— as City Hall removes them reportedly without notice

THE barbers and cosmetologists on Merriman Mall, who were relocated there from the streets in Georgetown, are upset that the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) turned up and dismantled their stalls in the dead of Wednesday night and without providing them any notice.

Furthermore, one vendor said he received word that the reason behind moving him and the rest of the vendors on Merriman Mall, between Cummings and Light Streets, is to make the area into a parking lot that will facilitate parking meters.

Mayor Patricia Chase-Green had told the Chronicle on the sidelines of the statutory meeting on Monday that those vendors who were not keeping their end of the bargain to keep their surroundings clean have at most one month to remove from the location.

Town Clerk Royston King and a team reportedly turned up after the vendors would have left the facility and dismantled the stalls, which were then dumped inside the Le Repentir Cemetery.

The barbers, and a few cosmetologists, who were said to be keeping their surroundings clean, were allowed to remain on the spot. But they too told Chronicle Thursday that they were not provided any details as to if they will be allowed to remain there.

The vendors had on hand receipts of their latest payments for environmental fees which were recently hiked from $1000 to $1,500.

Chase-Green did, however, tell the Chronicle Monday that the original intention was for the vendors to be relocated to Merriman Mall on a temporary basis, and now that they are proving to be untidy, remaining on a permanent basis is now out of the question.

The barbers and cosmetologists, though, some of whom got emotional when they saw what their stalls turned to yesterday morning, said they have no idea where they will go now, having already been relocated.

One vendor, who had previously told the Chronicle that she was willing to work along with the guidelines of the M&CC, is of the view that the M&CC has only provided them with empty promises.

UNFAIR
“They take us from off the streets and giving us empty promises. We were maintaining the spots. They could have told us of their dissatisfaction. It is a deception because you just come and meet your stuff on the road,” the woman said.

One of the barbers told the media yesterday that the rain and sun helped to destroy the tents that were not in use and that made the surroundings look unkempt. These factors are in addition to the social rejects (junkies) that frequent the facility once vendors would have left.

“These people bring us out of town and for the jubilee celebrations, they tell us that we ain’t looking good and tell us to organise ourselves and to take out medicals and so. If they put us temporary, why put pipes? And they promised to build something for us after the jubilee.

“The mayor never gave us any notice. I appealing to the President to come and look into this situation. It appears as though these people bullying poor people. Is we vote for these people. Before they become mayor and town clerk, they come out on the road and give us all assurances that they will help us and this is what these people turn out to. They turn their back on us after we finish voting for them and they get what they want. These people just studying to make money. Nothing they ain’t doing for poor people,” the barber lamented.

Meanwhile, the mayor has said that the Merriman Mall vendors have been disgracing the council by their untidiness.

“We will not tolerate it. The Council agreed by a recommendation from the Markets’ Public Health Committee that they (vendors) should have been gone long ago. We tried our utmost best to ensure that no one is left without sending their child to school or providing a meal by having them there. But it is not in the best interest of the City; the condition that place is being left in” Chase-Green told councillors.

She said many of the said vendors have not even been fulfilling their obligation to pay the environmental fees.

“They have three barbers there who have the place looking good compared to the female cosmetologists. The men showing the women them up on that place. We can’t tolerate that kind of lawlessness,” the mayor further lamented.

Meanwhile, following the meeting, Chase-Green told Chronicle: “They have to clean up their act. They have another month to find somewhere to move.”

But some are wondering why Town Clerk Royston King had the stalls dismantled when the Mayor said she was giving the vendors one month.