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..governments and local bodies have caused us to constantly trying to play catch-up and 'recreate the wheel'. Below is an article on the May Pen market which has been a constant cry and shame for years with piecemeal approaches for resolving and treating farmers and vendors with scant respect.
There is an obvious need for two types of 'market - one for 'produce' and one for the 'junk sales' or at least different sections of the market. Can't see why Barnswell and Henry can't get their act together for the common good.
Let me take you all 'back in times'. May Pen market was huge part of my non-formal education and as a young boy going to shop on a FRIDAY NIGHT with my uncle and cousins was an eye opener, a major event and a true memorable experience....stalls were neatly laid out, different areas for different produce - oranges, banana section,ground provisions, meat market (butchers with white aprons), miscellaneous section, cookshop with best food money could buy - the best fry fritters - which my mother said we shouldn't eat in the market but our Uncle would kill us with them... and it worked. The smell of ganja from the white clay pipes smoked by East Indian women, the cloth market - dry goods etc. - IT WORKED!!!!
Muir Park was a beautiful green space next to the market and the May Pen Primary School - with Pavilion, football fields, cricket pitch, flowers...I played cricket and football there as a schoolboy but we WATCHED the big teams play...my father who was a cricketer of worth also played there (before my time)....but it was paved and used to extend the May Pen market and parts given to private interests...what a total waste!!!
Now, 30 plus years later we are singing the same sankey...we are vision-less, hopeless, hapless people...well some of us...
There is an obvious need for two types of 'market - one for 'produce' and one for the 'junk sales' or at least different sections of the market. Can't see why Barnswell and Henry can't get their act together for the common good.
Let me take you all 'back in times'. May Pen market was huge part of my non-formal education and as a young boy going to shop on a FRIDAY NIGHT with my uncle and cousins was an eye opener, a major event and a true memorable experience....stalls were neatly laid out, different areas for different produce - oranges, banana section,ground provisions, meat market (butchers with white aprons), miscellaneous section, cookshop with best food money could buy - the best fry fritters - which my mother said we shouldn't eat in the market but our Uncle would kill us with them... and it worked. The smell of ganja from the white clay pipes smoked by East Indian women, the cloth market - dry goods etc. - IT WORKED!!!!
Muir Park was a beautiful green space next to the market and the May Pen Primary School - with Pavilion, football fields, cricket pitch, flowers...I played cricket and football there as a schoolboy but we WATCHED the big teams play...my father who was a cricketer of worth also played there (before my time)....but it was paved and used to extend the May Pen market and parts given to private interests...what a total waste!!!
Now, 30 plus years later we are singing the same sankey...we are vision-less, hopeless, hapless people...well some of us...
‘Give us a proper market’
Vendors lobby for arcade, night selling in May Pen
BY OSHANE TOBIAS Observer staff reporter ?tobiaso@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, November 19, 2012
MAY PEN, Clarendon — As the busy Christmas season approaches, vendors here are again highlighting the need for a proper market facility.
The vendors, most of whom ply their trade on the street, want the Clarendon Parish Council to build a shopping arcade in the town centre, which they believe will put an end to selling in unauthorised areas.
Vendors ply their wares in the section of the May Pen Market known as the 'new market house', which is said to be reserved for ground provisions. (Photos: Oshane Tobias)
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They are also urging the council to regulate night vending, which they said proves more profitable than selling at daytime.
The concerns were raised at a meeting inside the council chambers on Wednesday evening with Mayor of May Pen Scean Barnswell, Central Clarendon Member of Parliament Mike Henry, and Head of the Clarendon Police Division Senior Superintendent of Police Michael Bailey.
The meeting was called as vendors continue to protest the council’s decision to put them in the municipal market, which was recently given a facelift. They are, however, refusing to use the facility, noting that, among other things, it is too small.
“I challenge any one of you to show me where in the market there is space to sell clothes,” a vendor told the gathering to the approval of her colleagues.
“It’s a shame! We don’t have a market; it can’t even hold 10 people good. May Pen needs an arcade,” she said.
“We don’t have a proper place to sell because the market is stink,” another vendor said. “Just give us a proper market and we will stay in there. We are paying market fees, so just work with us and we will work with you,” she added.
