Breakfast Shed demolished

The relocation site is at the eastern side of the project and the Brian Lara Promenade. The old site is the designated location for the headquarters of the Association of Caribbean States.

The 15 stall owners (femmes du chalet) were offered the choice of relocation or a compensation package. Negotiations concluded at $300,000 for the compensation package, and eight women accepted.

Udecott (Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago) chief executive officer Winston Agard told Newsday that the relocation site would be completed by October. Agard said the project was on schedule according to plans.

However, he added that he did not know what the stallowners planned to do during the construction of the building.

Seamen and Waterfront Workers Trade Union president general, Michael Annisette, said it was unfortunate that Udecott reneged on its commitment to build the relocation site before demolishing the former building.

"Now these families are displaced, we offered to assist them before, and there is a lesson to be learned," he stated.

He continued, "There is strength in collective wisdom."

Former attorney, Kenneth Munroe Brown, completed negotiations with only three stall owners. At the commencement, he represented all 15 women.

Brown charged the Breakfast Shed stall owners $27,305.36 per stall, or $409, 580.40 in legal fees. "I have already put things in order to take legal action against them," he said. "They have not paid my fees, or given me an offer." Brown added that Prime Minister Patrick Manning and Udecott had not consulted with him to pay the legal fees.

"I have three professionals to pay and I was hoping they would even offer $250,000 or quote a figure. This is dishonest," he explained.

He said the stallowners also received a licence instead of a lease for the relocation site.

"It is the lowest form of land ownership, and I don’t represent them anymore, and it is heartbreaking," he disclosed.

One of the stallowners told Newsday she would not miss the Breakfast Shed after working there for so many years.

"It was hard being there everyday with those women," she added.

However, the stall owner complained that the Breakfast Shed Corporation was delinquent in compensating the stallowners for their shares over the past years.