Dec 1, 1999
Hi John,
Thanks for the tours. I'm a photographer in Denver who was looking around the net for various food sites. I'm a true foodie who's interested in trying to get a marketplace type operation going in Denver where we have nothing of the sort aside from various seasonal farmers' markets. I wish there was something here like Pike's Place in Seattle or Grand Central in L.A. or St. Lawrence in Toronto but there just isn't. While looking around I stumbled into your exotic tours and was very impressed. I'm envious of your ability to go to all those places and of the time you take to assemble all the information. Rebeca's got some great pictures, too. Especially Cairo. Really, thanks for bothering. I was very entertained.
Not that it's relevant to anything but feel free to visit my website that shows off my business activity at www.PhotoLaszlo.com
Thanks again,
Larry Laszlo
Sept 18, 1999
I thank you for being a sponser of the Hunger Site today. I found your site interesting especially since our son's MA is in Latin American Studies from U. of Chicago with a special emphasis in Mexico. He is now teaching 5th grade in an elementary school in Sacramento, CA on the way to his next goal. Many of his students are Latinos and since he speaks Spanish and understands something of the culture he feels that he has many things to offer these children. I have sent your site to him along with the list of books you recommend. Again thank you for your "world view" Betty Aydlett
Sept 18, 1999
Hi!
I found your page thru "The Hunger Site"
and thought it must be fate.
I'm a 17 year old female EXTREMELY interested in international
development. Frankly, I don't know much about it, but I
want to make as big of a positive impact on this world as I
can. I've become interested due to the fact that I'm on my
YMCA's Board of Directors and have see the work the YMCA has done
in such places as Sri Lanka and Bogota, Columbia. My own
personal definition of international development is aiding third
world contries in developing socially and economically. I
was wondering if you could give me your views on somethings since
I don't know anyone else involved in this area.
When I enter university what are some good areas for
me to focus on (ie: what should I get a degree in)? I
obviously need a second language but what else? I see you
have consentrated on sociology. Frankly I don't even
understand what sociology teaches! What are some good
schools for me to look at, and they don't necessarily have to be
in the States (in fact I live in Canada). Many schools
offer classes/programs in "International/Community
Development" does this sound safe to you? Or is it
better to go with something general?
I understand anything you have to say will be from
your own opinions and experiences, but it will be VERY valuable
to me! Thank you for any information/idea/comments you may
have!
KAY MILLAR
Sept 18, 1999
Dear John
I found your site via the hunersite and wanted to thank you for
doing what
you're doing.
I also want to say that recently my husband has been making opal
jewellery
and an looking for outlets to sell it. We've found that
outlets are bound
up with either organised crime eg in Japan, or big
business.
It's getting harder and harder for small business to make a go of
it, so I
think street markets are going to be of major importance all over
the world.
Warm regards
Lalita Claff
This is often why the informal economy is so competitive--the formal economy hides a lot of illegalities that drive prices up.
September 18
Hi there
This is just a little note to say that I think your
sponsoring thehungersite for a day is a pretty worthy thing
for an individual (as opposed to a company) to do.
I've been logging in to it every day that I'm around my computer
since a friend told me about it and have passed it on to many
others.
You may know that our country is one of those which appears on
the world map all too often, signifying a death. We also
have a rather large street vendor population which has developed
in recent years when many of the trade restrictions which were in
place were lifted. Some of the vendors are really amazing
in the ideas they come up with.
I work in the development sector, but in education so perhaps I
won't buy your book but I will pass the info on to people I know
who could be interested.
Let's hope you have helped many people today and that you get to
sell lots of copies of your book.
