Cause for concern - Flooding and faulty electrical work frustrate Linstead vendors, MP

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

LINSTEAD, St Catherine:IN ADDITION to unfair competition from those who peddle their wares on the streets, vendors who operate upstairs the Linstead Market, St Catherine, for years have been suffering due to a leaking roof, resulting in their section being flooded whenever it rains. This problem, they charge, is compounded by the inadequacy of the electrical wiring, which puts them at risk of electrical fires.

"When it rains is like a river in here. There is a lot of water running down and the lighting system is very poor. Some of what you see there is people do it on their own. So like all this section now, the current is not here," Dorrette Wilson told The Gleaner during a visit on Tuesday.

poorly lit section

The clothing displayed for sale by Wilson and Mauldline Wright, who operates an adjoining stall, was hard to make out in the poorly lit section, even though it was just minutes after 2 o'clock in the afternoon. There was no electrical lighting and the translucent panel, which was installed to allow sunlight through the roof, was in need of cleaning.

Both women charged that the roofing problem got worse after an attempt by the St Catherine Parish Council to address the problem. Denise Daley, recently elected member of parliament for Eastern St Catherine, confirmed that the poor repair job had added to the vendors' woes. A councilor for the Linstead Division since 1986, she sat in on this week's council meeting and is well aware of the issues.

"They did not do a comprehensive job, and as they rightly say, it is seven to eight years something was done there. So, therefore, that could not have lasted for any long period based on the kind of repairs and the amount of repairs that were done," the long-serving councilor admitted via telephone on Wednesday.

Defeating incumbent Sharon Hay-Webster for the Eastern St Catherine seat on a People's National Party ticket means that Daley will no longer represent the division she served for some 25 years. However, she wants the vendors to bring pressure to bear on the relevant authorities to have the market properly repaired and welcomed The Gleaner's intervention.

"I personally believe once the vendors are occupying it they will be forced to find money from anywhere to fix it, and that is my little contention with them. It is really on the agenda to be fixed. An estimate was done through the parish council and they said they are awaiting funds, but I believe that if a story is written it will probably send a better signal. Sometimes it helps."

However, she went on to take issue with vendors, questioning the rationale for spending money if the facility continues to be under-utilised: "We have a serious problem with the people not using upstairs telling you that it leaks. Yet they go out on the street where there is no covering for them from the sun or rain. The people need to occupy the place. What is the sense of repairing it for 10 persons? Better you remove them and don't spend that money and put them downstairs."

well-needed reinforcement

Daley went on to say that there was need to revisit the Lift Up Jamaica rehabilitation project, which was slated to be done in phases and which would address well-needed reinforcement of the support structure on the ground floor of the market.

She warned that "the rails and the irons that are at the bottom are getting rusty now and can create any kind of danger or accident at any time. So really, of a fact, it really needs immediate attention".

Wright and Wilson are not optimistic that things will get better anytime soon. A more immediate concern for them is the street vendors who enjoy an unfair advantage over those who pay market fees in that they intercept potential customers on the streets.

For Wright, this is a problem the authorities need to address as a matter of priority: "We would like all the people come off the street and come upstairs in the market. As long as the people from off the street come up here, then we can get sales because everybody got to come up here to get what they want."

There are also a number of other issues she wants addressed: "We would also love to see the market cleaner because it is not properly cleaned. We want a proper lighting system. We want security because they tend to have robberies when it coming on to Christmas. So we want all of those things to change."

The poor state of the sanitary conveniences is also cause for concern but here the vendors agree that their colleagues must share the blame, according to Wright.

"Every now and then you have somebody who clean the bathroom, but is not who clean the bathroom, it's about the people. The people tend to mess it up and leave it at that. I don't know if that's what they used to if that's why they do it, but you do have people who clean it."

complaints

Despite paying fees to members of the Compliance Services Unit of the parish council who operate from an office at the market, the vendors say they have nowhere to air their complaints.

"Quite a few times you see them walk around with somebody and looking and pointing fingers but afterwards nothing done. We are here just the same," Wilson declared. Still, she and Wright are proud of the Linstead Market which, despite its shortcomings, they believe to be one of the best designed and constructed of such facilities in the island

"This one, even though is not A-1 in terms of clean-up, I have to say is the best in terms of layout and space," said Wright.