Parked containers, cordoned sections of pave add to commuter misery

City Hall appears to be losing its protracted battle of attrition with vendors to bring a sense of order to some of the main streets in the capital as increasing numbers of itinerant traders occupy pavements and streets.

The state of Regent Street reflects the chaos that now attends most of the urban commercial area as freight containers, builders’ waste and temporary “closing off” of sections of pavement to facilitate renovation and construction work make walking along one of Georgetown’s main thoroughfares a nightmare.

When Stabroek Business raised the issue of pavement vending with Town Clerk Beulah Williams she conceded that for the moment at least the vendors were “winning the battle.” Williams told Stabroek Business that the magnitude of the task associated with removing the vendors from the streets necessitated far more City Policemen than are at the disposal of the municipality. It is really a question of resources,” she added.

Asked whether the increased presence of vendors on the streets might not reflect the success of corrupt transactions involving vendors and the City Police, Williams said that while she could hardly deny the existence of corrupt practices, City Hall, as far as she was aware, still adhered to a policy of zero tolerance of such practices.

Vendors with whom Stabroek Business spoke earlier this week contended that pavement vending has been allowed to survive as a result of deals between vendors and City Police involving payoffs.

Meanwhile, another City Hall source told Stabroek Business that the municipality appeared to have “given up” on trying to rid the streets of pavement vendors. According to the source the customary seasonal leniency which City Hall applied during the Christmas period had “come back to haunt them this year” since many of those vendors who had gone on the streets last Christmas had simply remained there. The source told Stabroek Business that there were what he described as “mixed views” on the Council with regard to “whether the vendors should stay or go.”

Meanwhile the source told Stabroek Business that while “theoretically” Regent Street businesses would have received City Hall permission to throw up cordons around sections of the pavement he was unsure as to whether such permission had, in fact, been granted in every case.

This newspaper has also observed that freight containers have been deposited outside the premises of some city businesses and left there for several days.

When this issue was raised with the Police Traffic Department Stabroek Business was told that the regulations dictated that the containers be removed “expeditiously” but there was no set time frame for their removal.