The Lottery for Space
It caused an uproar last week when the City Council abruptly announced plans to shut down the existing Queen Square market and transfer the 75 tenants to a temporary space while a new two-story market is constructed.
But since then the uproar has subsided and the vendors seem to have resigned themselves to the fact that, like it or not, it’s gonna happen.
The transition area at the pound yard bridge is being prepared, and the City Council was in the old market today with a lottery, not the boledo kind, this was a lottery for floor space at the temporary facility.
City councilor in charge of the market, Kevin Singh, explained
Kevin Singh, City Councillor
“Right now we are giving the people an opportunity, to pick a number. So that when they move over there, they each will have a number for an area in which they will be situated, which we will put them in, temporarily.
Jules Vasquez
“How many spaces will you all have in the new place?”
Kevin Singh, City Councilor
“75 and more.”
Jules Vasquez
“'75 and more' means that you have 75?”
Kevin Singh, City Councilor
“We have seventy five. And additional in case we have any other people like the people that sell 'pepitos' or any other thing that we can put them inside too."
Jules Vasquez
"What kind of reaction are you receiving from the vendors?"
Kevin Singh, City Councilor
"Well as of this morning no problem, everybody ready to mover over. If you go over there right now, you'll see that someone has already moved a refrigerator."
Jules Vasquez
"Have you indicated to them how long they will be there?"
Kevin Singh, City Councilor
"Yes, we already told them about frive to eight months. They are givcing us five months but we have given ourselves three more months because of the weather condition. We are in the rainy season. They are ready for a new market just that, you know, they thought over there would have been congested for them."
Jules Vasquez
"Now have you resolved the difficulties over there for them?"
Kevin Singh, City Councilor
Yes, running water is already in. The ground has been fixed. Electricity is about to go in between today and tomorrow. As you can see, the toilet has already been put up."
Jules Vasquez
"And the issue of the dust and the people wlaking around with the buses that use the area?"
Kevin Singh, City Councilor
"We have a fence across so the buses will be on one side and the people will be on another side. The dust? We will have to live with the dust for right now."
Vendors are expected to be moved over starting Friday, and again, they will be in the temporary market for 5 to 8 months while construction is underway.