A St. Lucian vendor. Photo credit: www.slucia.com

The desire to designate the Vendors Arcade as a license free zone for the sale of liquor is a bone of contention between the Castries Vendors AssociationCastries City Council (CCC) and , as several matters remain unresolved.

Just two weeks ago, both parties appeared to have reached some common ground, following a dispute ongoing for many years.

But President of the Vendors Association, Peter “Ipa” Isaac is peeved over what he considers to be mere disrespect to vendors.

He claimed the City Council continues to ignore correspondence from the Vendors Association.

“It’s about two weeks now and we haven’t received any response … one of the correspondence is about declaring the vending arcade area a liquor license zone, so in that way, vendors could get a beer license,” Ipa said.

When contacted for his reaction on this matter, Deputy Town Clerk Vaughn Louis-Fernand, said the CCC is not in a position to grant the vendors’ request, as this is a matter for the Customs Department.

Louis-Fernand added that the City Council has to meet the costs of operations of the washrooms at the arcade, therefore the use of them cannot be free.

However Ipa said the CCC is in fact in a position to declare the Vendors Arcade a licensed area.

Since the Customs and Excise Department began its island-wide liquor license enforcement drive, the first district court has been dominated with people seeking occasional licenses to sell alcoholic beverages.

The decision to clamp down on all illegal vending of alcohol was taken after a major meeting between the police and the Customs and Excise Department. The authorities say it is part of a larger campaign to regulate and enforce the law.

Additionally, customs officials have indicated that someone must have a license to sell alcohol at any vending zone.

The Market Committee of the Council was scheduled to meet with the vendors last Thursday, but this meeting is yet to take place.