As part of the ‘Vendors Relocation Project’, the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines will move more than 380 of them to two new places.
The goal of the project is to reduce the amount of informal or “street” vending in the city. This will be done by moving as many vendors as possible from sidewalks and streets to covered markets.
Clayton Burgin, Warden of the Kingstown Town Board, told The St. Vincent Times on Monday, 14, that one of the new locations will be opposite CK Greaves supermarket in the old Queens warehouse and the other will be opposite the cenotaph on the reclamation site, with these locations supplemented by using the existing Central Market.
“At the moment, we have about 380 people to move to both locations.” So we are in the process of doing that. We have an opening ceremony for both locations on Thursday, and we are hoping that soon after the opening on Monday, the 21st person will occupy the locations. “Vendors will choose their stall lottery style because we don’t want anyone to say it’s favoritism,” Burgin said.
“Some vendors selling items such as newspapers, phone cards, coconut water, snacks, fruits, etc. will continue to operate on sidewalks at strategic points. Existing clothing vendors along Middle Street will continue to operate there until suitable alternatives are established. “In both cases, vendors will be given spaces that are clearly marked and have strict rules about how they can work,” he said.
The project will be executed in three (3) phases and will:
- Vendors occupying the upper ward of the town from Hillsboro Street and White Chapel to Upper Long Lane
- Vendors occupying the lower ward of the town from Bedford Street to the Kingstown Cemetery
- Vendors occupying the vicinity of Little Tokyo and Leeward Bus Terminals
With limited vending facilities being offered, it is necessary to prioritize vendors identified for relocation based on the following considerations:
- frequent vendors who operate at least four (4) days per week.
- Weekend vendors operate on Fridays and Saturdays.
- Seasonal vendors.
Vendors using existing market facilities as storage will be required to return to them and operate.
“A total of 422 vendors have been identified as operators in the upper ward of the town.” Of these vendors, 18 have been taken off the list because they were “extensions of stores, runners for existing vendors, or people who worked for the government or private businesses in other ways.”
“A total of 41 persons occupy existing market facilities as storage.” “Of these, 19 vendors will go back to their spaces to run their businesses, and the other 22 clothing vendors on Middle Street will continue to use their spaces as storage until a better solution is found,” Burgin said.
It is understood that of the 323 remaining vendors, sixty-two (62) clothing vendors will continue their operations along the right side of Middle Street, traversing from Jax Enterprises Ltd. on Hillsboro Street to ED Layne and Sons Ltd. at South River Road.
Nineteen (19) vendors will operate at nine (9) strategic locations and sell specialized items to the general public. Twenty (20) vendors will be assigned new stalls at the Central Market, and ninety-nine (99) new stalls will be distributed at the new Uptown Market.
Alternative vending arrangements for the weekend and seasonal vendors have not yet been sought; hence, these vendors will be required to cease their operations in the city until such time.
Burgin told the St. Vincent Times that the main goal of the cleanup exercise is to ensure people can traverse the streets and allow businesses to have a free flow of traffic in and out of their establishments.
“We want to allow the business people to make a living as well, because some of them spend millions of dollars to establish the business, and while all of us want to make a dollar, we have to ensure that we cooperate with each other so things can be done in an orderly and decent fashion,” he stated.
There are approximately 1300 vendors in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
