KSAC, handcart men agree on registration fee

Jodi-Ann Gilpin, Gleaner Writer

Handcart men operating in downtown Kingston are 'riding' with the $3,000 registration fee they will be required to pay, that is, if the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) read their pulse correctly.

"This is part of the discussion that has taken place, the KSAC did not single-handedly set the fees, this was part of other consultations. We have agreed that operators will pay $3,000 for registration fees which is applicable to all the other vendors," Gary Robotham, the corporation's commercial services manager, told The Gleaner.

"All the solutions as to the way forward have been agreed on by the KSAC, the police and the handcart operators," he continued.

Although he was interrupted by persons at the KSAC who argued that the council is still in dialogue, he confirmed that fees have been agreed on.

Robothom pointed out that steps will be put in place to ensure that there is smooth flow and organisation.

"We will be licensing all handcarts and those will be colour-coded, letter-coded and number-coded. On the control side, we will be registering the operators of these handcarts. Once we have buckled down the important areas, things will be in full swing as soon as possible," he said.

He told The Gleaner that so far the market districts have been identified as areas of operations and everything will done to ensure that there is order.

"We want to bring order to the market district by ensuring that we have a full idea of what we are working with and how the operations are done within the market district," he said.

Similarly, Deputy Mayor Andrew Swaby emphasised that it was not an avenue to raise income but to ensure that operations are organised.

"I must point out that this paying of money is not an income to us, there are certain things that have to be done. There will be rules and guidelines, a major rule being, not being allowed to park at major intersections," he told journalists.

"We have received several complaints from pedestrians, how this negatively impacts them and vehicular traffic, often without any regard to the safety of pedestrians and against many traffic regulations and so there has to be some amount of order which is an integral part of the business district," he said.