Vending Culture In Port-of-Space

Allya! Allya! Potatoes, two pounds for five! Sugar plum nice tops for you! Have you ever heard these shouts while shopping in Port-of-Spain? You may have definitely heard them if you were shopping on Charlotte Street on the eastern end of Port-of-Spain.

Charlotte street is one of the most diverse streets in Port-of-Spain. This diversity is seen in the wide variety of goods which are sold on this streets and it is also heard in the many different Caribbean accents. These accents include Guyanese, Grenadian, Barbadian ('Bajan'), Vincentian, Jamaican and last but not least, Trinidadian and Tobagonian accents. This street seems to be a melting pot where immigrants from various Caribbean islands convene to sell and buy agricultural products, cosmetics, clothes and shoes among other items.

A Congested Charlotte Street ( Photograph Taken By Sybastian Manners, March 11, 2015)

We have heard many Trinidadian complain that Charlotte Street is a haven for illegal immigrants to engage in business. Once such complaint was published in an article by the Newsday. In an email to the Newsday, Emma-Jean Laban stated that while walking down the street one may be "bombarded by Jamaican and Guyanese who..are here illegally (Laban 2014).  Having migrated to Trinidad for a better life many of these persons find quick informal jobs. As discussed in our post on Creative Employment many of these persons find creative ways to 'make a dollar'. Others are hired by larger businesses to be street sales persons. 

The composition of the vending population on Charlotte makes this street very different from other streets. These persons try to win their customers hearts by using terms such as 'famalay'. Accordingly, they are often able to persuade the busy pedestrian to stop and shop.

We noticed that there is a great difference between the vending culture on Charlotte Street as compared to Frederick Street. Moreover we believe that the processes of revitalisation and  suburbanisation on Frederick Street has contributed to this difference.

Historically Frederick Street has been one of the main streets for shopping in Port-of-Spain. This street was once characterized by buildings used for both commercial and residential purposes. Store owners would operate business downstairs their houses which were characterised by overhanging galleries and hanging awnings which provided shade (Caribbean History Archives 2011).

However, as developments took place on this street many business owners designed buildings without galleries to discourage vending beneath the shaded areas of the galleries (Defour 2015). Additionally, administrative buildings such as the immigration office and the JOBCO government complex have been built on Frederick street. Many persons after having obtained wealth moved away from the city to live in high class neighbourhoods like St. James, in the suburbs. In our post entitled "How Temporal and Spatial Factors Affect Economic Activity" we made reference to this phenomenon which Burgess (1923) described as a "filtering outwards". We believe that this spatial mobilisation of persons away from Fredrick Street which allowed for advanced planning and  infrastructural development of this street has lent to a different vending culture. 
 

Photograph of Some of the New Buildings on Frederick
 Street Without Galleries and With Less Vendors Nearby  ( Photograph Taken By Sybastian Manners, March 11, 2015)

In her book entitled Urban Geography:A Global Perspective, Michelle Pacionne, posited that "  Continued neighbourhood decline...eventually leads to the development of... an area characterised by an impoverished social and physical environment" (Pacionne  2009, 216). 

Moreover, while many persons may have been displaced by the revitalisation processes on Frederick Street ;these process have contributed to an improvement of the environment on Frederick Street. While revitalisation has taken pace to some extent on Charlotte Street; it not as pronounced as that on Frederick Street. While development plans have been put in place for the spatial development of this street, many of them have not come to fruition.  Thus, there is a high population of vendors who occupy both the sidewalks and the street. This has led to a high level of vehicular and human traffic, congestion and pollution of the streets and water ways. As a result of this the street often floods after heavy rainfall.

Photograph of  Charlotte Street. Vendors can be seen selling on the Streets,
  Signs of Pollution Can Be Seen By Close to the Vendor Stalls.
 ( Photograph Taken By Sybastian Manners, March 11, 2015)

In 2008, The Port-of-Spain city co-operation took a deductive approach to city planning and decided to end the vending program on Charlotte Street. However, after an appeal made by President of the Charlotte Street Heritage Root Vendors Association, Ms. Melba Boxill, plans discussions were held to regulate vending on Charlotte street and improve the street conditions (News.Govt.TT 2008).

 However, in the view of the authors, many of these plans have not yet materialised as many of the problems mentioned above are still an issue on Charlotte street.


References

Besson, Gerard A. 2011.  "The Scottish Businesses of Frederick Street. The Caribbean History                Archives, blog, October 18. Accesses April 1, 2015.                http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.com/2011/09/scottish-businesses-of-frederick-street.html

Laban, Emma-Jean. 2014. "This Is Not A Race Issue, kambon" Newsday, December 13. Accessed            March 4, 2015.http://www.newsday.co.tt/letters/0,204230.htmlothers.

Pacionne, Michelle. 2009. Urban Geography: A Global Perspective. New York: Taylor and Francis           Group

News. Govt.TT. 2008. "Statement on Charlotte Street Vending." Accessed April 5, 2015.                           "http://www.news.gov.tt/archive/index.php?news=102