THE Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) has vowed a zero-tolerance approach in its new clampdown on illegal vending in the capital city.

The council’s chairman and mayor of Kingston, Angela Brown Burke, said the struggle to remove vendors from the streets of the city intensified following an incident where seven-year-old Deshaun Larmond almost lost his left eye after he became entangled with a metal mannequin put on a pole by an illegal vendor on Beckford Street.

Brown Burke, who recounted the incident at last week’s council meeting, urged the public not to support illegal vending. She said that about three weeks ago, while shopping with his mother and siblings on Beckford Street for school uniforms and books, Deshaun’s eye was torn by the metal mannequin.

“This incident was most unfortunate, but after it happened the people ran away, so we have not been able to ascertain who put up the pole,” Brown Burke said.

Since January, the KSAC has been struggling to enforce a no-vending zone in sections of the city, including sections of West Street, Orange Street and West Street. The mayor, in January, told the council that she was frustrated at the continued lawlessness on the streets by vendors.

“We are going to be enforcing the no-vending areas. The situation on Beckford Street cannot be allowed to continue and 2014 cannot be a repeat of last year. Those vendors pay no fees for vending all year and lawlessness has prevailed [as] they sell on the sidewalk and on the street,” the mayor said.

Brown Burke, who admitted that the situation had not improved, said that the KSAC had received several complaints from pedestrians and motorists that they had been intimidated by illegal vendors who lay out their wares on the stretch from Beckford Street between Orange and West Streets and make the streets inaccessible.

She said that prior to the recent incident involving the little boy, the KSAC had met with the police who had agreed that the Beckford Street area should be given priority. However, Brown Burke admitted that the police “can never have enough boots on the ground”. The cooperation of the public, she said, would have to be sought to end illegal vending on the streets of Kingston.

Meanwhile, the mayor said 16 wooden and concrete shacks were recently demolished in Marverly and Duhaney Park, while notices were served on illegal garages as the KSAC sought to bring order to the city.

— Claudienne Edwards