Suspicious that their proposed relocation for the demolition of the unsafe former Bedford school might be permanent, some irate vendors at the Bourda and Robb streets location are threatening to stay put.
“Leh Royston King know is we put ’e deh. Cah if we din vote fuh APNU, ’e won’t a geh de position; Sooba woulda still deh deh till now,” Jacqueline Hunter said angrily. “I doan see why we gah move from this road wha Mavis Benn put we since de 80s.”
Mavis Benn was a former Mayor of Georgetown.
The Mayor and City Council says the building has been unsafe for a number of years and poses a threat to the lives of passers-by and occupants of neighbouring buildings.
Council spokesperson Debra Lewis told Stabroek News it is in the public’s best interest to demolish the building and that the council is currently looking at places to temporarily relocate the vendors.
The council had said that new Town Clerk Royston King was adamant about having the vendors move as the current administration would not allow them to sell in an unsafe environment. He could not be contacted for further comment.
Clerk of Markets Simone McKend-Charles had identified two other locations where the vendors could be accommodated, the council had said. However, the locations were not named.
The council had said that it recognises the financial factors affecting citizens but urged them to cooperate during the demolition process.
Hunter said she has been selling at Bourda Street for 40 years and counting. “Dey want locate we to East Street or de [Merriman] Mall. Well leh Royston King know ’e gon gah lif’ me and move me. Das wa I wan’ ’e know,” Hunter said irately.
“Nothing wrong wid de building,” she added. “We been selling here fuh a long time. If dey wan demolish de building, leh a ‘junkie’ do it and de process will move fast.”
Yvette Ramsod, another vendor, said she feels safe now that the building is about to be demolished but said it will cause her a little inconvenience.
Ramsod said the idea was good and the council told her that they will call the vendors when they have made a decision. “I would like to remain on Robb Street, though, because majority of my customers shop here,” Ramsod said.
Another vendor, who asked not to be named, said the vendors are willing to move to East Street for one week, but the council does not want that. She said the East Street location is not conducive for selling.
“We out here and when Sooba was giving Mr King a fight, we were so mad with her and now you [King] not even listening to us?” the vendor lamented. “Yes you want us to move, but put us back where we come from… To move completely? No way,” the vendor declared.
Lionel Christian, another vendor, said he doubted that the removal would be temporary.
Christian said he had suggested to the council that some of the vendors can lock up their stands and come back after the demolition process.
Faith Fordyce said she feels the move by the city council is unfair. Fordyce said she has been selling at the site for over 20 years and she has three children, ages two, four and seven, to take care of.
“You gon send us from Berbice to Linden? It is jus the shell of the building that got to move out… This is where we getting our daily bread and now they want to move us to a place where people might thief and rob we,” Fordyce said.
City Council had announced on Wednesday that 20 vendors will have to be relocated temporarily to facilitate the demolition of the building.
The building, which formerly housed the Bedford Methodist School, has not been used in decades. Booming commerce in the vicinity of the market made the building unsuitable for use as a learning facility and once unoccupied it fell into disrepair with the wooden structure becoming increasingly rickety.
