Street Vending in the city; a halt not a pause

The issue of street vending has always been part of our way of life but has, in the past, been centered mainly around the sale of ground provisions and vegetables. Over time, and particularly over the course of the last two decades since the demise of the banana industry, many people have fallen upon hard times. The banana industry provided a steady source of income even for the smallest farmer. With the loss of that important lifeline, former farmers were forced to take up jobs in security as watchmen, others have switched to plantain production and to short crops.

But the banana boom had sent us toward a lifestyle which needed a replacement regular source of income. Over time our side walks have become overburdened with vendors selling all kinds of items beyond just produce, and Kingstown has become considerably congested attracting complaints about the town being unsightly.

Many vendors use the Central Market to store their wares, but sell on the streets. The Dr Ralph Gonsalves administration had long battled with the question of the marked increase in street vending and, in fact, spent a considerable amount of time and effort hammering home to the Vincentian population the need to find a solution to the congestion on the side walks of Kingstown. While the message was being preached about the unhygienic nature of vending with vegetables and produce on crocus bags, pieces of cardboard, and other such items on the side walks, areas for the construction of decent markets were identified and constructed.

This encountered some degree of criticism when, even after the three new market structures were completed, one uptown and two close to the main vegetable market down town they remained unoccupied for a while by vendors, who had long complained about being at the mercy of the sun and rain.

Then the allocation of spaces for the vendors to move into the new market buildings was advertised and the authorities, via the Kingstown Town Board, faced considerable challenges to enforce the clearing of the side walks.

There are vendors who welcomed the changes, while others very reluctantly occupied the new market structures. Some openly complained that they were housed in areas with insufficient human traffic upon which their sales depended, and so the slow march began again towards vending on the streets using such creative carriages as supermarket carts.

Perhaps a sustained public relations and marketing campaign by the authorities to help drive traffic toward the new vending areas could have been attempted.

But having achieved the task of relocating the street vendors, the campaigning for the anticipated general elections began. As history has shown, this was a period of very robust canvassing for the hearts and minds of voters. And one of the most unfortunate things occurred.

The then opposition New Democratic Party opportunistically, openly expressed sympathies with those vendors who had been relocated to the three markets, and promised that, once elected they would be permitted to return to the streets. And over several months prior to the November 27th general elections we began to see an increase in the number of vendors returning to the streets buoyed by promises made.

But in every endeavour, timing is important. Just as it had taken a lot of courage by the Unity Labour Party administration to effect the relocation of street vending, any reversal of this policy would have, of necessity, required considerable communication and timing to undo the near chaos which had begun to take on considerable currency.

Thus, when last week the surprise was sprung upon vendors that they were being required to return to their places within the markets, there was an outcry from many quarters. Some even accused the governing New Democratic Party of treachery. There were even those who threatened to make the NDP “a one term government”. And it seemed that the authorities panicked and buckled, indicating that plan was being changed.

It was the Deputy Prime St Clair Leacock, who in a Facebook post response said the decision was not a “PAUSE” but “a firm HALT…”.

Speaking yesterday Monday, on Nice Radio, he announced that his government was going to establish selling points and a series of measures to govern street vending following national consultations which would be under the line minister responsible for this activity.

So the present government has a serious challenge before it, and the Warden of the Kingstown Town Board has been made to stand down.

Having reversed the decision to put vendors back into the markets constructed for this purpose, we can be assured that street vending and the organized chaos it causes daily in some places is going to continue for the foreseeable future. But we all agree that no activity can be allowed without firm guidelines. The nation therefore awaits a resolution to this issue which takes into account the best interest of vendors trying to earn a living for their families, and the wider society. The nine month old administration has a head start in that they are not starting from zero, as vendors already have decent accommodation provided for the majority from which they can operate.

A lot will depend on proper and effective consultation, communication, and timing in arriving at an amicable and workable solution in the national Interest, and that order on the streets of the capital is not compromised.