Dear Editor,
My mother is the holder of a stall at the Toolsie Persaud Mall on Water Street. In recent months the city council has been putting pressure on some stall holders, in particular those that have stalls at the entrance to the aforesaid mall.
Originally they had told the stall holders that they had to dismantle and rebuild all the stalls to council’s specifications because of the upcoming Carifesta X, but after council was informed about the back-to-school season, which is usually one of the busiest business seasons for vendors, it was pushed back to September. It is to be noted that they had previously requested that they do the same prior to the Cricket World Cup.
The issue that concerns my mother and some of the stall holders who would be most affected by this, is the demand by council to ‘pick over’ numbers, in order to find out the new location of their stalls in the mall. It is to be noted that the stalls that are at the back of the mall are currently used as bonds and liquor shops. Vendors who do open stalls at the back, have to come out on the pavement to ply their trade because of the lack of customers who come into the mall, and this defeats the whole purpose of having the mall there.
A committee has been appointed (appointed by whom is still a mystery to me) of stall holders who were either not paying rent for the past five years or who are occupying portions of what used to be the JP Santos store, illegally. These persons are also allowed to vend on the pavements at Christmas for a fee paid to the market constables. These are the same constables who would regularly harass the vendors if they have their goods “encumbering” the pavement, as they would term it. These same persons are now being allowed to “pick” along with legitimate holders of stalls for new stall numbers and locations. Is this legal?
I think it is unfair to demand that a stall holder who occupies the front of the mall and has been continuously paying rent for the five years or so they have been there, to risk “a pick over” when we all know that those with the money to pay will pay to have stalls in front and the rest will suffer at the back.
Yours faithfully,
Selounge Benjamin
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Mayor Hamilton Green for any comments he may wish to make.
