Port-of-Spain mayor Louis Lee Sing has stuck to his word that no vending is to be allowed on the city's streets. At yesterday's statutory meeting of the Port-of-Spain Corporation, the mayor disclosed that he was able to get the Ministry of Works to give the corporation the authority to use the empty Salvatori site for vendors for the Christmas season. Vendors will use the site to ply their goods for three weeks until December 30. Lee Sing said: "I hope to cater for all who do Christmas vending. But this must be strictly adhered to. No one will be allowed to stay after."
He said he planned to make the site as habitable as possible, including putting in all the necessary facilities. He said: "There will be no vending on the streets otherwise, except for Charlotte Street vendors. They will be given their days and hours to sell." However, Lee Sing added, by the end of the first quarter of 2011, there would be no more Charlotte Street vendors. He said: "I hope to create three pedestrian malls between Independence Square South and South Quay for the vendors. "We will create six by ten stores and put in all the facilities and ambience that is conducive to business." The mayor said he had received numerous complaints from Belmont taxi-drivers that "barrowmen" (transporting vendors' goods) have been damaging their vehicles. "They move in the opposite direction to the traffic," he said.
The mayor said he continued to receive complaints from pedestrians, as well.
"Everything about the street is not suited to a main artery in the city," he said. If the mayor has his way, nighttime shopping also may return to Port-of-Spain. He said: "I had a lovely meeting with the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association. "We're hoping one day we can have night shopping back in the city. There was a time when stores opened late." Lee Sing said he was seeking a meeting with the Commissioner of Police and the officer responsible for Port-of-Spain to work on containing and controlling crime in the city. (YB)