The Editor, Sir:

Your editorial of commiseration with the mayor of Kingston on the Half-Way Tree mess - aka the invasion of vendors and the abuse of the surroundings - is quite interesting considering that it was Mr Mayor himself who divided up the sidewalks into commercial spaces, charged a fee for rental and justified the increase in the vending community as a means of providing employment for the people. (Jobs, jobs and more jobs.)

Now that the scheme has backfired, the mayor is bawling, even to the point of declaring that he's ready to quit (That will be the day!).

Your encouragement for him to stand firm and keep his promise of cleansing the stables, so to speak, would have been of better use had it been given when he offered the first space on the sidewalk for rent.

Had a stop been put to it then, it would not have got to the nightmare which is now haunting the mayor and the city.

I am, etc.,

WEARY TRAVELLER

Kingston 5