Vendors on Regent Street are calling on the Mayor and City Council to put systems in place to prevent market revenue collectors from harassing them, requesting bribes and demanding that they sell from 6am to 6pm during the Christmas season or move.
Frustrated vendors expressed their disgust to this newspaper last week, explaining that for years, they have been selling in the same spot and now they are being asked to move. The vendors, mostly women, said that every week they have been paying $1,500 which has been increased to $2,500 for the holidays. The bigger issue, however, is that they were instructed to take down the tarpaulins used to cover them and their goods, and use umbrellas instead. One woman said that these umbrellas cost between $8,500 and $15,000, a cost they are unable to cover. The umbrellas also need constant repairs which is almost the cost of another one, one woman said.
“Since Mr Hamilton Green time we using we tent night-riding. Now, they telling we can’t night-ride and we can’t use tents. They got people over so [opposite side of Regent Street] with two and three tents and they not telling them anything but that’s because they can bribe them more money. They said we can’t use tents for Christmas and that we got to sell six to six. How we supposed to mek we lil money. We is single parents, we can’t go and thief. All of a sudden the fees raised. Well, we ain’t got a problem with that but is really everything else that they doing,” a vendor, who asked to remain anonymous, said.