Sincerely
Jill
South Africa
Sept 18, 1999
I thank you for being a sponser of the Hunger Site today. I found your site interesting especially since our son's MA is in Latin American Studies from U. of Chicago with a special emphasis in Mexico. He is now teaching 5th grade in an elementary school in Sacramento, CA on the way to his next goal. Many of his students are Latinos and since he speaks Spanish and understands something of the culture he feels that he has many things to offer these children. I have sent your site to him along with the list of books you recommend. Again thank you for your "world view" Betty Aydlett
Sept 18, 1999
Dear John:
Thank you so much for being a sponsor on The Hunger Site - even
if it is only for a day. That's a real commitment! I am intrigued
by your Street Vendors book. Because these entrepreneurs are a
very visible contingent here in the U.S. Virgin Islands plan to
send your page to some of our legislators here. In the downtown
area, a few years ago, they were all taken off the sidewalks and
crammed into a small area (a former parking lot) where there is
barely enough room to get between their stalls. While the
downtown looks better, it wasn't really fair to them. There are
also several at various senic outlooks around the island.
Unfortunately, since all they sell are cheap t-shirts and the
like, they certainly don't add to the beauty of the scene.
Seventeen years ago, when I arrived, the only "vendors"
at those spots were the "Rastas" who brought little
donkeys for tourists to have their pictures taken with. Now there
are so many they really get in the way of the view, create
garbage and there are no public facilities, so they have to
relieve themselves in the bush. Vendors, tourists and citiznes -
we all deserve better somehow.
I was astonished to see from other feedback that there is an
International Alliance of Street Vendors! Gee, I wasn't planning
to write a treatise but - oh, well!
Lucy G. in St. Thomas
Sep 15, 1999
JOHN
I realy enjoyed your web site about maadi market &khan el
khalily because I'm from maadi ,the last time I was there three
years ago
KAMAL ALY
Sep 13, 1999
Dear Mr.John Cross.
I am Dede Dwiyanti. Iam the student of Master Program in Urban
Management in University of Canberra. I am from Indonesia.
I am interesting in the topic of managing street vendors for my
policy paper. So, my purposes in writing this mail is to
ask some information about managing street vendors, particularly
in allocating them in a particular area without harming their
bussiness. Maybe you can help me by giving information or
sources about case study in other countries, because I face a
difficulty in finding sources about handling/managing street
vendors in the city. Hopefully you can help me by sending
more information about managing street vendors.
Regards
Dede Dwiyanti
Aug 10,1999
Hello! My name is Lisa Raiti, and a friend of mine just sent
me the address to your page. I live in CA right now, but I will
be starting school at the American University in Cairo in
September, as a graduate student in Anthropology. I noticed on
your page that you used to teach at AUC, and I was wondering
which subject. The pictures were great, especially the one taken
from the top of AUC. Hope to hear from you soon!
Lisa
Aug 9, 1999
Dear John
I wanted help to find information, studies and web sites on the
following
issue of growing the solo-employee business with a particular
focus on
employment generation.
First, would there be information on the micro-enterprise owner's
decision
to become employers? Would we know the decision points and the
triggers for
this? What might be the important considerations and/or
barriers (both
perceived and real) to taking on employees?
Second, information that may deal specifically with helping sole
operators
to make the transition to becoming an employer. For instance,
what do we
know about how best to carry this out? What are the important
issues to
attend to when attempting to facilitate this transition? Are the
action
research or action learning studies on
this?
Third, what might be available in the form of diagnostic or
prognostic
tools that relate specifically to this transition and examples of
such tools?
Forth, what training resources may be available to assist in the
professional development of a micro-enterprise business owners
who want
business growth?
Thanks for your interest in reading this e-mail. I hope I may
hear from you
with some details on this inquiry.
July 20, 1999
Dear Prof Cross
I have been reading your publications on informal economy in
Mexico etc. I am quite interested in obtaining more
information from you regarding the above subject. I am a
South African Master's student at the University of Port
Elizabeth. I have just started research on "Problems
and constraints faced by the black informal traders in Port
Elizabeth metropole". There might be some common
issues in problems faced by the informal traders in your city
and in Port Elizabeth South Africa, hence I want to do a
comparative study in order to see how in your country the
informal traders have overcome these problems.
I shall be much pleased if you could perhaps keep contacts with
me in this regard.
