Port of Spain vendors call for more days to ply trade

Port of Spain City Corporation Vending Programme members attend a meeting at City Hall Auditorium on Knox Street, Port of Spain on January 6. - Photos by Faith Ayoung

PORT OF SPAIN vendors are calling for an extended work week, removal of illegal operators and a more considerate approach to the mayor's announced clean city initiative.

A meeting with the Port of Spain City Corporation at the City Hall Auditorium, Port of Spain, on January 6 saw dozens of vendors from Charlotte, Frederick, and other shopping streets in the city expressing their concerns about tighter regulations that have been proposed.

Announced in October 2025, the initiative will see the Port of Spain City Corporation investing $18 million in garbage compactors and obtaining the Health Ministry's approval in amending public health by-laws.

Deputy Mayor Abena Hartley said warnings from the National Security and Health Ministries, as well as the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management, say the current vending programme is causing too many public health and safety concerns, which are made worse by a lack of legislation to legitimise vending in TT.

She said the mayor, who was absent during the meeting, told her that cleaning up the city is one of the main priorities for 2026 and advised a zero-tolerance approach to vending sanitation.

One of the suggested adjustments would require vendors to remove all their items, including market produce, off the street daily and not store them on the pavement, in their stalls or anywhere that could obstruct cleaning or grant access to rats and other vermin.

Corporation engineering assistant Sinclair Collis, who is responsible for cleaning vending areas, said it is a very difficult task with vendors’ crates and produce being left on the street. He said this causes clogging of underground drainage, city flooding and odours from rotting food. He also said the spreading rat burrows in the underground drainage systems are becoming a major concern.

But Charlotte Street Vendors Association vice president Junior Lewis said that the suggestion was impossible for vendors to execute. With many selling heavy produce items, the time, physical labour and storage space shortages would leave many in an impossible position if the requirement was enforced, vendors said.

Deputy Mayor Abena Hartley speaks at the Port of Spain Corporation meeting with vendors at City Hall Auditorium on Knox Street, Port of Spain on January 6.

One vendor also noted that it was not only vendors causing pollution on the street.

“The vendors get all the blame for the garbage by the road as we’re not blaming the store owners and groceries."

She said unreliable garbage truck service also allowed waste to pile up, creating an unsanitary environment and excessive work for corporation workers and vendors who help clean the space.

In addition, she said, with many vendors being women and the physical demand of daily packing, along with labour and transport costs, could not be met.

Aside from objections to the initiative's proposed policies, vendors also called for amendments to existing regulations, especially the number of days they are legally allowed to operate.

Currently, Port of Spain street vendors are only legally allowed to sell from Thursday to Saturday and risk seizure of their items if they vend on other days.

Frederick Street jewellery vendor Petra Cayman said this arrangement is not liveable, forcing vendors to constantly be catching up with finances rather than making a profit.

“The current contract expects a human being to survive in a seven-day economy on a three-day work week and that’s just not possible…we’re asking for the dignity to earn our own.

“...This is Trinidad where the cost of living rises every single morning and a three-day contract is a death sentence.”

She said the current regulation not only strained vendors’ earning capacity but also made the corporation's announced initiatives in business and financial education useless.

“The reality is, financial education has zero value if the finances are not being made…you are giving us tools to manage money but are taking away the materials to build it.”

She said vendors’ loss margins are further widened in the current cruise ship season.

“If the visitors are here on Monday and we are banned, that sale is lost forever. It doesn’t wait until Thursday for us.”

She also called for a re-evaluation of pedestrianisation efforts, which seek to reduce congestion on Charlotte Street. She said Frederick Street and others, where congestion due to vending is not common, should be managed differently.

Farmer and vendor Neil Benjamin said another cause of loss is competitive illegal vending. He said unregistered vendors tend to set up shop in legal vending areas, offering lower prices to customers and profiting from sales despite not having to pay booth rental or vending programme membership fees.

Safety concerns were also expressed, with one vendor begging for streetlights to be restored to her area so that she could vend more safely amid high crime. Others complained of loud music from bars and other establishments that make operations almost impossible, causing headaches and potential hearing damage.

But vendors were not the only ones with concerns. Hartley lamented major budget cuts and its impact on what the corporation could provide to vendors with additional support.

“The city usually receives most of our money from the central government. When the budget was read last year, whereby we used to get around $19 million to ensure roads, drainage and infrastructure are fixed, we got around $4 million."

She said the city places high importance on vending but finances for support are simply no longer there. She said this has resulted in cuts to the city's vending management team.

To assist with this, vending programme manager Deon Samm encouraged regular and timely payment of programme fees and stricter adherence to rental arrangements that designate spots for vendors based on tent size, cost and vending zones. He also encouraged vendors to take dress code and health regulations more seriously so that operations will not be shut down during inspection and vendors can continue to earn.

“We know how important this is to us, we cry and say it is our bread and butter but we need to start acting like that, like it matters, because if it didn’t matter, we would not be here.”

Hartley said consultations with vendors, the Works and Infrastructure Ministry and the Fire Service, among others, will continue to flesh out the issues and create well-informed policies for updated contracts.