A battle royal is looming between former Chaguanas street vendors and the borough corporation over what they are charging is a well disguised plan to exile them from the planned city. The vendors are planning to engage in major protest action soon if they are moved and are also seeking legal advice on the matter. The vendors were temporarily moved off Main Street into the old health centre compound at the entrance to Main Street in 2010.
They said they are being relocated again to accommodate an extension of Centre City Mall owned by George Aboud & Sons Ltd. The space they are occupying is a coveted area in the heart of Chaguanas, adjacent to Centre City Mall, between bustling Main Street and the Mulchan Seuchan Road. The spot on which the health centre building stands is covered in about two feet of stagnant water, posing a serious health threat to vendors and shoppers.
The vendors said numerous requests to have the area cleaned have not borne fruit. Chaguanas Mayor Gopaul Boodan told the Guardian there are plans to convert the area that the vendors are occupying into a green space. But the vendors are adamant they are going nowhere. They said they welcome plans to change Chaguanas into a city, but they must be included. Many of them said they were from in and around Chaguanas and began selling on the street from very young.
They said they were told by Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner, when he was in Government in 2010, that a mall will be constructed right there for them. They are saying the green space the city planners want can be constructed in front their new mall. They said most of their businesses are now registered and they are no longer vendors but small business people paying rent.
Plans are afoot by the Planning Ministry, the Chaguanas Chamber and the Borough Corporation to transform Chaguanas into a city. Part of the plan includes relocating the vendors back unto the street. Market Street, a sleazy area at the back of Chaguanas, frequented by drug addicts and robbers and generally avoided by shoppers, has been identified as a site for them.
They said they were told this was only a temporary accommodation and a four-storey building will be constructed for them in the market carpark. But they are not buying that. “In the back there is for stray dogs, pipers and robbers. It’s a dead zone. They trying to exile we from the city,” said a vendor who lives on Xavier Street, Chaguanas.
Simone Fraser, vice-president of the Main Street Mall Tenants Association, said, “They want to make Chaguanas a happy city. Why do they want to have 151 unhappy people at the back of Chaguanas? “If they want to move from borough to city, don’t dump us. “They say they want here for a green space, but you can’t have people starving for grass. “A piece of the puzzle is missing,” Fraser said, warning that more unemployment could further increase crime in the borough.
President of the association, Joanne Billinghurst, of Carlsen Field, said she sold on the sidewalk in front of Naipaul’s Supermarket on Main Street for 21 years. She claimed it was street vendors who drew shoppers to Chaguanas and made it a popular shopping area. The vendors are disputing claims by the Chaguanas Local Economic Development Steering Committee that they were consulted on the plans and had agreed to them.
Tracing their suspicions, a spokesman for the vendors said they were summoned to a meeting over a week ago at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation with Planning Minister Bhoe Tewarie and Local Government Minister Marlene Coudray. They said they were asked to sign a registration book and handed a document titled “The Future of Chaguanas Street Vendors” which outlined all the plans for them.
According to the document, step one of the plan was completed in August 2014. It added, “Consulted with vendors. Three suggestions by vendors were evaluated. Old Globe Cinema (on Market Street) was selected.” The relocation date of October 20, 2014, was given. Step four, dated 1/3/2016, spoke about the “construction of a facility.” No site was identified. A basic plan was drawn on the document stating “vendors’ mall” showing a four-storey building. No name of any street or area was given.
The vendors said while they met several times with the mayor over the matter, and did suggest the new building in the market carpark, they did not settle on anything. They said this does not comprise a proper consultation. The vendors said they have meeting minutes and recordings and are consulting with lawyers on the matter. Boodan said there were comments about the vendor’s mall being unsightly and that the entrance to a city must be attractive.
He said $15 million was allocated in the 2014-2015 budget for a permanent vendors’ mall in the market carpark. He said though vendors expressed reservations about moving, he will continue to dialogue with them.
