The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

All Potter’s Cay Dock vendors were yesterday said to be back in operation apart from the five stalls that were either destroyed or severely damaged by the weekend’s fire.

Maltese Davis, secretary for the Bahamas Dock and Allied Venues Vendors Association, which represents stall owners and operators, complained to Tribune Business that the authorities had done too little to prevent the burning boat - which caused the blaze - from drifting back into Potter’s Cay.

“When the boat started to drift over, I guess they just let it go. They just figured that if they pulled it out that it would just stay there on the sea and burn, but that area is high with current and pulled it in straight into those stalls,” she said.

Ms Davis, who is the owner of TC’s Bayview, added: “The fire department called me to ask me if I had any damage. I told them ‘no’. So right now I am back open on the dock and so are many of the other vendors open for business.”

The fire erupted on Sunday evening after a blaze broke out on a boat, which was then caught by the current and drifted in towards the western side of Potter’s Cay dock, caused five stalls to catch fire. Four burned down completely, while another sustained significant damage and was unable to reopen for business yesterday.

A previous fire struck Potter’s Cay Dock on April 12, 2021, which also destroyed several stalls and boats. The reconstruction of Potter’s Cay dock’s eastern side was ongoing as this second fire hit. Ms Davis said the latest fire is just another obstacle for vendors to overcome.

“We have been having massive roadblocks and police operations on Potter’s Cay Dockm and the vendors are curious as to why this happening,” Ms Davis said.

“Potter’s Cay Dock is like done, because it really first started off with the operations and people feeling like: ‘Hey, I’m going on the dock to pick up a conch salad and I have to pay $100 to get my car because they’re towing the vehicles’. They are not being consistent with the security and the patrols.”

The main parking lot at Potter’s Cay Dock has no security after a certain time at night, Ms Davis said, resulting in car break-ins and the theft of car parts. This has forced customers park in front of individual stalls or under the bridge, which are no parking zones.

“Yes, you have signs up. But for many, many years the parking lot has remained not properly lit. It’s where we would have women with their children going back to their vehicles and finding their cars were broken in or finding a part is missing off their car,” Ms Davis

“There is no security in the facilities of the parking area other than periodic police patrols, and even with that we don’t have consistent policing. Many times the [police] station is closed.”