USVI to evict badgering barkers

Darn. How am I going to find out about all the "special deals" the merchants have "just for me" on this "special day" on booze, perfume, and cigars?

About time! Hope they enforce it.

I second that feeling. I have only been to STT once, and passed through it once to STJ. Couldn't wait to get off. But to be fair, after talking a tour around the island we spent the rest of the time in that area and HATED the barkers. Felt like we were in a cheap carnival.
Once their gone, I might enjoy the area.

I guess I'm the only one that wasn't really bothered by them. I ignored them. My mailbox was in town so I had to find somewhere to park and walk to my mailbox...usually past the stores. They didn't annoy me as much as the people asking "Back to da ship?" or if I needed a taxi. Some of them would get mad at me if I didn't respond so I started carrying my keys in hand. It helped.

MY Response is kind of on/off topic. Anytime the Govt makes and puts in effect a new law, another part of our freedom is lost. When any Govt starts evicting anyone from public streets its bothersome to me. I think I would rather have a badgering barker trying to make a buck, than have a robber trying to take my buck.

I agree.

Wow, very different way of looking at it Lizard...i have to say I agree with you.

Oh, I don't know. Many places don't allow panhandling, spreading blankets on the street & selling stuff, streetwalkers. They're trying to make a buck, also. What's the difference?

So you think that all the barkers will be criminals if they aren't "barking". I give them much more credit than that. I think most criminals are too lazy to work in the first place.

just to clarify, I wasn't agreeing on the barking to robbery thing, I liked the perspective on the loss of freedom.

I didn't mind them, but I tried not to look like a tourist, if I were in town. I either dressed up like a business person, or dressed down, like the sailboat bum I am (was).

I have mixed thoughts on whether they have the right to be there. On the one hand, it's a freedom. On the other, it's a disturbance. One of the cutest things I ever saw was in St. Augustine, FL. On the pedestrian mall, there was a musician who played a variety of instruments all at one time. They passed an ordinance against that sort of thing. There was some subtleties that allowed such within a very small space of a shop. So the shop that hired him painted a small square just beside the front door where he stood and played, with a sign that said "One Man Banned" Funny, the things you remember.

Terry,
It was not my intent to say badgering barkers will become robbers. I think our police could be better utilized fighting crime and not chasing badgering barkers.

Trade,
The Badgering Barkers are not selling their wares/goods and services on the street ,they are directing you to a store that sells their wares. It might be annoying at times but so is the IRS. LOL

Well there goes another career goal... 🙁

I realize that, Lizard but what's the difference since both a vendor & a barker are trying to make a buck? So's a hooker. They remove hookers from neighborhoods because it becomes a quality of life issue for businesses & homeowners in the area where they're soliciting (barkers are soliciting too). This has become a quality of life issue too for residents, visitors & businesses in the area. STT is losing some popularity with cruise ship passengers as well as hotel guests because downtown has become so honky-tonk. We have no other way for most of the workers on STT to live. Are the barkers' livelihoods more important tnan all those people who work downtown & also for all the businesses that pay BIG money for rent and pay big taxes while having an obnoxious lout outside their business annoying potential customers?

They had an opportunity to clean up the way they were performing & chose not to. This is the consequence.

"...downtown has become so honky-tonk..."

"...It's the honky tonk [barkers]
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues. "
-The Rolling Stones

I KNEW you were Mick Jagger! That stogie avatar didn't fool me. 😀

I guess I'm the only one that wasn't really bothered by them. I ignored them. My mailbox was in town so I had to find somewhere to park and walk to my mailbox...usually past the stores. They didn't annoy me as much as the people asking "Back to da ship?" or if I needed a taxi. Some of them would get mad at me if I didn't respond so I started carrying my keys in hand. It helped.

I agree, & I was going to write the Daily news(didn`t have the time).
I feel the taxi`s are just as annoying, if not more.
Every morning I see them corralling(forcing) our visitors to their cabs, & @ Havensite, the ones that do get through, there is another group across the street that goes back & forth asking where they want to go nearly pushing them into their cabs!
It`s not right to allow one group to annoy our guest & not another!

I`m tired of getting crammed in a van with a dozen other tourist @ the airport.
I always encounter one(visitor) who does the math, & says something like"Hey, this guys getting $200 for a 20 minute drive!"
I tell them, Yup, their just taxi drivers, & many of them can`t read or write!
The driver sooner or later looks back @ me & asks me to quiet down.
I remind the driver many of our visitors make $800 a week, not a day,and they really can`t understand why taxis get what they do!
I then turn to the puzzled tourist, & tell them how many have the biggest homes here & pay little or no taxes, yet have huge political power!
The driver gets rid of me fast, sucks his teeth & doesn`t wait for a tip!
If your going to allow taxis to BARK, you need to allow BARKERS to do the same!
You can`t favor one group over another.

The taxis cram our streets to a crawl, which doesn't`t allow visitors/locals/services/mail alike to get around freely.
This greatly adds to the inefficiency & cost to all who come/live here.
Their RUDE, self centered, & I feel have a bigger negative impact than ANYTHING else here (even crackheads!)

Maybe the crackheads could drive the taxis...at least you know they wouldn't buy a big house and it would probably be more fun of a ride.

the taxis are the worst,nothing but parasites on the butt of humanity

I agree but getting rid of the barkers is a step in the right direction.

Maybe the crackheads could drive the taxis...at least you know they wouldn't buy a big house and it would probably be more fun of a ride.

Ha! Paramen driving? THAT would be fun, lol.

As far as I have been able to tell, there are precisely enough parking spaces in downtown CA for the employees of the shops there, and none for customers. I perceive downtown to be purely a tourist destination and not really part of the "normal" commercial network. Therefore, I do not even bother to try frequenting downtown merchants, and I don't see how anyone else who lives on STT does either (unless of course, they also are EMPLOYED downtown). Therefore, the tension between the barkers and the merchants (some of whom may employ them from comments in this thread) is a purely commerce-oriented issue and has no effect on anyone but the businesses and the barkers (and the tourists - but do they get a say?). I guess there will always be some barkers no matter what.

There are 1400 parking spaces in town and usually 1700 cars to park.