Help us, cry Maracas Bay vendors

THE EDITOR: We, the Vendors Association of Maracas Bay, are totally fed up with the condition we face in order to make a living to support our families. TIDCO has let Maracas become a disgrace. There are stray dogs that break into the dirty, smelly, broken garbage bins, scattering garbage everywhere and creating an eyesore. Dirty water pools after heavy rainfall causes flooding in the huts and by our booths. There is now mud and an overgrowth of weeds near our booths which are unpleasant to us and to customers. Sand blows into the drains and the drains back up, causing even more flooding. For years we have had problems with the sewerage system and tot his day it does not work properly. This is a health hazard for swimmers and how can TIDCO offer food in such an area?

Our booths are an embarrassment — they are too small, we have poor electrical wiring, leaky roofs, broken windows and doors and improper water supply. We cannot afford to fix these things; we cannot even afford to pay our rent. Day after day for years it has been a struggle. Most of the time we have to throw away our flour, shark and vegetables because we do not get enough sales. While we are throwing away our goods, the vendors in the car park are making thousands of dollars a day selling approximately 1000 pounds of shark per week at an estimate re-marketable value of $15,000. These vendors are then able to put up tents, tables and chairs which attract even more customers and can therefore offer a wide variety of salads and dressings because of constant sales in the car park. But our plight is not against those car park vendors, but against TIDCO itself.

We do not understand why TIDCO would let money go down the drain by not helping us because at this point none of the vendors on the beach can pay their rents and that by itself is a substantial loss to TIDCO. We want TIDCO to help us, but we also want TIDCO to genuinely improve the beach. We feel they should erect more huts and sheds on the beach because people need more places to shelter from the hot sun and heavy rains. The need to have better garbage bins, and more of them, so that people will not litter the beach and dogs will not tear open the bags. They should catch stray dogs as well. All of these improvements, along with better shark and bake facilities, will make Maracas a better beach and bring in more tourists.

We also strongly feel that TIDCO should build another car park for two reasons:
(1) The vendors on the beach cannot compete with the successful vendors in the car park. There are five regular rent-paying vendors in the car park and eighteen vendors on the beach who cannot pay their rent. It is not fair that the majority of the vendors should be located so far away from parking facilities.
(2) Another car park would be very profitable for TIDCO as well. There are plenty people who park by the Maracas Hotel and also illegally on the sides of the road — creating serious traffic congestion on Sundays — who could pay to park in a proper car park on that side of the beach. There are many people who only go to that side of the beach closer to the hotel. Why not create parking facilities for them? There is plenty room in front of the drop-off zone that would be suitable for a car park and we know this because for months now people have been driving right in through the drop-off zone and parking on the sand. If there was a second car park, TIDCO and the vendors would both benefit.

We are trying very hard to prevent ourselves from being evicted and we are pleading with TIDCO to please consider this letter. We do not want to continue to protest but no one will listen to us. Maracas is the most popular beach in Trinidad because it is accessible and because of US — the shark and bake vendors. We deserve to have some input about these “renovations” TIDCO claims to be making. We do not want to be in this position. We want to be able to pay our rent and support our families. Some of us have been vendors for over 30 years. Ever since the car park was built everything has changed.
We are desperate TIDCO, please help us.

VENDORS ASSOCIATION OF
MARACAS BAY