San Fernando mayor: Illegal vending must stop

San Fernando mayor Robert Parris says the corporation is simply trying to raise the standards of the city and improve the lives of its citizens after an outcry by High Street vendors who were asked to close their stalls.

Letters were distributed to vendors telling them that from this week, they will not be allowed to ply their trade on the street.

On Monday, president of the High Street Vendors Association Cheryl Lawrence asked the mayor to reverse his decision. After a brief handing-over ceremony of an office space at Skinner Park to Pan Trinbago's South Central Division on Tuesday, Parris told reporters the vendors aren't being left out in the rain. "The problem is unregistered vending. That's illegal, and the only way that we can save them from themselves is to regularise it and create vending zones."He said there are plans to revamp Mucurapo Street and build 27 stalls dedicated to vendors in front of the market."We cannot just put the vendors behind God's back...no, this is their livelihood.

"We haven't banned vending. We're trying to accommodate them because the legitimate business owners on High Street have taken a stance. This is the first time they have taken a stance, and we have to be responsible, because we, more or less, are the custodians of every citizen of the city of San Fernando." As for vendors near Library Corner, he said they may be relocated to the unused space near the old train and bandstand, which has been rid of vagrants and cleaned up."Those vendors are part of our institution. When we were building the public convenience, they were dislocated, so we had to move them to there, and we've had so many complaints from the public with regard to that.

"The historical society has indicated the importance, as we know, of the Carnegie Library, and we don't want to take away from the prominence of the Carnegie Library." He believes if the space is occupied constructively by the vendors it will also reduce the incidence of vagrants "vandalising" the area. "We trying to improve on our standard, our life in the city of San Fernando, and that is what every citizen deserves, no matter who you vote for: an improved livelihood. That's what we're trying to do."