Vendors at Arnos Vale

EDITOR: Every story has three sides; my side, your side and the real side. The vending at Arnos Vale in front of Massy Store and it’s threatened removal has caused quite a discussion. As usual, as Vincies, we are experts at everything. And as usual we never seem to fail to make everything political. In this article, I must state upfront, I am not an expert, nor do I have all the facts. However, there are some things for us to think about, void of party politics.

If you have a business and someone comes in front of your entrance selling some of the same items you are selling, how would you feel? For those who offer their two cents on the matter, have they ever encountered the aggression of those vendors harassing you to buy from them? Prior to the removal notice, have we ever gone to see the condition of the place at the end of each day? Is it sanitary or not? Have we ever had a reason to park at Massy or KFC to either purchase from Massy or KFC and see the situation with the traffic flow or lack thereof?

Considering the vendors, they have their families to support and are indeed doing a legitimate business and it is indeed hard to pack up and go. This, we ought to empathize with. Standing in the shoes of one of these vendors would be an interesting experience.

Therefore this situation must be handled maturely, without being political. If we seriously think about the aforementioned questions, we would not make some of the comments many make on radio and social media. There are many sides to this situation and various solutions, I suppose, can be arrived at if we honestly take the politics out and look at it from the questions posed, why the decision was made.

What I would recommend is a compromise. An alternative location will be a nice compromise. It will ensure that the vendors continue vending and it will, in some way, satisfy the Massy store. Bearing in mind that in a compromise no one fully gets his/her way, but it is a way to give something to each person and thus make peace.

Kennard King