With many thanks
Ronney Ncwadi
Comment from John Cross: Ronney--if you ever read this note, send me your email address and we can get in contact. I would love to chat further about this issue which is close to my heart.
July 13, 1999
John
Thanks for including me in you mass e-mailing. Have been checking
it out. It is a good site with people saying worth while things.
I think I might have some things that would be of some slight
interest to contribute for discussion.
I enjoyed your review of your book. Your interest in markets
makes a lot of sence and I am ashamed that we overlooked open air
markets, although we spent a lot of time in them - in our study
of Barriadas in Cuernevaca with Ivan Illich in the early 70s.
Would you object to some comments and comparisons of your studies
(open air org)- of open air markets in history? It seems to me
from my present position of ignorance that one could be made. I
am doing a children's book on money and have been digging into
the social, economic, political changes that took place shortly
after it was invented - Sardis 6th-7th century BC - thay say).
Some of the things youall say on your site about markets are very
similar to the things R.E. Wycherley wrote about the virtues of
the Greek Agora in his book "HOW THE GREEKS BUILT
CITIES"- Anchor - Doubleday (1969 - 2nd edition). One of my
favorite back pocket books for 30 years.
Thanks again for including me. I am getting a copy of your book
from Amazon and look forward to reading it.
Forrest
July 8, 1999
Hi John,
Great site you have about the open market, and pictures about
Egypt - just a quick thing about 2 of the links you have on http://www.openair.org/cross/phototour.html
They're linked to the directory Mydocuments\cross.... on your C
drive, rather than the site itself. Otherwise, keep up the good
work.
Best Wishes,
Ashraf
(Oooops)
July 8, 1999
Eager to see your book. Many years ago, I wrote my dissertation on the periodic markets of Colombia, and for a while did much to follow this phenomenon. Rich Symanski
July 2, 1999
DR Cross,
I got a lot out of your papers on the Informal
sector and especially the one on entrepreneurship and
exploitation. I am a newly established political activist,
a former street musician who fought and won. I seem to be
on a roll.
I felt your sharp analysis brought into focus the
dynamics that may allow me to craft a resolution to my local
situation. I'm seeking to undermine their confidence in
their own arguments and presenting an attractive alternative to
what they are seeking. Knowing the dynamics behind our
conflict helps me a lot. I wonder, do I share it with the
moguls with whom I fence? I must poder that awhile.
I may well write again as I expect to study your
work again. I've only just finished your informal theory
papers and the one on Tourism and terrorism. Thanks for
sharing your work.
Roger Jolley
June 8, 1999
Dear Dr. Cross,
I have just started reading your book (I'm on page 60) and felt compelled to write and say THANK YOU! I had planned on writing when I'd finished so I could ask some more informed questions, but have to tell you that I couldn't have dreamed up a better resource for my current research if I had tried.
My name is Terri Place and I am working on my Master's thesis in Social Cultural Anthropology. My area focus is the US Mexico border and I am interested in tourism development, which led me to the informal economy in Nogales,Sonora. Tianguis have recently been built out of the path of most tourists. Vendors refused to occupy them which has taken a lot of the 'steam' out of the larger development project of beautification. Many of the vendors are Mixtec women and I am noticing some differential treatment. I have done a fair amount of interviewing, but have no clear research statement as of yet-something I anticipate being remedied upon completion of your book.
Your introductory section on methods really hit home. You stated so clearly the ups and downs of interviewing people on both (all)sides of such a conflicted issue. I also very much appreciate the readability of your book and your treatment of the complexities of Mexican politics.
I must get back to reading and ordering my own copy. Do you, by any chance know of any research that's been done or in progress on either street vending on the border or vending in relation to tourism? I haven't found anything on your website or related ones.
Thank you again.
Sincerely,
Terri Place
PS-sent this to Egypt first so it got bounced back. Feel free
to post on Openair. I wouldn't say that Peddlars and Princes is
widely read anymore, at least if our department is any
indication...but maybe it's not.
