The Nassau Institute commissioned a brief study of the Straw Market back in August 2007 that revealed among other things that "Vendors pay a business license and an annual stall rental fee of $100. However, the records of such payments are not current, are being updated and cannot be examined." More...
Yet in 2009 the government spent "somewhere between 29 and 36 million" to build a new premises for the vendors at the expense of all taxpayers. More...
Key questions coming out of the 2007 study were:
- Why should the country use premier income-generating property for the Government to build a complex for 605 vendors who reportedly do not pay their rent at the expense of other business people and taxpayers who do?
- Shouldn’t the vendors use their own expertise and money to build and manage their own complex?
- Don’t law enforcement, an efficient judicial system and a drastically improved education system have a higher priority for Government funding than a straw market?
The present broughaha is yet another opportunity get this albatross known as the Straw Market (a misnomer by the way) from around the forgotten man's (taxpayer's) neck and give the premises, lock, stock and barrel, to the Straw Business Person's Society with the proviso that there will be no subsidisation or protection from taxpayers going forward.
There is this notion that the country needs a Straw Market as a shopping experience for tourists. Whether true or not is questionable. However, if it is true the vendors can foot the bill for their delinquent stall holders themselves. Not the "forgotten man".
