"Notes Of The City" - (Barbados)

 

 

          A Socially displaced individual is 

  defined by the Socially Displaced 

  Persons Act, 2000 of Trinidad and 

  Tobago as "any idleperson 

  habitually found in a public place

  whether or not he is begging and 

  who by reason of illness or  

  otherwise is unable tomaintain 

  himself, or has no means of

  subsistence or place of residence, is  

  unable to give a satisfactory account 

  of himself and causes or is likely to 

  cause annoyance or damage to 

  persons frequenting that public 

  place, or otherwise to create a

  nuisance."

  In this edition of Life on the Streetz,  

  we take you to the streets of 

  Bridgetown, the capital city of 

  Barbados. 

 

 

 Photo taken by Joseph Weekes. 

          (12th February,2016) 

Meet Mr. Francis...he is what the urban geographer terms as a socially displaced individual. However, Mr. Francis is one with amazing talent. Yes guys!! He plays the alto saxophone and he plays it extremely well. #musician #musicislife

On an encounter with Mr. Francis in the city of Bridgetown, hewas more than willing to share a bit of his history. 

 

Mr. Francis is 61 years of age and developed an interest in the saxophone at the age 13. He was born and raised in New Orleans, St. Michael Barbados, residing in a government owned apartment building. For those of you who may not know, the area more commonly referred to as "De Orleans" by many Barbadians is a ghetto area which has been characterized over the years by high cases of crime, poor standard of living, poor standard of housing and a lack of the basic living necessities.Mr. Francis continued by stating that both his parents worked very hard as vendors but added that they were also addicts and "could not stay away from de [the] weed". 

  Mr. Francis won his saxophone in a music competition at the Saint Leonard's Boys School when he was 17 years old and hasplayed it religiously every day until this present day. "Never,ever, ever missed a day" he stated. Francis began playing in his community in order to receive tips to make a living but moved to the more populated parts of the city, where the tips from tourists are better, totaling $50 BDS per day. 

After losing his home due to the inability to pay rent, he was forced to lived in the places where he made his money; "The City" and continuesplaying his saxophone each day. 

 

Across the world in modern cities, there are more like Mr. Francis; their stories or backgrounds are different but their situations are the same. In the case of Francis, the abuse of illegal substances by his parents caused them to be extremely violent towards him, the reprimanding of his father to prison when he was 21 years old and the admittance of his mother tothe psychiatric hospital, leaving him to survive alone. Specifically in the Caribbean region, the genuine issue is not that artistic individuals are homeless but that no real action is taken to give these individuals a second chance. In contrast, organizations of New York City have sought to rectify the issue by "addressing the social and financial problems of all homeless while providing special services specific to the needs of homeless artists.

 

Policies include permanent housing with job training, a small salary, and a workspace where artists can create, display, and sell their works." (Azimov,

Babushkin, Gurbo and Squitieri, 2009) Individuals targeted include the visual artist, the creative writer, the actor and the musician. 

 

Mr. Francis and other talented homeless individuals may never receive the opportunity to receive a Grammy award but they would certainly be appreciative of the opportunity to make a living from their talent. For this reason, similar policies should be implemented in the Caribbean.

 

 

References:

Azimov, Neyra, Nicole Babushkin, Victor V. Gurbo and Christina Squitieri. 2009. "Starving for Their Art: Homeless Artists in NYC". Lecture presented at MHC Seminar, New York City, United States of America, June 12th, 2009. 

 

Ministry of Legal Affairs. 2000. The Socially Displaced Persons Act. Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

 

 

 

 

"The Have's and the Have not's"

Photo taken by Brendon Taylor on Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

 

To some individuals, the above photo may simply communicate that there are vendors on the street aiming to sell their respective products and merchandise. Our perspective goes much further.We could not help but notice the contrast between the vendors on the street and the retailers directly behind occupying the storefront. In our opinion, it portrays the common juxtaposition in society between those who have better means and opportunities and those who are less fortunate in comparison.On a larger scale, our minds were stimulated to c ompare the dichotomy represented in the photo to the Global "rich" North versus the Global "poor" South. Since Odeh (2010) states that the Global North is represented by the economically developed while the Global South is represented by the economically backwards, we concluded that the retailers would comprise the North while the vendors comprise the South. 

 

But what are the differences between the vendor on the street and the storeowner? The main difference has to be the financial capability to either rent or own a store in order to conduct business. Otherwise, both have a focus on providing a product or service and may be recognized as entrepreneurs. However, the vendor encounters added pressures. These pressures include restrictions on what can be sold, possible replacement by the implementation of vending machines and issues surrounding licensing. 

 

Vending in Port-of-Spain has been a topic of much debate over the last 10 years. According to Sheppard (2008) of the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, Mayor Murchison Brown imposed a ban on street vending in the city in 2008. More recently in 2014, Tim Kee stated that vending was only legal to licensed vendors on Charlotte Street and all other vendors would be removed.(Clyne, 2014) The undeniably valid reasons against vending in the city included the risk of injury to shoppers by walking on the streets in close proximity to moving vehicles, traffic congestion,reduced areas for parking, blocked entrances to stores and the construction of unsightly contraptions. 

 

The intention of this blog is not to show bias towards vendors but there are certain realities that cannot be ignored. In the first instance, for the majority of individuals, vending is the major or sole source of income. In the second instance, there are problems with the availability of licenses for existing and potential vendors because of the limited area available for them to ply their trade. 

 

Therefore the "million dollar" question is, how do we strike the balance between sustaining livelihoods and maintaining order on the streets? In addition, we can derive so many more questions.Can we accommodate vendors without denying anyone the opportunity to earn an income? What are the implications of the denial on crime? It simply seems that these questions will continue to go unanswered unless proper planning and creative strategies are implemented to provide solutions. 

 

References: 

Odeh, Lemuel E. 2010. "A Comparative Analysis of Global North and Global South Economies." Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa 12 (3): 341-347. 

 

Clyne, Kalifa. 2014. "Crackdown on illegal vending." Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, April 2.

 

Sheppard, Suzanne. 2008. "Time to end illegal vending."Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, April 13.

Life on the Streetz...

Hi and welcome to Urban Pictionary! Over the next 10 weeks, we give you an in-depth view of urban areas, their issues and joys through the eyes of those individuals who know best...those on the street. Our aim is to provide coverage on and commentary from individuals who bring life, culture and character to urban areas as vagrants, entertainers or merchants. The main locations of focus will include Port-of-Spain, Tunapuna and Curepe.

Today we seek to establish why the cities of Trinidad and by the extension, the cities of the Caribbean are so dynamic. 

Below are two photos, one of London and the other of Port-of-Spain. In the spirit of Pictionary, can you guess the location of each photo?

#ofcourseyoucan

But what clues derive your answer? Is it the stall in photo #1 set up on the sidewalk which signals "that has to be Trinidad" or the better organization and advertising in photo #2 that makes you go "hmmm, this is London". The fact is that the vendors on the sidewalk, the lack of urban planning and in some cases the lack of technology for advertising make Caribbean cities what they are. Our cities have an openness which evokes a warm and relaxed feeling on the streets as opposed to the fast pace of First World cities #Caribbeanvybez 

Stay tuned for our upcoming blog next Friday. From the writers of Urban Pictionary, God speed!!