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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : # Portmore Fish vendors...s (Gleaner)...</span>
VENDORS AT the Portmore Fishing Complex in St Catherine are appealing to the mayor of Portmore, Keith Hinds, to move speedily to address their concerns.When our news team visited the complex recently, most of the vendors were milling around or playing dominoes, with few or no customers to serve.According to Candy Samuels, who has been plying her trade for more than 20 years, sales at the one-year-old facility, located on the Jamworld property have fallen considerably as result of a number of factors."We need some advertisement because plenty people don't know where to find us; there is no light on the Dyke Road. We ask for some light on the Dyke Road - none of that we don't get. People bawling sey 'round here is a lonely road," Samuels told The Gleaner.Transport concernsClaudia Maragh, who took over the reigns from her husband four years ago, was quick to add that the absence of a bus route has also impacted their sales negatively."Normally, you used to have people come off a bus and come buy fish out at the causeway, none of that here. So all of those little sales there just drop. If they could give us like a bus route like twice a day, maybe in the morning and in the afternoon, persons coming can get a bus to go and come, or even when we are coming in the mornings or going home in the nights. We have to take a taxi," a disgruntled Samuels pleaded.About 5 p.m., a dejected Doreen, in the process of packing her goods, related her distressing situation."For the past five days now, I don't sell anything, I just go beg my brother bus fare to go back home, not even that mi sell from morning. Things are really, really bad," she bemoaned. "I wish something could be done to boost sales around here."In the meantime, Mayor Hinds told The Gleaner that he was cognisant of the vendors' disquiet."Vendors will always have a variety of concerns, however, you can't always address all the concerns that they have, what you need to do is make sure they have proper safe vending area," he asserted."If you are employed somewhere, your responsibility is to get to and from your workplace, your employer's responsibility is to ensure that you have a work to come to. We will try to see how we can address some of the needs that they have, but we can't address all of them."Hinds also issued a strong warning to vendors who have taken their goods from the complex to the streets."I will also advise all vendors that are not taking up the stalls, but have stalls outside of the fishing village, you need to make yourselves available for the stalls that you have taken up, because the council will be moving to remove the vendors from of the streets and bring back some order and sensibility to the streets of Portmore," he noted.He said that efforts were being pursued to create a food market."That will also give rise to more sales for all vendors that are there because there will be a centralised location," explained the mayor.The Portmore Fishing Complex was officially opened on October 31, 2009.M & M Jamaica Limited, an engineering and project-management company constructed the facility, which was funded by the National Road Operating and Constructing Company.
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : # Portmore Fish vendors...s (Gleaner)...</span>
VENDORS AT the Portmore Fishing Complex in St Catherine are appealing to the mayor of Portmore, Keith Hinds, to move speedily to address their concerns.When our news team visited the complex recently, most of the vendors were milling around or playing dominoes, with few or no customers to serve.According to Candy Samuels, who has been plying her trade for more than 20 years, sales at the one-year-old facility, located on the Jamworld property have fallen considerably as result of a number of factors."We need some advertisement because plenty people don't know where to find us; there is no light on the Dyke Road. We ask for some light on the Dyke Road - none of that we don't get. People bawling sey 'round here is a lonely road," Samuels told The Gleaner.Transport concernsClaudia Maragh, who took over the reigns from her husband four years ago, was quick to add that the absence of a bus route has also impacted their sales negatively."Normally, you used to have people come off a bus and come buy fish out at the causeway, none of that here. So all of those little sales there just drop. If they could give us like a bus route like twice a day, maybe in the morning and in the afternoon, persons coming can get a bus to go and come, or even when we are coming in the mornings or going home in the nights. We have to take a taxi," a disgruntled Samuels pleaded.About 5 p.m., a dejected Doreen, in the process of packing her goods, related her distressing situation."For the past five days now, I don't sell anything, I just go beg my brother bus fare to go back home, not even that mi sell from morning. Things are really, really bad," she bemoaned. "I wish something could be done to boost sales around here."In the meantime, Mayor Hinds told The Gleaner that he was cognisant of the vendors' disquiet."Vendors will always have a variety of concerns, however, you can't always address all the concerns that they have, what you need to do is make sure they have proper safe vending area," he asserted."If you are employed somewhere, your responsibility is to get to and from your workplace, your employer's responsibility is to ensure that you have a work to come to. We will try to see how we can address some of the needs that they have, but we can't address all of them."Hinds also issued a strong warning to vendors who have taken their goods from the complex to the streets."I will also advise all vendors that are not taking up the stalls, but have stalls outside of the fishing village, you need to make yourselves available for the stalls that you have taken up, because the council will be moving to remove the vendors from of the streets and bring back some order and sensibility to the streets of Portmore," he noted.He said that efforts were being pursued to create a food market."That will also give rise to more sales for all vendors that are there because there will be a centralised location," explained the mayor.The Portmore Fishing Complex was officially opened on October 31, 2009.M & M Jamaica Limited, an engineering and project-management company constructed the facility, which was funded by the National Road Operating and Constructing Company.