Road work hampering food vendor's sales

Food vendor Andrea 'Angie' Persuad says her customers are usually attracted to her fresh produce.

However, the current dust nuisance caused by roadworks along Waltham Park Road has caused a decline in sales.

So bad is the situation, that she has shifted her business, moving her stall from off the main road to a strategic point along the intersecting Woodpecker Avenue.

Angie said, "Bare dust; and when the rain fall, round deh flood out, so mi affi run. With the rain, a now and again the water run down this side. But the dust? Every vehicle pass me get dust up or when the breeze blow; my God."

A greater portion of the interview was conducted with Angie covering her nose and mouth with a red meshed shirt.

Even customers who braved the dust to stop and make a purchase, did so in a hurry as they complained of the dust nuisance.

According to Angie her produce can't stay fresh for too long.

She told THE STAR, "The dust dirty up the stuff dem and mek dem look dirty. It even mek me look dirty, because me sit out here all day. It give the tomato dem a little dark colour. Every minute mi affi get water and wipe dem off. All the pumpkin dem look black."

Angie has been selling at the location since February, before the roadworks began.

Since the work started, she said she has seen a decline in sales.

"Mi used to operate a bar where I was living, but since me come round here mi start sell these, and mi find say it faster than the bar; and mi nah fi dress up sexy or wine up fi sell vegetables and food. So mi did all right with selling here until the dust problem. It wicked enuh, cause no water truck nuh come sprinkle the place," she said.

Angie said because of the dust, customers are afraid to come out.

"If me did have a shop fi rent, mi woulda stock it out with ground food. Because of the dust, mi afi dash weh most of the stock," she lamented.

Angie believes that if the developers see to it that the area is sprinkled regularly, things may be different.

- A.W.