By DANNY O. SAGUN

CAN THE city sustain its campaign against sidewalk vendors which it re-launched this week with the opening of the Mac Adore compound as temporary place for them?
Ambulant vending has long been a problem facing the city officialdom since the time of the late Mayor Opring Manaois as far as we can recall. Many measures have been passed and tested to solve the problem but up to now we have yet to see the city succeed in its drive to rid the streets of obstructions of which the presence of ambulant vendors is a major factor.
The campaign (particularly by overeager members of the police or an assigned task force as in the case of the present anti-hawking office led by Butch Gutierrez) usually leads to animosities between vendors and law enforcers. Blood is spilled sometimes as had happened many years back when a policeman known to be hard on the vendors was shot and killed right at the marketsite. Patrolman Domingo’s case remains unsolved to this day.

Butch and company are reportedly receiving threats too for their no-nonsense drive against hardheaded vendors who usually play cat-and-mouse game with authorities.
Now that a place for the vendors has been identified, we hope that everything turns out well both for them and the city.

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This early however, there are already complaints by some Muslim traders who claim that the Mac Adore compound is not a viable place for business. It’s easy to see that what they actually want is to occupy the roads and alleys. The city built a new market for them, the modern airconditioned Malimgas market, which they snubbed.
The city administration should not be cowed by such claims or threats. If we really want to see a progressive and orderly Dagupan, our city officials should not play politics. If it relents now, what’s to prevent the vendors from demanding more next time around?
We thought all along that the Lim administration will be consistent in its campaign as we had observed during his early days in office how Mayor Benjie Lim showed guts and balls in his campaign to get rid of unsightly stalls in the sidewalks. We all witnessed then a semblance of order along the city roads. Pedestrians began to move freely in the sidewalks which for a long time had been ruled by vendors and even business establishment owners themselves who wantonly display their goods right on the sidewalks, leaving hardly a space for us pedestrians.
Such clearing of alleys and roads was not fully sustained however. After about a year, wares of various kinds began to sprout anew in all corners and alleys. Pedestrians have to walk on the road again because of the clogged passageways. Motorists have had to bear with heavy traffic which is partly caused by sidewalk obstructions.
We hope Mayor Lim and company will not blink this time.