StJMC to address street people and vending situation
Montego Bay’s Mayor Richard Vernon has listed the city’s perennial ‘street people’ problem, which is manifesting daily with the increasing number of persons of unsound mind roaming the western city, as one of the social issues to be targeted by the new St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) administration.
“This administration is not in the business of facilitating a rising number of homeless cases, which currently stands at approximately 300,” said Vernon, in who is the chairman of the StJMC. According to Vernon, a transitional process, which will be implemented through the creation of a transitional centre in Montego Bay, will be used to address the issue. The transitional centre is expected to provide opportunities and relief for destitute persons as well as the mentally challenged, who primarily make up the city’s homeless population.
“We intend to reintegrate
approximately 100 of these persons over the next four years,” said Vernon, who was no older than six years old when Montego Bay was badly tarnished by the 1999 Street People Scandal, which
saw the horrifying mistreatment of several street people by agents of the state. In that incident, 39 street persons were kidnapped from Montego Bay, tied up, and, under the cover of darkness, transported to St Elizabeth, where they were dumped close to a mud lake, near Santa Cruz. In a subsequent commission of inquiry into the incident, it was determined that the state had wronged the street people, and a decision was taken that they should be compensated for that monumental act of injustice.
In addition to the street people situation, Vernon also plans to address the other vexing issue of illegal street vending, which is negatively impact both motorised and pedestrian traffic in many sections of downtown Montego Bay. According to Vernon, that matter will be addressed through the creation of a Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Improvement Unit, which will be tasked to develop a strategy by which vendors can operate legally without creating the congestion issues now being faced.
“This approach reinforces our belief that vending is a real income option and a viable livelihood that must not be marginalised, but properly organised and managed. As such, we have commenced data collection on over 500 vendors,” said Vernon, who is also looking at the redevelopment of the Old Shoe Arcade, which was partially destroyed by fire last year.
“This development will provide capacity for 200 vendors, and we are also open to closing non-critical streets to establish local economic districts. These approaches would provide significant improved manoeuvring of street vending. The new unit will investigate these possibilities over the next six months.”
Illegal street vending is arguably the most contentious issue being faced by the St James police and the StJMC, as vendors engage the city’s municipal police daily in a kind of cat and mouse game, regularly running from street to street with their goods.