Minister of Local Government Laverne Gibson-Velox and Opposition Leader Ralph Gonsalves both weighed in on Monday on the government’s decision to back away from an announced removal of vendors from two streets in Kingstown last Saturday.
The minister struck a conciliatory note while Gonsalves was critical of the decision to announce the removal. In their separate statements, the two agreed on almost nothing except that the removal order should never have stood as written.
The Kingstown Town Board on Wednesday announced via social media that vending on two streets of the capital must end three days later, on Sept. 12.
The announcement took vendors and members of the public by surprise, given the short notice and the New Democratic Party (NDP) administration’s policy, as reiterated by Prime Minister Godwin Friday on March 6 — 100 days after the party came to office.
On Friday, the KTB announced via the same platform that the planned removal of vendors has been “stayed until further notice”.
Deputy Prime Minister St. Clair Leacock, who is also MP for Central Kingstown, which includes the city, commented on the announcement on Facebook, saying, “It’s a firm Halt awaiting our comprehensive plan fir (sic) d remaining n refurbishing of Kingstown.”
Speaking on Monday in a video statement released through the state-owned Agency for Public Information, Gibson-Velox said street vending in Kingstown is “a sensitive [issue], as is the case in many other countries, including within the Caribbean region”.
She said the government “must seek to strike a workable balance between the various factors that must be given consideration”.
Gibson-Velox said that street vending serves several purposes, including providing a living for those who sell, and “quick and easy purchases for those who buy”.
But she also acknowledged “the strong view held by many that vending is an unwelcome nuisance that should be removed and prevented,” particularly given that alternatives “have been provided at significant cost in the form of three market locations in Kingstown”.
However, the minister said that the mere fact that these locations are only partially utilised tells its own story — many vendors do not regard them as suitable for their designated purpose.
Gibson-Velox said the government “is paying attention to the various issues and concerns raised, and on this basis endorses the Kingstown Board’s subsequent decision to stay the removal actions that had been previously announced”.
She also promised consultation, “a process of stronger public engagement on the overall reimagining of Kingstown, with a view to undertaking the upliftment of the conditions, appearance, and operations of our capital city”.
The minister urged the public to submit ideas to the Ministry of Urban Development and the Ministry of Local Government, to be discussed with Minister Andrew John, whose team she said is already working on a beautification plan for parts of Kingstown.
Citizens “as stakeholders should have an input in arriving at an amicable solution for improving the aesthetic value of the City of Arches,” Gibson-Velox said.
Gonsalves: ‘How could this pass anybody with common sense?’
However, Gonsalves, who government had at times used heavy-handed means to move vendors from the streets of the city, objected to the notice issued last week by acting Warden of the Kingstown Town Board, Noel Dickson.
“How could this pass anybody with common sense?” Gonsalves said of the notice that asked vendors to seek operating on Bedford and Bay streets.
“You mean to say that it didn’t cross anybody’s mind that vending in modern societies, even in older societies, would take place in cities? Sidewalk street vending will take place — but what you have to do is to provide reasonable facilities for persons to do vending, and that the street vending must be regulated,” the former prime minister said.
Gonsalves pointed out that Dickson had been a public servant who later ran unsuccessfully for the NDP.
“I hold none of that against him,” Gonsalves said, referring to Dickson as “a new sheriff in town”, mockingly, invoking a phrase he attributed to Leacock in another context.
He said the government had issued a “mealy-mouthed” retreat, “that, oh, having listened to the vendors, we should have some consultations…
“Didn’t they take it to cabinet? Is this a matter not of sufficient importance?” he said, noting that Friday was travelling when the decision surfaced.
The opposition leader added that Leacock was “the only man who come out afterwards and talk and say that the thing is not a pause, it’s a halt”.
The opposition leader said he did not know whether the pause was temporary or permanent.
Of the minister herself, he said, “I don’t know, Laverne — if she hide, she run for cover.”