Minister Miller told the Journal that inspectors from the Business License Unit of his ministry will begin ﾓspot checksﾒ to address the growing number of roadside vendors, including, but not limited to, water depots and phone card booths.
ﾓWe will try to regulate it more efficiently than has been done in the past,ﾒ he said. ﾠﾓI can promise you that.ﾒ
Parliamentary Secretary in Ministry of Health and Environment Ron Pinder said investigations last year revealed an estimated 70 to 80 percent of roadside vendors were not licensed. ﾠ
ﾓThese were persons who sporadically decided that they wanted to enter into business and they just simply set up shop,ﾒ Mr. Pinder said.
Minister Miller added that the first thing to be determined is whether the present vendors are selling their goods legally. ﾠ
ﾓWe will have inspectors go out and determine whether persons operating those types of small business, if you want to call it thatﾅhave a valid business license,ﾒ he said. ﾓIf they donﾴt have one, we would have to determine whether we should allow them to secure a valid business license or ask them to cease and desist from operating at the spots that they are operating at.ﾒ
Another Cabinet Minister also recently addressed the issue.
Fred Mitchell, Foreign Affairs Minister and Member of Parliament for Fox Hill, said during his contribution to the budget debate that water depots and phone card booths are ﾓspringing upﾒ outside some neighbourhoods, devaluing properties.
ﾓI appeal to both these (types of persons) who are using these depots and phone card stations and the persons who have these properties to remember they have a responsibility to help respect the integrity of their neighborhoods and the value of the properties in these neighborhoods,ﾒ Minister Mitchell said. ﾠﾓCertainly, we have to do our part in terms of the law to ensure that this erosion does not take place.ﾒ
He said zoning laws need to be updated to maintain the integrity of neighborhoods. ﾠ
Having grown up in Centreville which started out as a residential area and then changed over time into a commercial district, Minister Mitchell said people who leave the inner city and move into neighborhoods like Eastwood or Sans Souci donﾴt expect the integrity of their neighborhoods to be compromised.
ﾓThey sometimes invest a quarter of a million dollars or more for these homes,ﾒ he pointed out. ﾠﾓThey deserve to have their neighborhood and its integrity as a residential neighborhood protected. ﾠIt seems to me to do otherwise would be to undermine deliberately, their investment. ﾠFor most people, their home is the largest investment they will ever make.ﾒ
Minister Mitchell said some property owners are at fault to some degree as they reportedly lease their land to roadside vendors.
Mr. Pinder, meanwhile, said the Ministry of Works and Utilities, the Business License Unit of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Royal Bahamas Police Force continue to work with his Ministry to address this concern.
ﾓIt is clearly an issue that falls mainly in the jurisdiction of zoning,ﾒ he said. ﾠﾓIt also poses traffic problems for police because persons do not have adequate parking space to pull off the road to buy the goods.ﾒ
Mr. Pinder added that a position paper has been drafted and will be forwarded to cabinet for a policy decision on roadside vendors.
Hadassah Hall, The Bahama Journal
