San Francisco Plaza merchants wait for city to finish temporary sales kiosks

The merchants of Plaza San Francisco are complaining that the city has missed two deadlines to relocate them to temporary quarters on Calle Padre Aguirre. The city first announced the move would be complete by May 29 and then revised it to June 12.

Renovation work on the plaza will begin as soon as the merchants are relocated.

Cuenca’s San Francisco Plaza.

“They miss their deadlines without giving us an explanation,” says Gustavo Avila, president of the San Francisco Plaza Merchants Association. “We need time to pack up and to get reorganized in the new place but they tell us nothing. This seems to be typical for the municipality.”

The city admits it is behind schedule in installing temporary sales kiosks on Padre Aguirre. “We hope we can provide a schedule by Wednesday,” says Nino Vintimilla, director of city markets, adding that the work is going more slowly than anticipated.

The main cause of the delay, says Vintimilla, is the installation of lighting in the kiosks. So far, 72 of the 132 kiosks have been wired. Portable toilets should be delivered by the end of the week, he says.