City vendor ordinance passes

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 12:43 am by Shaun Ryan

By PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com

The St. Augustine City Commission unanimously passed a controversial new ordinance creating a lottery limiting vending and artistic expression on the Plaza de la Constitucion to only 12 people per month.
Commissioner Don Crichlow made the motion to approve.
“We’ve got to do it this way. We don’t have a choice,” he said.
For months, the city has been hamstrung by a federal judge’s ruling, which forced the city to delete its ordinance restricting sales on the Plaza.
This replacement ordinance takes effect Oct. 1 and will require anyone wanting to sell on the Plaza to apply to the city, pay $75 and wait to be selected by a lottery system for a month-long permit for one of 12 spaces at the Slave Market.
If not selected, applicants get their money back.
But both vendors and artists protested the provisions of the new ordinance.
Vendors want more room and don’t think customers will go to the market. Artists say that the new rules limit free expression.
Elena Hecht told the commission that if an artist doesn’t win a slot at the Slave Market that month, that means their freedom of expression is gone for that time.
“You’ve clouded the issue,” she said. “Vendors and artists are separate issues.”
Richard Trevlyn, a city resident, said the Plaza is not a retail space.
“It should be without vendors or the bums,” he said. “It has centuries of history and beauty. It’s a little jewel. It’s not about retail, it’s about the use of the park.”
St. George Street merchant Kimberly Boza said the Plaza “looks terrible” and she wanted the city to protect the Plaza and the city merchants from the vendors.
Vendor Alisha Carter of Hastings said she sold sunglasses on the Plaza, which are now a banned article for the Market spaces.
“This has stopped a lot of my income,” she said. “My booth is nice and clean. I’m not hurting the businesses on St. George Street. I don’t compete with them.”
St. George Street merchant Carrie White said the Plaza is a “flea-market debacle and farmer’s market” and that no business in the city is allowed to operate without liability insurance.
“I want you to order (those businesses on the Plaza) to cease and desist operation until the legality and safety of St. Augustine citizens is assured.”
Vice Mayor Errol Jones said right after the vote, “There’s just not a simple answer. Every time we work it out, we hit a glitch.”