MICHAEL AMMAR, Jr., Jamaica Chamber of Commerce president, blasted the KSAC yesterday for failing to move vendors from no-vending areas in downtown Kingston.
Mr. Ammar said that an official statement which the chamber was slated to issue last night pointed out, basically, its disappointment with "the inability of the KSAC to manage anything."
"We have been telling them for the last month that their plan was flawed, because they didn't have a commitment from key players, but they continued to pretend that they are a competent agency and again they have failed," Mr. Ammar told The Gleaner
"The statement will express our disappointment, not surprisingly, because we are expecting it and basically call on Central Government to intervene and not send a child to do a man's work," he commented. The Gleaner did not get a copy of the statement up to press time last night.
The Urban Renewal Committee wants a meeting with Dr. Peter Phillips, National Security Minister, and Portia Simpson Miller, Local Government Minister, to iron out details of a commitment to set up temporary additional vending areas in downtown Kingston for the Christmas season. Francis Kennedy, committee chairman, said Tuesday that a letter asking for the meeting and requesting amendments to the plan was forwarded to the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation then.
"We would like to have a meeting with the Minister of National Security and the Minister of Local Government to find out whether or not the plan is acceptable to both Ministries and when it will be enforced," Mr. Kennedy said.
DISGRACEFUL
On Wednesday, the Chamber of Commerce and the United Vendors' Association (UVA), one of three associations representing more than 2,000 vendors, toured sections of the Coronation Market in downtown Kingston. The UVA described the conditions they saw as "disgraceful."
"The bathroom was the cleanest place in that market. We had to commend the lady who was responsible for cleaning it for keeping it so," said Egeton Newman, spokesman for the UVA.A meeting between the UVA and the KSAC is planned for this morning, he said.
"While vendors understand the need to be in prescribed vending areas, they have concerns about the conditions. There were vendors inside the markets, as well as outside the markets, and the vendors inside the markets were complaining that business was very slow, because nobody wanted to come into the market, based on the conditions. So the objective of this morning's tour, was to highlight the conditions of the market," explained Mark Myers, Jamaica Chamber of Commerce vice president, on Wednesday's tour.
Activities for the December 8 clean-up of sections of downtown, being spearheaded by the UVA, and plans to institute additional temporary vending areas for Christmas, are expected to be discussed today.
Among the points of the KSAC's plan for vending downtown this Christmas was that the vendors would be identified, passes would be issued by the KSAC and vendors would relocate from "no vending" areas to the designated districts, as well as those temporary vending areas. Some of the temporary vending areas suggested were St. William Grant Park, some parking lots and open areas on particular streets. Town Clerk Errol Greene said he could not comment on the situation because he had still not reviewed the chamber's letter.
PLAN
He explained though that officials had met with Francis Forbes, the Commissioner of Police, and that he and Mrs. Simpson Miller had asked police officials to help the KSAC and the chamber come up with a plan.
"We sat down and came up with a plan. I don't know whether it needs approval from the Ministry or the Commissioner of Police, but what we do know is that we came up with a plan with the police."
Mr. Greene said he did not know how the new plans to fight crime announced by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson on Sunday and detailed by Dr. Phillips in Parliament on Tuesday, would affect the plan of action for the Christmas.
However, both the Town Clerk and Mr. Kennedy agreed that without police support, the plan would not work because the chamber and the KSAC did not have the resources to enforce aspects of the plan.
"Without the police support, we can do nothing so we and the chamber and are really banking on the police support," Mr. Greene said.
