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+--- Thread: To Vend or Not To Vend? (/showthread.php?tid=101255)
To Vend or Not To Vend? - rastagirl777 - 01-13-2016
Not sure if anyone here cares anymore...but as of today ALL street vendors have been shut down...this includes not only everyone's favorite jerk stands along the beach day and particularly night...but the nice honest veg and fruit vendors out by Taits Plaza, up West End Road (including my favorite Jelli guy!)...
Riding down the beach road I expected tires burning but...no. Just a sanitized road, no street activity save a tourist or two walking or jogging along the newfangled sidewalk with the kitchy bridges.
This is all in the name of road and street safety and to push back on the crime element that has been plaguing our Parish. Talking to locals in my neighborhood and beyond I'd thought there would be more outrage...while they feel for the honest folks put out of business either permanently or temporarily I'm finding in general tacit support of this action...apparently many of these vendors harbor criminals and the criminal element and are a huge part of the crime problem plaguing Negril and Westmoreland parish.
The biggest outrage I've seen so far are from tourists on Facebook - where am I to get my soup/jerk chicken/whatever....after the show at 2:00am?
Answer: Mi Yard
Me? I'm still not 100% getting what this is supposed to accomplish but who the hell am I? I live here but 3 months out of the year...my neighbors are stuck with this place all year long....
RE: To Vend or Not To Vend? - jitterbug - 01-14-2016
no matter how long you "live" there you are just a visitor that goes home just like the rest of us . . .
its not for us for fix negril's issues, it's for the residents . . .
our voice, well, you get the drift . . .
RE: To Vend or Not To Vend? - Westenders - 01-14-2016
I'm a visitor, but I care.
I personally know some of these people and know the struggle this will cause for many good people,with this decision.
We just set up husbands cousin with a jerk pan on the beach road....who has had a tough life and trying to make a go. Everyone deserves a chance.
I think as tourists, visitors we also have the right to speak out. Many of us use these people's services, and have relationships with them.
I'm not buying into the criminals are being harboured or the traffic problem. There is no traffic at that time any ways.
It will be some new parish council scheme to shake people down for the vendors fee.
There's more criminals running the parish council and policing the streets than sat at the jerk stands. Kmft......!
RE: To Vend or Not To Vend? - rastagirl777 - 01-14-2016
Truth is - visitors do drive the truck on certain things. Its the visitors that are most up in arms about this because they love being able to go out and eat street - as is done in just about every country on the planet.
I'm with Westenders on this...like I said even though I'm only here for a relatively short time what happens in Negril affects me as much as it does my friends who are here all the time...for their sakes and for mine. It was a bit weird driving down the beach road and not seeing a single jerk pan set up. Its weird to not be able to go downtown and pick up bags of oranges as we do regularly while we are here for juice.
While its true that we as visitors have absolutely no say in how Jamaicans handle their country we can still speak up for those being "persecuted" for no reason. Still....they need to speak up for themselves as well. In discussing this with my neighbors a couple of days ago there was speculation of riots on Wednesday, which of course there wasn't. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Portia should be calling for an election very soon too.
RE: To Vend or Not To Vend? - oldtimer - 01-14-2016
It's the tourist $ that is suppose to bring Negril ( Jamaica ) from a 3rd world to a 1st world economy . So the tourist should have LOTS !!!!! of say . When the vigalante's ran the roads up on the Westend in the 70's there was NO !!! problem with the crime . I think it is the hotel's that are losing late night sales OR !!! have bike delivery to your fav pan jerk stand . Everybody ( except me ) have cell phones etc . Look at how the taxi drivers give out cell phones for your convinence ( and theirs ) for rides . Crack is what/is bringing Negril to her knees . What next ....the hookers at Scrup-A-Dub ????
RE: To Vend or Not To Vend? - Tim - 01-14-2016
Why wouldnt anyone here care anymore? The vast majority of us here, like yourself, are just visitors to Jamaica, and end up going back to our homes at some point.
I have no idea what the reason is behind this plan but I find it hard to believe it has anything to do with crime reduction.
