Moore urges collective effort to clean up Savanna-la-Mar

WESTERN BUREAU:

Councillor Bertel Moore, chairman of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC) and mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, has admitted that the town is not in the best shape right now as a result of large-scale vending on the sidewalks of lower Great George Street.

Moore called on his political colleagues from both sides to cooperate in order to restore order in the parish capital.

“One of the things that I must speak about is the [dirty] way the town is at present. And this is something that we all must sit together, put our minds, hearts, souls, and our bodies together to ensure that the town of Savanna-la-Mar is kept clean,” Moore said.

“I am not the one who is going to say that we want to keep it clean and don’t do that. Things may be tough, but care not what it be, we have a responsibility to play our part; and I am calling on each councillor for us to play our part in whatever the case may be,” the Savanna-la-Mar mayor pleaded while addressing the regular monthly meeting of the WMC on Thursday.

Moore did not name the individual, but said a politician told vendors on the streets not to go into the Savanna-la-Mar Market once the renovation is complete.

“To be honest, I heard that there are people, politicians in the parish at the present, who are telling people not to go into the market; they must stay on the street,” the mayor noted. “But I am warning that person that this is not the time for this, we must work to ensure that we keep the town of Savanna-la-Mar clean.

“There is certain things that the corporation will have to do and we expect our vendors to cooperate,” Moore continued, noting that whatever it takes they will have to work together as a team in 2024 to uplift the citizens.

Westmoreland Central MP George Wright, who calls himself an independent Labourite, has distanced himself from Moore’s statement.

“It would not be me. I never encourage anyone not to go into the market,” Wright told The Gleaner when contacted yesterday.

REPAIRS DONE

He noted that repairs were done to the middle section of the market, but the front section is desperately in need of repairs, both on the roof and the flooring.

“I am saying that now that the middle section of the market is completed, let us move the people from the front into the middle section. And if it can hold more on the outside, let us do that and then fix the front section,” he said.

At the same time, the first-term MP said he would love to see a market that attracts everyone.

“It’s not doing that now, and people are scared. The mayor himself told me that he got robbed in the market. So all I am saying is the market must be secured,” Wright insisted.

Now that the middle section of the market is complete, there are mixed views among vendors selling on the streets as it relates to their willingness to occupy the newly-renovated market.

Those views come despite Moore’s insistence that law and order must prevail in Savanna-la-Mar town and the wider parish, arguing that vending will be permitted in the prescribed areas.

“That market is not ready for anybody to go into because those little (cubicles) that they built in the first place are too small. I don’t know how I am going to secure my goods at the end of the day. There is no space for them to be tied down like the one I am under now,” said a female vendor who asked that her identity be withheld.

She says she has been selling fruit and vegetables at that market for more than 30 years. She shared that she would prefer a space in the clothing section of the market at the front for her and others to set up their stalls instead of those in the refurbished market.

“This is where we want to go, where we can build our stall. If they mark it [the space], we can build our stall. We would die of hunger if we were to go inside the other part they just fixed,” she explained.

According to her, the current condition of the drains and the market site, especially when the tide rises, is unbearable.

“The people say they prefer to buy their fruit and vegetable supplies at Shoppers Fair or D&Y Supermarket. They prefer to buy at the supermarket than to come downtown because of the unkempt drains,” the vendor added.

Another vendor suggested that full cooperation will be required for everyone to benefit from selling in the market once it is ready.

“There are people on the road who need to come inside the market because we are inside here, and we are not selling anything like before,” Veronica Hemmings, of Catadupa in St James said. She argued further that all persons now selling on the road should be compelled to use the market.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com