AN EXERCISE IN WORLDMAKING 2009 - ISS

5 The Case of the Herman Costerstraat Market in The Hague 55
of vendors that have applied for a permit. Currently, the waiting list to
obtain a permit for the HCM has more than nine hundred names on it
and the average waiting time for obtaining a permit is twenty years
(Marieke, OASM staff at the main office, 2009, first hand interview).
Once a permit is obtained from the OASM, daily rent at the market is
quite low and depending on the size and the extra services available at
the stall, such as electricity, refrigerators or storage space, varies between
seven and sixteen euros per day. If a vendor does not arrive to the market,
the space is assigned for that day to the next person on the waiting
list. That function is under the responsibility of the staff of the OASM at
the market. In addition to rent, vendors are also required to pay income
taxes, which vary depending on the type of products they sell. The fact
that operational expenditures are quite low, allows for vendors to start
and operate their businesses with relatively small amounts of capital,
which in turn grants them the option of continuing in the market at a
relatively low cost.
The sellers at the HCM are represented by two organizations, the
Central Association for Ambulatory Trade (CVAH), established in 1921
and mostly representing the interests of vendors of Dutch origins, and
VETRA, a recently formed organization that groups non-Dutch vendors.
The CVAH, an association at the national level, has a more powerful
voice in terms of influencing the decisions of the municipalities in
The Netherlands in all matters concerning the administration of the
markets and the advancement of the interests of the street vendors and
in particular negotiations that might affect the interests of particular vendors.
Furthermore, if a vendor wants to appeal a decision made by the
market administration at the court level, the CAVH provides legal advice.
Despite the existence of these organizations, street vendors are not
usually eager to participate and voice their concerns as a group. Most of
the time, they are so focused on the care and improvement of their own
businesses, that do not have the time or the willingness to associate with
others. At the same, they do not have the structural or organization capacity
at the market level, to reach consensual decisions or undertake
collective action. This results in inefficiencies in terms of lack of share of
knowledge, higher costs that could be reduced if more communication
among the vendors was existed and also in terms of bargaining power in
matters that could be of their interests against the administration and