarily interested in making a profit or achieving a surplus. This means that though the rental fee for these activities has not been decided, the council is not worried that it might not be in the vicinity of the $3,862,477 paid in rental fees by the Merriman Mall vendors from January to November last year.
Vendors yesterday appeared to be in the dark about the plans for the strip.
“They ain’t give us no warning. We formed a committee like they asked and we mek an arrangement that if we didn’t keep it clean then they were to fine us. That is the agreement we made in November but they didn’t do that. I do something bad, you fine me; that is how it does work. But, instead, they suspend us and from how I see they doing work there now I think something up. I don’t think we gonna get to go back when this suspension up,” one vendor, who asked not to be named, told Stabroek News yesterday.
For almost 30 years, the space, which was originally constructed as a rink to accommodate then popular go-cart and scooter crazes, has been the site of choice for fruit and vegetable vendors. Wholesalers who previously operated at the John Ford car park were allowed to engage in trading from Wednesday at 11am to Thursday at 5.30pm. Vending then resumes on Friday at 3pm to Saturday evening.
City Hall, however, contends that the vendors have set up permanent operations at the site. King said there were some vendors even sleeping in the space. He further explained that the council is contemplating returning the vendors to the John Ford car park or at least the section which extends from Church Street to New Market Street. The final decision will be made before the planned suspension ends. (Thandeka Percival)
