PNC calls for compassionate solution to vendor issue
The PNC is saddened by the turn of events in the dispute between the City Council and the Regent Street vendors. It believes that the council needs to show greater compassion and understanding of the issue. At a press conference at his party's Congress Place headquarters yesterday, PNC leader Desmond Hoyte described the dispute as one that could not be resolved by guns or force. He stressed that it was not a satisfactory solution to merely remove the vendors from Regent Street, telling them that they could not make a living selling on the pavement there. "It needs to be something more than that," Hoyte asserted, explaining that he thought there was an obligation on the part of the council and government to finds some sort of alternative place where they could sell their goods. He described the reports of the use of violence by vendors as "a gut reaction to what appears to them to be an injustice and an unreasonable stance by the City Council [and] by the mayor." Asserting that there was need for greater compassion and understanding of the issue by the Council, Hoyte stressed he did not believe that any number of guns will force the vendors to remove from Regent Street. He said that their determination was being fuelled by the prospects of their children going hungry, being evicted from their homes, and being taken before the courts as a result of their inability to make the necessary payments to their creditors. Hoyte said that the vendors were fighting for their very survival and that all these issues had to be taken into account. PNC General Secretary, Oscar Clarke, who is a city councillor, said that the council and the government had to get their act together. Clarke said that he had tabled a proposal in the council to acquire an open space, which the proprietor was willing to make available for that purpose. He was unsure whether the council had taken any action on it. Contacted for a comment, Deputy Mayor, Robert Williams told Stabroek News that the council was dealing with the matter under Section 239 of the Municipal and District Councils Act. He explained that the council had written to the Ministry of Local Government seeking its consent to enter discussions with the owners of four open spaces identified on Regent Street and on Water Street since October 17, but was yet to have a response. Also, he said, the council had written to the Central Housing and Planning Authority seeking a removal of the injunction to allow the council to formally allocate lots on Bourda Street and Orange Walk. That agency, too, had not responded. Clarke said that the government had an equal responsibility with the council as many of the people it had "thrown out of work" had joined the army of vendors. He said that it must either find employment opportunities for these people or assist in finding a solution in a situation where people were desperate.
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