By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
STRAW vendors at the International Bazaar are without public restroom facilities after the city water supply was turned off yesterday, The Tribune learned.
Some seven vendors remaining in the Straw Market do not pay rent, but still had access to running water in the public restrooms there.
A concerned person contacted The Tribune out of worry for the vendors, most of whom are elderly women.
The Tribune contacted officials at the Grand Bahama Utility Company concerning the disconnected water supply.
Kim Miller, public relations and communications officer at the Grand Bahama Port Authority Group Ltd, said the water supply will be turned back on.
"A team has been deployed to get the water reactivated," she told The Tribune.
The number of vendors at the Bazaar has declined significantly after a building fire in March displaced an additional 11 vendors with shops there.
When the International Bazaar was booming before 2004, the vendors paid $100 rent. It was later lowered to $50 when business dropped off sharply when the Royal Oasis closed due to hurricane damage.
After many of the stores and shops closed and relocated from the Bazaar, the area became a ghost town but the vendors remained at the Straw Market. They no longer pay rent and the market is unkempt.
In addition to the disconnected water supply, The Tribune also discovered the Grand Bahama Port Authority has served a 30-day notice of demolition on the owner of a burnt-out building that once held shops for straw vendors.
The notice was served on July 23 in accordance with the Freeport (Building Code and Sanitary Code) Bye Laws 1967 to the owners of Lot 7, Block M, Central Area, Freeport, Grand Bahama.
It stated that pursuant to Section 11(3) of the law, if the owners fail within the said 30-day period to comply with the provisions of the notice, the authority may without further notice take such steps as may be necessary to demolish the structure and remove any rubbish or debris resulting therefrom; recover the expenses reasonably incurred by the authority in so doing; cause the relevant person to be prosecuted under the act for default.
Ms Miller said that the GBPA is waiting for the owners to give them guidance on what the next step they would like to take regarding the edifice.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 5 years, 9 months ago
Time to demolish that property now. It died years ago and nothing will bring it back. Bulldoze everything but the water park, re-open that and make the remaining site one large public park with venues for shows and concerts and food stalls...
Make it a nice place people would want to go to.
JohnDoes 5 years, 9 months ago
This country makes me sick. The persons in government supposed to have this country flourishing in all areas of the country from the North straight to the south. Andros is the biggest island for example, and it sits there doing nothing with settlers only along the coast. This country was designed to flourish but corruption has it years behind and stagnant. I as a citizen suppose to be able to go this island for this and that island for that, almost like how person in miami travel to California, New York, and all over whether it be for shopping, vacations, business etc. Yet everyone jam up and fighting one another in Nassau. Grand Bahama which was suppose to be the next biggest thing, is an old ghost town just like the rest of the islands, a bunch of ghost towns.
TalRussell 5 years, 9 months ago
by TalRussell
moncurcool 5 years, 9 months ago
Remember that the government does not run Freeport, the Port Authority does. Cannot fault those MPs for the photo. If the Port does not move notheing gets done.
TalRussell 5 years, 9 months ago
Ma Comrade, the Imperial red shirts regime's May 10, 2017 decision for the continuation corporate warfare politics to be played out which allows Port Authority run Freeport..A much too long delayed Breaking decision they should've, could've finished off.... failing protect sovereignty Bahamaland. .
The_Oracle 5 years, 9 months ago
While the Port Authority is a pathetic entity at best, completely clueless about what they should be doing, a Government takeover would be infinitely worse. Multiple Governments are equally at fault, for allowing the Port Authority to completely ignore their development mandate. The Port sell off of assets Ingraham allowed has almost completely bound the island into stagnation. Even a crook couldn't make a dime in Freeport today. (save the well established ones, those we can all name) Complete land mismanagement, Management self dealing, Ownership oblivion, Such wasted potential.
Socrates 5 years, 9 months ago
the bazaar is truly a sad story. i knew Freeport in the glory days of the early 70s.. this place was like the 1st world and Kings Inn and Princess hotels nearby, it was something to feel good about.. too bad we hit the skids...
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