Berbice : "Lingerie hanging on rickety stalls is not the desired image for the town of New Amsterdam", said Mayor Claude Henry, who urges street vendors to desist from this act and take up an appropriate place in the market to conduct their business.
When asked about the municipality’s approach to roadside vending, Henry said that, " There is enough space in the market to absorb the vendors on the outside".
“We’re asking persons who are vending on the road to come into the market because we have space… it looks very bad out there, especially with some of the articles that we see hanging around like brassieres and underwear and all of that… panties and so on which is not good…,” the mayor said.
On the question of vendors concerns over being tucked away in the market away from the limelight and not attracting business like being out on the roadway, the Mayor was clear that the market has sections for all commodities, and vendors would have to comply.
“In any building, there is a front and there is a back, and there is very little the municipality can do because the market is so designed.”
Meanwhile, councillor within the municipality Samuel Fraser is fretting about what he said is unfairness exhibited by the municipality in removing some vendors from the street corners and leaving others.
“They move off some and some are still on the road for instance, the gas station on the road, the one just in front of the town council… the owner fenced apart of the road and the town council afraid to tell him anything… I don’t know what is going on with this council… some people can do what they like and some people can’t do what they like.”
Fraser, who is a People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) councillor, insists that everybody has to live by the same rules and decisions made at the council level. Several vendors on the streets told TrakkerNews that the council is favouring some, while others are being harassed for selling on the road corners in the vicinity of the New Amsterdam Market,and along Strand Public Road.
