A special meeting of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is set for today to discuss a permanent solution for vendors who were removed from the Stabroek Market Square.
The meeting will also discuss other prospective developmental projects.
The vendors are now temporarily housed at Hadfield and Lombard streets. They will be there for three months based on an agreement between the Council and the owner of the land.
According to Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, the councillors would also discuss the possibilities of relocating the bus and car parks from the Stabroek Market Square permanently. She added that the council would be looking at the recommendations in Professor Akhtar Khan’s Greater Georgetown Development Plan which was done in 2002.
Khan worked as a consultant with the Central Housing & Planning Authority (CH&PA) and he along with a team came up with an expansive plan on how Georgetown could be returned to being the ‘Garden City’.
Chase-Green said vendors seem to be of the view that the council is just working to make Georgetown clean for the Independence jubilee celebration but that belief is wrong. She stated that it is actually the start of restoring the City to its former glory and preserving its history and heritage.
For too long, she said, vendors were allowed to have their way, as there are a number of breaches of the laws in the streets. She admitted that the previous council has to take some blame for allowing the lawlessness of vendors to continue but said the time has come for laws to be respected.
She added that if they are going to move the City forward there would have to be discipline among its citizens and the vendors.
There will be those who are unwilling to accept the changes, she said, adding that while a few do not accept the changes, the majority have already begun to work with them.
Meanwhile, vendors who were banned from selling at the Stabroek Market Square yesterday continued to occupy spots at the Hadfield and Lombard Sts location. Stabroek News learnt that over a hundred and twenty vendors were relocated to the new location and were given spots to ply their trade. A release from the M&CC said that more vendors are expected to occupy the vacant spaces that are available at the location.
Vendors have complained of the small spaces given to them and the extreme heat they suffer from being too close to each other. Town Clerk Royston King in the statement said vendors must be considerate and be open-minded about the situation. He called on vendors to not lay out all of their items to sell.