Just another slam for the people that actually do live there, trying to scrape a living.
RE: To Vend or Not To Vend? - jitterbug - 01-14-2016
i also "care" . . . i may have come across as i don't care which is not true, but just don't see how we as foreigners can enforce any change . . . it's like everything else . . .
for many threads have we started and read on ambulance and supposed hospital building . . . don't see any results . . . that's all i'm saying . . . we can vent all we want . . .
RE: To Vend or Not To Vend? - wendy - 01-14-2016
The only crime I've came across is when junior forgets the spoon for my soup
RE: To Vend or Not To Vend? - rastagirl777 - 01-14-2016
The reason I said if anyone cares anymore is because I haven't seen much here about Jamaica or Negril...or issues we used to discuss and reason about.
The stated purpose is in fact "crime reduction". New boss in town. Negril, Sav next Grange Hill.
For people who live here this is as much a drag as for the visitor. I keep lamenting about my Orange Guy - he comes down from the hills with a truck full of beautiful oranges that are fresher and prettier and cheaper than in the stupid markets. People like me, full and part time residents, Jamaicans included depend on him and others like him at Taits Plaza for fresh fruits and veg.
Then there's the soup guy - tourists love his soup but so do the gyals working at Scotia and NCB and at the likkle shops that need a quick and cheap lunch.
My favorite jelli vendor - gone.
And the guy that sells sugar cane out by Value Master? He's been there since time immemoriam.
I think its a drag for everyone - tourists and part timers like me and full timers like my friends. I am waiting to see how this really and truly affects the crime and murders that have been plaguing Westmoreland for the past 18 months. And I'm not holding my breath.
RE: To Vend or Not To Vend? - Westenders - 01-15-2016
I got what you meant rasta girl in terms of caring.
I agree with frustration in what's the point of saying something too that jitterbug stated, but then this forum is a still a good place for us all to vent, discuss and reason...which you can't do on other forums.
TA closed this topic off the other day with their delete button. I had a look at what people on nob.com were saying and the boss there is playing it down along with the sand mining issue that was reported a few days ago. Don't gossip is his premise.
So this forum for me is the best place for honest dialogue. Even if we I / we get it wrong.
Looking at the observer article yesterday about this and the other measures that the new police chief is bringing in....I am sceptical.
He is suggesting a new sanitised ( whatever that means ) area for vendors. You know this means paying fees for the vendors. Now this is the case in England too. So I'm all for creating an organised infrastructure in Westmoreland , this would help them operate in a more business like way in terms of generating revenue and investing this back in the community....but be honest about it. Call it what it is ! Also clear up the internal council corruption so that the vendor fees don't build someone on it a new driveway or something!
No mention of cleaning the beach hustlers up, hustlers not vendors....which is a continued hot topic on tourist forums.
I agree also with his plan to address the illegal bike issue. But road blocks and
speed traps need to be for this cause, not to generate a secondary back hand income for the officers. If it is an honest and structured strategy, with illegal bikes removed without the offer for the ' owner' to buy them back in a backhand deal, or fines charged and enforced....then it will have the desired impact and improve quality of life.
His suggestion of checking licensing in restaurants and bars is also a positive step. But again it has to be an honest process , where his officers don't accept bribes from the owners for not complying.
The noise abatement act is a joke....I don't know how many of you have seen how they enforce this. I have seen examples a plenty in the last year. If the promoter dose'nt pay the police...the event is locked off by midnight. Seriously it's farcical.
But places like Alfred's and bourbon beach play music out in the open until 2 am with no interference, even with the hotels all in close proximity to these venues. It's because they pay the piper!
The amount of events that I have seen closed off at midnight is unbelievable. The noise act dose'nt say midnight!!
And what about Dream week? Those parties are on till 5/6 am.....no one is worried about noise abatement act then ....because they pay the piper too!
My hope is that this officer does implement structure and process in Westmoreland , which will help with crime and moving the country on to working in a functioning..or first world way.....but the clean up has to happen within first IMO.
Sorry for the long ramble