OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Councillor Michael Belnavis has promised there will be weekly clampdowns until vendors illegally plying their wares on the streets of Ocho Rios use the market provided.

Last Friday’s effort to remove vendors from Dacosta Drive, Main Street, and Market Street failed.

“During the operation it went well, everybody cleaned up and so on. But it was a cat-and-mouse game afterwards because as soon as we left people came out and started vending again,” Belnavis told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

His goal, he said, is to keep the resort town clean.

“We have to do another one this weekend because I believe the consistency will make a difference. It seems to be the only way. So we will be going once or twice a week once we have the resources to do so,” said the former mayor of St Ann’s Bay.

Belnavis is adamant that vendors should use the market, which underwent a $10-million renovation two years ago.

He has the support of the parish police.

Commanding officer Senior Superintendent Dwight Powell vowed that his team will continue to do its part to address illegal vending on the streets of the town.

“Some already have prosecutions before the court. We have always been sanctioning the vendors who are vending illegally. So right now we just have to continue the push that we are making against them. But certainly we will not tolerate the vendors on the streets plying their wares when there is sufficient space in the market for them. We will continue to remove them,” Powell told the Observer on Tuesday.

“Together, the police and the municipal corporation will try until we find the solution to what is happening with the vendors,” he promised.