KSAMC firm on eviction of vendors from Constant Spring Market
Published:Monday | August 20, 2018 | 12:00 AMSyranno Baines/Gleaner Writer
An appeal by vendors in the Constant Spring Market for them to be allowed to occupy an unused space at the back of the premises after the building is demolished, seems set to fall on deaf ear.
"That is not practical and is a request that we will have to ignore," a representative of the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) told The Gleaner yesterday.
The KSAMC official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak, said that option had already been considered and discarded.
On Monday, the vendors staged a protest as they argued that they should be allowed to occupy the land space at the back of the market, and labelled as "bullying" the actions of the KSAMC.
ROAD EXPANSION
Last Thursday, the vendors were issued formal notices to vacate the market on or by September 30 to facilitate road improvement works along Constant Spring Road.
But the vendors charged that the Government is using the road expansion as a ploy to destroy the market to get rid of them.
"We pay a lease every week for the land, we pay a yearly business registration fee plus we build the shops, and we've been here for decades," asserted bar owner and operator Kameka Livingston.
"If you go in the middle of the road and look straight down, the market is not affecting the roadworks.
"Even if so, the land space is very big and if they even take the market, there's a lot of space at the back that we can still use, but they're using the road as an excuse to take the land from us. They're not putting us anywhere, they're not trying to negotiate with us, we don't see the member of parliament (Karl Samuda) and we don't see the councillor," added Livingston as she charged that they were being treated unfairly.
"They're not giving us any options, is like a bullying thing, they're bullying us. People on Red Hills Road who were illegal got a nice little market, people on Ferry who were illegal got a nice market, and we are legal and they are throwing us out on the street, to do what?" she lamented.