VENDORS who illegally ply their trade along the streets of Montego Bay have until June 11 to enter into a formal arrangement to serve their customers from the city’s established vending facilities.

There are also plans to set up a flea market, mainly for the influx of vendors who descend on the city from other areas between Thursday and Saturday of each week.

“We had a meeting Wednesday to look at the whole vending problem that has faced us here in Montego Bay,” Mayor Hugh Solomon told the Observer. “The problem is not new to us and one of our main problems has been to maintain the whole effort — in terms of personnel — to ensure that vendors vend in the designated areas.”

According to the mayor, participants at the meeting included all the city’s major players such as representatives of the two opposition parties, the police, the Chamber of Commerce, the St James Street Merchants’ Association, the Tourism Product Development Company and the public health department.

The mayor said attempts were being made to sensitise the vendors, register them and get them in the appropriate facilities before the deadline is reached.

“We’re not just going to go out there tomorrow and say because they are vending on the streets we are going to take away their things,” he said. “We’re giving them enough time and notice. We have been running ads in the newspaper and on the radio and we’ve been using the town crier.”

The western city has grappled with the problem of street vending for years, a problem that led to the building of the People’s Arcade along Howard Cooke Boulevard. But the problem persists and clothing, food, household items and more can be found on the city’s streets. Sporadic attempts have been made to curb the problem, but to no avail.

“We just have to deal with it on a continuous basis because we won’t be able to get rid of the problem one time,” Solomon said.

He added that the location for the flea market has not yet been identified as the idea is still in the very preliminary stages.