–about relocation of Merriman Mall vendors
THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is clueless at the moment about the fate of those barbers and cosmetologists of the Merriman Mall who were given up to this month-end to relocate their businesses. With roughly two weeks remaining, no one, including Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, Town Clerk Royston King and Chairman of the Markets and Public Health Committee and Deputy Mayor Lionel Jaikarran, can say definitively what arrangements are in place for the vendors.
At the statutory meeting on Monday, councillors heard that the City Hall administration continues to ‘drag its feet’ in getting certain things done. The administration, headed by King, had made clear in the past that it was waiting on the Markets Committee to come up with ideas for relocation. The Merriman Mall vendors had been subjected to a roller-coaster approach by the M&CC in the not-too-distant past, often being removed and then placed back at the facility. The last word om the matter was that they had until July 31 to remove, but the vendors have reportedly submitted another petition to the M&CC to have their stay extended, and although adamant in the past that they should remove because of to public health issues, the mayor has now softened her approach.
“They are residents of this city; I will do whatever I can to assist,” Chase-Green said in response to Councillor Trichria Richards on Monday, who was against the M&CC entertaining any more petitions from the vendors. According to Richards, the barbers and cosmetologists are not actively pursuing their relocation, because they have found that they are continuing to be granted extensions. “If we keep entertaining them, our three years will be up and they will still be there,” said Richards. The town clerk reportedly has a plan in mind to transform the said area in a way that will allow the vendors to remain. But this matter has not yet reached the Council for deliberations.
Earlier this year, the mayor had said that the Merriman Mall vendors have been disgracing the Council by their untidiness. “We will not tolerate it!” Chase-Green had said. “The Council agreed, by a recommendation from the Markets’ Public Health Committee, that they should have been gone long ago. “We tried our utmost best [sic] 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.
“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 M&CC have always said that they are not responsible for relocating the vendors, but the vendors continue to look to the municipality for assistance, considering that they have been occupying that spot for years and have been paying fees.
