Cost of additional small modules is a requirement to enter the Mercado
There is concern among merchants about how to finance the new requirement imposed by City Hall to increase space in the Mercado. Photo: Courtesy.
Héctor Ruiz Mejía: Of the 28 street vendors who have been proposed to join the Municipal Market of Jocotepec, 10 will have to pay 7,500 pesos to secure their place.
After the extensive rehabilitation of the Market, where the spaces for street vendors on Morelos and Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez streets were erected, only 18 places were available. The City Council decided to make 10 extra modules available so that everyone can fit.
One official, who preferred not to be identified, said the measure and the cost are mandatory for the vendors. It will be the only way to ensure their place inside the establishment.
Each module will cost 7,500 pesos. Vendors must make a down payment of 3,750 pesos and the other half is to be paid in monthly installments, according to municipal authorities.
However, the measure surprised more than one of the merchants, who after a constant bad “streak” since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, live precariously on a daily basis with families to feed.
“We just got out a few bags of nopales and things have not picked up as we expected at this time,” said one of the vendors. “How are we going to pay 7,500 pesos?” The vendor added that the merchants were concerned about the impact their sales will have when they are relocated. Now there is the initial payment to have this “privilege.”
“Previously I had my ‘puestito‘ (little stall) fitted out. It cost me 10,000 pesos with much sacrifice, and now they tell me I need to spend again in another place to be able to enter,” said another vendor. In view of the uncertainty, she offers her vegetables to passers-by with the hope that an improved economic situation will help her find stability.
This represents the mayor’s final step in eradicating street vending in the municipality and confining merchants once and for all to a single place. The move is based on the idea that street sales are a big “nuisance” that contributes little.
However, some residents of the riverside municipality, originally from the United States, Canada and other parts of the world, visualized the future with sadness, saying street vendors are part of the essence of Mexico. These are people who settled here long ago and love Mexican culture.
“The street markets are what give color to the urban landscape, how sad it will be when they are gone,” said a Michigan native with a certain nostalgia. She preferred to remain anonymous, but she has lived in Jocotepec since 1970, partly because of the warm climate but also because she was captivated by the warmth of the people and the streets that are full of life.
Translated by Mike Rogers
Los comentarios están cerrados.
© 2016. Todos los derechos reservados. Semanario de la Ribera de Chapala