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COSTA RICA |
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Bulevar Street Vendor Free on Friday
It was 4:13pm on Friday and the Avenida
Central (the Bulevar) in downtown San José
was packed with people shopping for
Christmas, window shoppers and passersby.
The stores were brimmed with customers,
especially the shoe stores, that for some
reasons where the one with the biggest lines
at the checkout.
Traffic on the Calles crossing the Bulevar
snarled by the Friday afternoon traffic
madness and some traffic lights not
functioning, as people crossed between
vehicles to get to the other side.
One thing was missing. Looking around
closely at the movements of this busy Friday
afternoon, the same afternoon when 174.000
public service employees got their aguinaldo.
Oh yeah, I know that it is - there are no
street vendors.
You heard it right. The Bulevar was
completely street vendor free from Gloria
right to Chelles.
Some street vendors set up camp on the
sidewalks of the Calles, but more than a
block from the Bulevar, and then only a
handful could be counted right up to 6:45pm.
The absence of street vendors follows a
confrontation last Thursday between street
vendors on Avenida 4 and the Policía
Municipal (municipal police who are in
charge of enforcing the municipal code
against street vendors) that resulted in 13
people injured, 8 of which were police
officials.
The local television news channel 7 ran a
poll asking viewers if they believed street
vendors should be allowed of banned revealed
that 71% of the callers voted for "get them
out of there" and 29% "to stay".
A truce, for the time, being seems in place.
But, honestly, the Bulevar just didn't feel
the same, having to wave off the pesky
vendors or taking care not to step on
merchandise laid out on a blanket or piece
of plastic on the walkway.
If the truce hold, Christmas just won't be
same this year! |
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