NASSAU, BAHAMAS – After spending years fighting for vendor rights at Cabbage Beach and rebuilding her business at Goodman’s Bay, Monique Taylor says she knows firsthand what it means to have your livelihood disrupted.
Taylor, who was once the President of the Cabbage Beach Business Owners and Vendors Association, was one of several people who were arrested in September 2016 after they protested against a blocked access point to Cabbage Beach.
Today, she’s the Managing Director of Seaside Destinations Services Company Limited, which now employs more than 15 people on Goodman’s Bay, many of whom depend on that business to support their families.
She says the latest relocation has created tension between vendors, claiming seven Cabbage Beach operators are already at Goodman’s Bay, with another 20 expected.
Monique Taylor – Managing Director, Seaside Destinations Services Company Ltd.
“Spaces that was already allocated to vendors, they are now duplicating those space and causing a clash out with vendors. So if you had an operating space that was assigned to you seven years ago. They now bring these vendors here and are trying to push them in that space…”
Taylor says vendors are now being asked to fit equipment, supplies and inventory within smaller operating spaces.
She argues the proposed limits do not reflect the realities of serving large crowds at one of New Providence’s busiest beaches.
Monique Taylor – Managing Director, Seaside Destinations Services Company Ltd.
“We have over 18 business owners out here not including the jet ski operators, and majority of them have over 100 chairs.”
Capprio Saunders Miller is one of the relocated Cabbage Beach vendors. She says at the end of the day everyone wants to make a living no matter their political affiliation.
Capprio Saunders Mille- Relocated Vendor, Cabbage Beach
“She claim she been out here from day one, that’s fine, if you been out here from day one she gotta remember she come from Cabbage Beach, you say you is an activist and you come from Cabbage Beach, why you can’t fight for your fellow comrades from Cabbage Beach…”
However for this relocated Cabbage Beach vendor, the move has also come with its own challenges.
He says he has been out of work for four months, but does not want the situation to pit him against the longstanding vendors.
Some taxi drivers who frequent the beach are throwing their support behind the longstanding operators.
Deangelo Ferguson – Taxi Driver
“Because of this relocation, the unprofessionalism, the level of lowness that has come to this particular spot right now, [it] is very disappointing to us and we’re appealing to whoever the powers that be…”
However, the Public Parks and Beaches Authority says the relocation is a part of a broader plan to better organize Goodman’s Bay and make room for the new operators.
Executive Chairman Jamahl Strachan says some existing vendors have expanded beyond their allocated spaces, making it necessary to enforce the established limits.
Jamahl Strachan – Executive Chairman, Public Parks and Beaches Authority
“Space allocation right now is 10 by 10 spacing, you have some vendors who have acted ultra vires to this, operating in a 30 by 30 spacing, and so now we have to actually enforce the spacing to allow for the new vendors to be resettled appropriately.”
