On the eve of Independence Day, vendors operating at the Salvatori Building site, long razed for development, are facing eviction by Udecott as their running month to month contract to use the space comes to its inevitable end.The result of an agreement with former Port-of-Spain Mayor Louis Lee Sing in December 2012, the vendors have operated on the empty pre-construction side for almost two years now, hoping that the city would provide an alternative location for vending.
That hasn't happened and the vendors now face the unwelcome prospect of either going out of business or resuming the cat and mouse games with the police that have tended to characterise street vending in the city centre.When Mr Lee Sing instituted the move, it was part of an effort to open the sidewalks of the city centre and to bring some order for shoppers.
In doing so, he offered, for free, some of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the city, so it isn't surprising to find the vendors protesting the move.Port-of-Spain has long been a troubled location for shoppers. There are bargains to be had for those intrepid enough to navigate its congested streets, but for many, the air-conditioned comfort of a nearby mall proves a more alluring option.
Vendors would not be sustainable in the city centre if they didn't offer goods that were popular, but the conflicts between the city's official businesses, who frown on hosting competition on their doorsteps, the need for space on the pavement for bustling crowds and the undeniable flavour that street vendors bring to the whole experience have never been comfortably resolved to anyone's satisfaction.
Moving the vendors is necessary for Udecott to proceed with its plans, in progress since 2006, to build a multi-storey car park and business centre at the site.Nobody can argue that it's something that's also desperately needed.Parking in PoS proper has become an almost impossibly complicated operation, with one major public car park closing its doors to the public mere months ago.
The Parkade is filling and will soon to be overwhelmed by the opening of the Government Campus.It's clear that the need for organized city scale parking has become critical.
What's needed here is a results focused sit-down by all parties involved with the goal of making sense of the situation. The Port-of-Spain City Corporation needs to evaluate its capacity to accommodate vendors and vendors need be prepared to take the next step beyond their always tenuous arrangements at the site of a demolished building.
Creating workable accommodation for vendors will have to be more inventive than simply putting them in a building. That's already been done and all that's happened is a new generation of vendors has set up shop on the streets.
It will call for vendors to raise their game from a roadside hustle to becoming semi-transient businesses. City planners will have to think of solutions that preserve the flavour and feel of street vending while managing siting and ancillary issues like sanitation.Some cities have closed streets permanently, making them walk-through zones for vendors, others have created warehouse-sized buildings that have the feel of streets with none of the traffic issues.
It's clear that past solutions haven't worked well. It's time for fresh thinking.