Sellers have filed an appeal for reconsideration against the announcement-call of the Teguise City Council to fill vacancies in its market, in which it is described as a "temporary event-show." A fact that they consider is "contrary to law" and "harmful" to their "legitimate rights and interests."
In a statement, they argue that "street markets are commercial activities that are governed by the trade law and the municipal ordinance," and accuse the Council of passing off "a cat for a hare" every Sunday. "Since when is a street market a public show? Since when do artists or athletes have a street vending license instead of a contract to perform their work? Is the street market area in charge of programming the shows in the Teguise City Council? Do artists pay fees for occupying public land for street vending or do they charge for their performances?", they question.
In this regard, in addition to having filed an appeal with the City Council, they state that "several colleagues have gone to the Deputy of the Common" so that he "can mediate."
"The sellers are protected by this Trade Law and it is from it that our professional rights come from," they point out in a statement, in which they argue that "the street markets themselves are not activities classified as the Teguise City Council has been asserting for some time."
In this regard, they point out that "within the street markets, the majority of the stalls carry out harmless activities and do not need a classified activity license and affirm that "this is recognized by the Municipal Ordinance of Street Markets itself." In this sense, they recognize that "there may be some activity that may be susceptible to being considered a classified activity and are those that may alter the conditions of health, cause damage to the environment or produce risks for people or things," but they indicate that "for these it will be mandatory to process the prior authorization for the classified activity."
That, according to them, is included in the Official Gazette of the Province of April 29, 2019, where the call for the extensions of their licenses was published, which they denounce have "not been extended yet" and are "two years late." "We have already submitted all the documentation, so the pandemic cannot be an excuse, since telematically today it has been possible to request all kinds of aid in different institutions such as aid to the self-employed of the Government of the Canary Islands, cessation of activity, quarterly with the Treasury, etc.," they specify. "The procedure for the extension of the 8 years of our licenses can be completed telematically and also in person, complying with the regulations that this state of alarm requires," they add.
A formula that "prevented" most from returning to work
In their statement, they explain that after the temporary suspension of the traditional street market of the Villa del Teguise due to the state of alarm caused by Covid-19 and after several meetings between representatives of the sellers and the councilor Eugenio Robayna, "the reopening of the limited street market was agreed and with the application of all the sanitary measures that the pandemic situation requires and that the sellers by telephone call and in shifts would work in a limited space given the capacity conditions, without adding new requirements" that until then they had been "complying with."
However, they affirm that "the street market did not reopen on August 2 as had been announced, but on November 1," and "under a formula that camouflaged the street market in an event that according to the City Council was not the street market, but that in turn did announce it as the Teguise Village Market." And it is that, they expose that it was launched "under the formula of public show and with the security plan that applies to the patron saint festivities or any festival."
According to them, the date of that "event" was from November 1, 2020 to March 28, but later the City Council issued an announcement-call in which it maintains the classification of the street market as a "temporary event-show," with a planned duration until April 4, 2022, which is the one they have appealed.
"If the Teguise City Council did it wrong then betraying its own agreements with the sellers and leaving the vast majority unable to work in the worst moment in the history of the Teguise street markets due to the serious health, economic and social crisis that the planet is going through, it is doing worse with this announcement-call of false public show that they intend to last a year," they denounce.
That the street market "is recognized as what it is" and "expand the capacity"
Therefore, they demand that the "traditional street market" be returned to and that the street market that is installed in La Mareta "is recognized as what it is." In addition, they also request that the "capacity be expanded, since the health level on the island of Lanzarote allows it." "It is possible that we have to take turns as had been accepted from the beginning and that it be expanded towards the place it always occupied," they point out.
Likewise, they demand that "with the lifting of the state of alarm and if the measures of the Government of the Canary Islands allow it, the street market returns to its natural space." "We founded it 30 years ago many of us and it is already part of the history of the Villa de Teguise. The street market is the economic engine of commerce and restoration of La Villa," they conclude.
