Street vendors who ply their trade on Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain, between Thursday to Sunday will have to wait for six weeks before returning to their stalls as workers of the City Corporation look to clean up the busy street.
This was the word of Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez, who confirmed that the contract for vending on the street expired on December 31.
He explained that the decision to keep them off the street was part of a plan to rehabilitate Charlotte Street, one of many areas in Port- of- Spain earmarked for work.
“We will take that six weeks to get the street back to a state of readiness,” said Martinez in a an interview.” The mayor said with the vendors’ presence on the street, the corporation could not really service the road properly.
When the T&T Guardian visited Charlotte Street yesterday it was mainly clear with only one produce vendor selling items along the roadway.
Some 129 vendors were issued contracts in April to vend on the street/ Martinez said the City Corporation was looking over the happenings of the past year to see what can be improved.
Martinez said while there was no extension to vending at this time, he did offer an extension to vendors to settle outstanding rent.
Martinez also confirmed that 30 new constables were brought into the City Police to aid with illegal vending in the city.
The mayor said he hoped to make Port-of-Spain a cleaner city in 2019 as the corporation started doing clean-up exercises at the homeless centre at the Riverside Plaza car park.
Martinez said the corporation was also looking to do work on the Brian Lara Promenade.