While giving no short-term guarantees, Barnswell identified Muir Park, which is currently being used as a transport centre, as a possible location for an arcade. He stressed that it will come at “a cost”, especially since the May Pen Market is operating at a loss, adding that the local authority would first have to find a suitable replacement for the bus park.
“Yes, we are looking into building an arcade, but that means certain persons will have to be inconvenienced,” Barnswell said.
“We have been trying to facilitate you,” the mayor told the vendors, “but it is difficult when you are operating at a deficit; the May Pen Market is operating at a loss. We have to be subsidising it from other areas that are doing well.”
Henry, the longstanding Jamaica Labour Party MP for Central Clarendon, backed the vendors in their call for night vending.
“There is no law that stops night vending,” Henry said. “There are regulations under the parish council that can allow it, so I will be asking my councillors to take a resolution to the parish council to allow for night vending,” he said.
Henry also urged SSP Bailey to take complaints made against one of his officers, whom the vendors labelled as unprofessional, seriously.
Bailey responded: “You can rest assured that it will be dealt with. You will see improvements.”
Meanwhile, Barnswell urged the vendors to register with the parish council, warning that persons who refuse to do so will be prevented from plying their wares.
Registration will begin in January and will run for a week at St Gabriel’s Anglican Church Hall. It will attract an annual fee of $2,500.
“You will be given ID cards specifying where you should vend,” Barnswell said
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz2Cg54Uajg
Vendors lobby for arcade, night selling in May Pen
BY OSHANE TOBIAS Observer staff reporter ?tobiaso@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, November 19, 2012
MAY PEN, Clarendon — As the busy Christmas season approaches, vendors here are again highlighting the need for a proper market facility.
The vendors, most of whom ply their trade on the street, want the Clarendon Parish Council to build a shopping arcade in the town centre, which they believe will put an end to selling in unauthorised areas.
Vendors ply their wares in the section of the May Pen Market known as the 'new market house', which is said to be reserved for ground provisions. (Photos: Oshane Tobias) 1/4 They are also urging the council to regulate night vending, which they said proves more profitable than selling at daytime.
The concerns were raised at a meeting inside the council chambers on Wednesday evening with Mayor of May Pen Scean Barnswell, Central Clarendon Member of Parliament Mike Henry, and Head of the Clarendon Police Division Senior Superintendent of Police Michael Bailey.
The meeting was called as vendors continue to protest the council’s decision to put them in the municipal market, which was recently given a facelift. They are, however, refusing to use the facility, noting that, among other things, it is too small.
“I challenge any one of you to show me where in the market there is space to sell clothes,” a vendor told the gathering to the approval of her colleagues.
“It’s a shame! We don’t have a market; it can’t even hold 10 people good. May Pen needs an arcade,” she said.
“We don’t have a proper place to sell because the market is stink,” another vendor said. “Just give us a proper market and we will stay in there. We are paying market fees, so just work with us and we will work with you,” she added.
While giving no short-term guarantees, Barnswell identified Muir Park, which is currently being used as a transport centre, as a possible location for an arcade. He stressed that it will come at “a cost”, especially since the May Pen Market is operating at a loss, adding that the local authority would first have to find a suitable replacement for the bus park.
“Yes, we are looking into building an arcade, but that means certain persons will have to be inconvenienced,” Barnswell said.
“We have been trying to facilitate you,” the mayor told the vendors, “but it is difficult when you are operating at a deficit; the May Pen Market is operating at a loss. We have to be subsidising it from other areas that are doing well.”
Henry, the longstanding Jamaica Labour Party MP for Central Clarendon, backed the vendors in their call for night vending.
“There is no law that stops night vending,” Henry said. “There are regulations under the parish council that can allow it, so I will be asking my councillors to take a resolution to the parish council to allow for night vending,” he said.
Henry also urged SSP Bailey to take complaints made against one of his officers, whom the vendors labelled as unprofessional, seriously.
Bailey responded: “You can rest assured that it will be dealt with. You will see improvements.”
Meanwhile, Barnswell urged the vendors to register with the parish council, warning that persons who refuse to do so will be prevented from plying their wares.
Registration will begin in January and will run for a week at St Gabriel’s Anglican Church Hall. It will attract an annual fee of $2,500.
“You will be given ID cards specifying where you should vend,” Barnswell said
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz2Cg54Uajg
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