May 26, 1999
Hi, John.
Thanks for the street address. Did the Texas appt. work out?
Your book has been a big hit: students use it as a main reference on street vending in Mexico City. It's been great from my perspective: I don't think one can understand Mexico City without including the informal economy.
Thanks for your support for my student, Robyne.
Best wishes,
Julie
5/23/99
John and Rebeca Cross
This is to say thank you for putting your "market" series on the net. I enjoyed them tremendously and took the liberty of copying them for inspiration for a children's book drawing I amd working on at the moment - (trying to reconstruct a drawing of a 5th century BC Greek agora). They reinforce a notion that markets have not changed much over the centuries. I compared them to "open air market" photos I made in Morocco, and a Paris "Flea market" about 45 years ago, those I made in Mexico about 40 years ago and some I made in 3 or 4 countries in the Far east three years ago. This to me is what makes them so terribly interesting, despite the fact that "open air markets" are located in "stolen city space" half a world away, for the most part they are alike and wonderfully fascinating. Your photos say this very well. Thank you for the pleasure of seeing them.
Sincerely
Forrest Wilson
Emeritus Professor of Architecture
The Catholic University of America
5/5/99
Dear Dr. Cross,
I am currently living in Mexico City, and working on my dissertation on party stratgy in the PAN, PRI, and PRD. One of my inetests in is party-social group linkages, particularly party-informal sector relationships. I have been somewhat surprised at the responses from party leaders, and I want to run a few things by you. In general, party personnel seem scared-off by the informal sector, as if becoming involved will lead them down the slippery slope to unavoidably clientelistic relationships. This is clearly the case for the PAN. Despite their concerns that appealing to the informal sector will scare off small business supporters, they seem to see the informal sector as full of corrupt local leaders and uneducated, almost uncouth and uneducatable, workers. The party's elitism shows through clearly when the informal sector theme is broached.
More importantly, however, the PRD seems to want to stay clear of the informal sector also. District and "delegacional" leaders tell me that they have no formal relationships with informal groups, and that only a small number of PRD leaders maintain contact with them. They usually deride these leaders as clientelist and corporatist. Also, most PRD leaders remain convinced that the PRI controls the informal sector almost entirely. I expected that informal sector support for the PRI would evaporate for the reasons you state in your paper "Breaking Down Clientelism" and because I can't see why a vulnerable population with short-term economic needs wouldn't automatically support the incumbent. I haven't followed Cardenas' policy toward the informal sector closely enough to know if he has been particularly inflexible with them.
So, I have a couple of questions for you. First, what is your sense of the level of support (organizationally and inidvidually) among the informal sector for the PRI and the PRD? Do Alejandra Barrios and Guillermina Rico's daughter continue to support the PRI? (and are they still major players?). Second, what are the mechanisms through which the PRI incorporates informal sector folks? I assumed it would be through the CNOP, but the appropriate office there (can't remember the name) seems too unorganized and ill-informed to coordinate such a large and potentially important portion of the party's electoral base. Third, does it make sense to you that PRD leaders would be wary of establishing links to the informal sector? In general, why would there be such a tentative attitude toward the informal sector on the part of party leaders in Mexico when economic crisis has encouraged political elites in other countries to fall all over themselves seeking support (i.e. Peru and Chile espcially).
Any insights you can give me would be greatly appreciated. In addition, if you feel comfortable sending me some contacts for leaders in the informal sector and their interlocutors in the PRI, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
-Ken
Kenneth F. Greene
Fulbright-Garcia Robles Scholar - Mexico
Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas (CIDE)
5/3/99
Dear Professor Cross,
Thanks for your note. I have been using your book on street vendors in Mexico City in my "Global Political Economy" class. Part of the class examines informal economies in world cities in relation to neoliberal economic restructuring. The book has been very well received by the students. I was very happy to find the book last year at a LASA book exhibit.
