What has come to be known as Parliament View Mall—the description could hardly be more inappropriate—is a hotbed of muted but ill-concealed resentment amongst the more than 100 vendors evicted from the Stabroek Market Square three months ago to their new, decidedly unappealing location.
They continue to cling to the hope that heed will be taken of the expressed wish by President David Granger that City Hall find them some acceptable location from which to ply their trade. However, a sense of despondent resignation is beginning to settle over them. Their numbers, the cramped conditions and the prevailing period of inclement weather have combined to render the conditions inhospitable and the vendors no longer trade in the environment of coarse breeziness that obtained at their previous location.
When Stabroek Business spoke with them last week the vendors were wondering aloud about City Hall’s earlier promise of sanitary facilities and 24-hour security. The sanitary facilities are there, but unattended and, as a consequence already in a deplorable state. There is no electricity at the Parliament View location and the promised 24- hour security is essentially a lone guard. The vendors are mistrustful so they reportedly meet the cost of their own security since the presence of the lone sentry has done little to stop their goods from disappearing. They complain too that the wooden pallets that are an essential part of their trading paraphernalia and which had been damaged during the mass migration from the Stabroek Market area have had to be repaired at their own expense.
The vendors point, too, to what they say are the poor quality tents afforded them by City Hall. They provide no protection for their goods or shelter for themselves when it rains.
One of the vendors, Oneika Douglas describes in theatrical terms the helter-skelter dash by the vendors to protect their stock from what, sometimes, are sudden, sharp downpours.
There is talk about options being pursued by City Hall for the vendors. It is difficult to secure an official version of the status of the occupancy arrangement for Parliament View with the owner. Alternative places in the city are being sought, according to City Hall officials; but the vendors do not appear to take those reports seriously. The loss of confidence in the municipal administration coupled with their necessary preoccupation with their own ‘hustle,’ has turned them into cynics. They remain acutely aware, however, that they cannot forever trade in the prevailing conditions. In the absence of the openness that had been afforded by the sprawling nature of the Stabroek Square business, they say, “is down.” One vendor frets over the fact that she this year she is unable to send her A-student daughter to Summer School.
‘Horse Man’ is brooding too. He had been trading outside the Stabroek Market for 16 years prior to being relocated. These are the toughest times he has ever faced. These days he finds the obligation of a vending fee to be an irritation. All too frequently he has to pay it ‘out of pocket.’ Some days he sells nothing. He is currently building a home. ‘Horse Man’ frets over the fact that Parliament View provides no nearby source of running water. Often they must use buckets to collect water dripping from the trucks that deliver ice to the beverage vendors.
Some vendors have taken to constructing their own mobile stalls from old baby stroller frames. That allows them a measure of mobility and increases the likelihood of patronage. The City Police frown on the practice and once spotted goods are seized and payments must be made before these can be recovered.
In the face of City Hall’s new-found assertiveness, the vendors appear back-footed. They hope that their situation will change but militancy has been suppressed by force of circumstances. Meanwhile, City Hall has other items on its agenda and the vendors, it seems, will simply have to get in line.
