–to facilitate road repairs

THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has asked vendors on Bourda Street, between Regent Street and North Road, to find alternative vending spots for three weeks to facilitate road repairs there.  The M&CC had earlier said that it would allow these vendors a temporary space in front of the Bourda Market until the works are completed, but Public Relations Officer Debra Lewis told the Guyana Chronicle recently that the municipality will no longer pursue that option.  According to her, the vendors have since complied, and have willingly expressed their desire to cooperate so that the Ministry of Infrastructure, in collaboration with the M&CC, can complete the road.

Lewis could not say from when the vendors would be relocated, but she did offer that the municipality is aiming to have everything completed in time for Christmas, and that the vendors will be given back their original spots.  Apart from the road, the M&CC had previously said that they wanted to remove the vendors so that stalls, the likes of those outside of the Guyana Post Office (GPOC) can be constructed on Bourda Street as well.  The new stalls on Bourda Street will be constructed by the M&CC in collaboration with a private partner, Lewis had told the Guyana Chronicle, and that hence the stalls will be owned by the City Council.

In an arrangement like this, vendors would be required to pay an increased rent, and will also have to secure electricity on their own. Vendors on Bourda Street, between Robb and Regent Streets, were displaced approximately two years ago when the M&CC decided that no vending could take place there because of the dangers posed by the old Bedford School building. Mayor Patricia Chase-Green recently said the government is ready to lend a helping hand to the project, but the M&CC is holding back the works.

She noted, too, that since the Council has been waiting on the Engineer’s Department to come up with a pattern for the stalls for quite some time now, the M&CC should move forward with this idea that she is proposing. Town Clerk, Royston King had responded that City Engineer, Colvern Venture did submit the drawings, but that the committee dealing with the matter is looking at other options.

Back in July 2015, King and senior M&CC officials had met with some 20 vendors who plied their trade on Bourda Street. The purpose of that meeting was to inform the vendors that they will no longer be allowed to do business there because the Council was ready to go ahead with plans to demolish the Bedford School.

The news was not welcomed by the vendors, but King explained that the situation was no longer tenable as the derelict building posed a threat to their very existence as well as passers-by. “The Bedford building has been in a state of disrepair for a number of years. The Council had issued a call for persons who have derelict structures to remove them, since they serve as a haven for criminal elements and persons of unsound mind. Also, these structures are an eyesore and pose a threat to the lives of the passers-by and occupiers of neighbouring buildings,” King had said.
“We cannot allow you to operate in an environment that will compromise your safety and health,” he said, adding that while the Council is cognisant of the socio-economic factors affecting citizens, vendors need to cooperate with the administration so that the relocation process can be a smooth one.