Scores of alarmed vendors currently operating in the vicinity of the La Penitence Market, along Saffon Street, Wednesday met with Mayor of Georgetown, Hamilton Green, and other officials at City Hall to address concerns and to discuss plans for their relocation. These vendors, who are facing displacement as the Ministry of Public Works moves to alleviate traffic congestion along the East Bank road during peak hours, are demanding that they have a legal right to continue operating along the roadway.
According to City Hall’s Public Relations Officer, Royston King, the objective of the meeting with the affected vendors was to understand their concerns and to determine how the Council could assist them.
“The Mayor met with them and they raised some concerns about the number of years they have been at the market and the question of what resources will be necessary for them to relocate and to rebuild.”
In addition, King explained that the Mayor has promised to speak with those in charge to see what can be done to bring some relief to the vendors who will be affected.
Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor, Robert Williams explained that there are currently three proposals which have been recommended by the Market’s Administration to accommodate the vendors who will be affected by the widening of the road, but no decision has been made to date.
The proposed ideas include covering of the Sussex Street canal, which would accommodate some of the vendors; a plot of land identified in the area as another site, and a third  proposal is to  utilise the City Council’s reserve opposite the market.

Williams indicated that, representatives from the Mayor and City Council will have to meet with officials from the Ministry of Public Works and Communication to agree on a suitable arrangement for the vendors.

After the meeting Wednesday, several officals from the Mayor and City Council visited the La Penitence Market to inspect proposed sites for the relocation of the vendors.
Meanwhile, Secretary of the Albouystown Market Committee, Rickford Nelson, who attended the meeting at City Hall, said that the vendors were told that they have to remove from the roadside.
He said, “They told us that we need to remove because they will be removing the stalls within 30 metres of the Sussex Street Canal.”
Nelson, who has been vending in the area for over 27 years, said the decision taken to remove the vendors is a mistake.
He lamented, “It is wrong for them to force us to remove and we want to know what compensation will be provided to us for the removal of our permanent stalls which cost a lot to build.”
“When they break these stalls who will compensate us?” he asked.
Last year, the Ministry of Public Works overlaid La Penitence carriageway from Punt Trench Dam to Broad Street, in keeping with plans to turn the stretch into a two-way road to ease traffic congestion during peak hours.