«Imposing fines on those who break the rules is sacrosanct and necessary. However, it would be appropriate to have a clear understanding of the situations in which these rules are disregarded”, this is what the president of Confcommercio Bisceglie, Leo Carriera, states regarding episodes, increasingly increasing in recent weeks, of fines to street vendors in the market area who do not respect the perimeter of their location.
«You are not asked to turn a blind eye. Not at all – Carriera is keen to point out – but to understand that sometimes the alleged or real infringements occur due to situations that the category has been calling for for some time and which deserve attention from the administrators who we ask for concertation to deal with these issues and the requests of those who work in the market area”.
«We do not observe, but we can be proven wrong, the same inflexibility on the part of the bodies in charge towards other city contexts where an inexplicable anarchy often reigns – underlines Andrea Nazzarini, national vice president of Fiva-Confcommercio. The street vendors in the Via San Martino area are being harassed in a constant manner which, frankly, arouses suspicion, as in the case of the operator who, having the space in the adjacent stall unoccupied, ‘extended himself by around 30 centimetres’. . And here comes the sanction without listening to reasons of any kind.”
With the large fines received in recent weeks, street vendors complain about the state of abandonment in which the area finds itself. According to the operators, this would lead to a gradual disinterest on the part of buyers towards the now consolidated location of the weekly market.
«For two years I have requested the intervention of the Local Police to monitor illegal practices and irregularities in the market area – explains Antonio Abascià, current municipal councilor and former president of the Mercatincittà Consortium –. My requests started from the fact that numerous illegals were parking in the stalls or in any case in the area of Via San Martino without any authorization. This intervention, completely legitimate and expected, raises discussion regarding the methods through which the sanction was assessed. Questionable methods that could have shown greater sensitivity or listening on the part of the operators.”
