DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 17 March) – The head of the city’s demolition unit has warned ambulant vendors from taking over the sidewalks or be booted out.
Yusof Jimlani, chief of the City Demolition Unit, particularly cited vendors in Toril and Lasang who are violating the city’s policy that vendors occupy only one-third of the sidewalks and leave two-thirds to pedestrians.
Speaking during today’s Kapihan sa SM, Jimlani said that vendors in Toril have apparently gone back to their old ways even though the district has its own demolition unit. “When we visited the place, there were a lot of them who had stalls that were interrupting the flow of traffic, especially along the main market,” he pointed out.
He added that the barangay officials of Lasang also sought the help of the city’s demolition team to monitor the stalls there.
Jimlani and his team were asked to spearhead the night market experiment after the city government decided to try out a stretch of Roxas Avenue as an alternative location for vendors instead of them clogging up the sidewalks.
He said that the night markets along Roxas Avenue have so far been successful.
“The vendors have become attuned to the place that they have to be,” he said.
Jimlani said the city could adopt something like the markets in Hong Kong. The setup, he said, would allow the government and the vendors to coordinate with one another regarding their products.
The demolition chief said the highest number of visitors to the night market was during the just concluded Araw ng Davao festivities.
He said there were around 500 stalls that availed of the small 3×5-meter space along Roxas Avenue.
Jimlani said they are also exploring extending the night market location to that stretch of Roxas, near Quimpo Boulevard.
