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Never thought much of him at first but this guy McKenzie is so impressive to me. Every town in Jamaica needs a mayor like this one.
Vendors to go tomorrow as KSAC cleans Half-Way-Tree
INGRID BROWN, Senior staff reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, September 29, 2008
Mayor Desmond McKenzie speaks to vendors yesterday at the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, downtown Kingston. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)
VENDORS are expected to be removed from the streets of Half-Way-Tree tomorrow, at least until the next two weeks, while the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) cleans the busy commercial district.
However, when street vendors are allowed to resume their trade in the busy commercial district there will be space for only a small percentage of the hundreds who earn their living selling on the streets of Half-Way-Tree.
Mayor of Kingston and chairman of the KSAC Desmond McKenzie said the council would be building stalls at designated areas for registered vendors only, in order to ensure uniformity in the area.
McKenzie, who met yesterday with a group of vendors at the KSAC's chambers, said while two weeks would not be adequate time to do all that must be done, it would be a start.
"We might not be able to do all the things but we are going to be setting some standards and if at anytime during that period you violate then we will be going back to square one," he said.
McKenzie made it clear that there would be no place for the nearly 600 illegal vendors under the structured vending system to be implemented by the city government.
The tough-talking mayor said it would be a different 'ball game; after this Tuesday, which is the last day illegal vendors would be allowed in the area.
"When we come into Half-Way-Tree on Tuesday we are coming to take anything that we see because what exists there now cannot go beyond Tuesday," said McKenzie.
Only newspaper vendors, and some persons selling pants length along South Odeon Avenue, who the mayor said have complied with all regulations, will be allowed to continue selling on the streets while it is being cleaned.
Persons found vending in Half-Way-Tree without a licence after the clean-up, the mayor said, will be arrested and charged and their goods seized.
McKenzie later told the Observer that the KSAC had data on all the illegal vendors. "We have a clear idea of where the disorder is concentrated," he said.
Although the KSAC has 66 registered vendors on its book, the last head count revealed that there were 621 persons selling in the area. According to McKenzie, one vendor had some $3 million worth of stock yet he refused to be relocated from the streets.
The decision to restructure vending in Half-Way-Tree, McKenzie said, had become necessary as vendors had started to set up tarpaulins all over, were selling drugs and using illegal Jamaica Public Service connection.
The approach, McKenzie said, was not to dislocate the vendors but to rid the area of the disorder, a statement which many of the vendors in attendance agreed to.
He, however, seemed to have been 'preaching to the converted' as most of those present were registered vendors with identification cards.
Meanwhile, scores of vendors were seen selling in Half-Way-Tree yesterday afternoon, with no visible indication that they intended to leave the streets.
Vendors to go tomorrow as KSAC cleans Half-Way-Tree
INGRID BROWN, Senior staff reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, September 29, 2008
Mayor Desmond McKenzie speaks to vendors yesterday at the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, downtown Kingston. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)VENDORS are expected to be removed from the streets of Half-Way-Tree tomorrow, at least until the next two weeks, while the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) cleans the busy commercial district.
However, when street vendors are allowed to resume their trade in the busy commercial district there will be space for only a small percentage of the hundreds who earn their living selling on the streets of Half-Way-Tree.
Mayor of Kingston and chairman of the KSAC Desmond McKenzie said the council would be building stalls at designated areas for registered vendors only, in order to ensure uniformity in the area.
McKenzie, who met yesterday with a group of vendors at the KSAC's chambers, said while two weeks would not be adequate time to do all that must be done, it would be a start.
"We might not be able to do all the things but we are going to be setting some standards and if at anytime during that period you violate then we will be going back to square one," he said.
McKenzie made it clear that there would be no place for the nearly 600 illegal vendors under the structured vending system to be implemented by the city government.
The tough-talking mayor said it would be a different 'ball game; after this Tuesday, which is the last day illegal vendors would be allowed in the area.
"When we come into Half-Way-Tree on Tuesday we are coming to take anything that we see because what exists there now cannot go beyond Tuesday," said McKenzie.
Only newspaper vendors, and some persons selling pants length along South Odeon Avenue, who the mayor said have complied with all regulations, will be allowed to continue selling on the streets while it is being cleaned.
Persons found vending in Half-Way-Tree without a licence after the clean-up, the mayor said, will be arrested and charged and their goods seized.
McKenzie later told the Observer that the KSAC had data on all the illegal vendors. "We have a clear idea of where the disorder is concentrated," he said.
Although the KSAC has 66 registered vendors on its book, the last head count revealed that there were 621 persons selling in the area. According to McKenzie, one vendor had some $3 million worth of stock yet he refused to be relocated from the streets.
The decision to restructure vending in Half-Way-Tree, McKenzie said, had become necessary as vendors had started to set up tarpaulins all over, were selling drugs and using illegal Jamaica Public Service connection.
The approach, McKenzie said, was not to dislocate the vendors but to rid the area of the disorder, a statement which many of the vendors in attendance agreed to.
He, however, seemed to have been 'preaching to the converted' as most of those present were registered vendors with identification cards.
Meanwhile, scores of vendors were seen selling in Half-Way-Tree yesterday afternoon, with no visible indication that they intended to leave the streets.
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