Please let me know if you will be in Texas next year. We have a speakers series here in my interdisciplinary college. Although the series has a small budget, if you are located next door in Texas, perhaps the series committee would be able to afford to bring you for a guest lecture.
Would you please drop me a note with your mailing address?
I have really enjoyed using your book and look forward to meeting you in the future.
Best wishes,
Julie Murphy Erfani
Associate Professor of Politics
Arizona State University
West Campus
4/23/99
Dear John Cross:
I write because I share your interest in organizing informal economic actors for legal and policy advocacy, and would like to dialogue with you about how such organization can be furthered in developing countries. I have enjoyed reading your webpage, especially the papers, and especially "Informal Leverage and Informal Subsidies: Strategies for NGOs Working with the Informal Economy."
I worked on microenterprise projects (training and credit) in Bolivia for three years, for an NGO called Food for the Hungry. Recently I graduated from the social change and development program at Johns Hopkins SAIS in Washington, DC. As I worked in and studied the informal sector, I concluded that beyond the current fixation on credit, the legal and policy framework within which microenterprises operate is one of their main obstacles. Part of this came from reading The Other Path by Hernando de Soto. But as I set about studying how to change the policy framework, I realized that top-down reform of small business policy was unlikely to be made law due to the political opposition of entrenched interests, or if it was made law, it was unlikely to be actually implemented appropriately, due to what you call in one of your papers, low state integration. (I understand that de Soto himself has run into some of these problem in trying to implement some of the conclusions of his book in Peru.) I also benefitted from the book Centuries of Economic Endeavor: Parallel Paths in Europe and Japan and Their Contrast with the Third World by economist John Powelson. In it Powelson details the historical development of economic "leverage" by the poor in Europe and Japan, and contrasts this with the relative concentration of political/economic power historically in countries which today remain economically underdeveloped. He uses this concept of interest group leverage to explain the differing economic performances of countries over time.
This concept of leverage seems to me to find its practical application today for the poor of LDCs in work such as your own. It seems to be better if small business policies are negotiated from the bottom up, not imposed from the top down. Thus, the enormous importance of organizing informal businesses to advocate for the removal of barriers to their growth, as you detail in your paper, "Informal Leverage."
I have been scouring the internet, and other sources, for evidence of people working at development from this angle. I have found little. Both research and projects seem to be scarce. The successful microcredit movement has not aimed at parlaying the economic empowerment its beneficiaries enjoy into rule-making power at the legal and policy level. It seems to me that the civil society/democratization craze in development circles would also be a fruitful area for this sort of work to grow, but have had trouble finding out about any such efforts.
I was wondering what work you have participated in or know of along these lines, whether research or projects. I learned of SEWA, and even did a small paper on their advocacy efforts for a class of mine. Another rare source I have come across is a book called Freedom to be Enterprising: The Informal Economic Agenda. It details the organization of ACHIB, the African Council of Hawkers and Informal Businesses, in South Africa. It is by Lawrence Mavundla, published by Pavement Books in Johannesburg in 1991. Do you have a bibliography on street vendor/informal advocacy?
I look forward to hearing from you, and learning of information and contacts.
Regards,
Lawrence Locklin
4/20/99
Mr. Cross,
I am a student at Arizona State University and am working on a photo-essay for a "Politics of Mexico" course.
I would love to use a few of your photos in my presentation on street vending. I am requesting temporary permission to use them in a power point slide show. I promise to delete the images immediately following the presentation.
Please respond to ...
Thank you for considering my request.
4/20/99
Thank you. We discuss your work quite regularly in class. You have quite a following at ASU.
4/4/99
You've obviously put a lot of work into this project. I hope some others also take a look. Nice work!
3/24/99
Hi John,
I'd like to thank you for being prepared to share your work and ideas, I must admit that this has been so far one of the most interesting I have seen recently. Although not scholarly in this feild of research/vocation, my presentation of work can be seen at WWW.redbricks.org.uk I like to think of it as a potential presentation peice on Manchesters Alternative to corporation madnes and corporate insanity (a sustainable community).
After 3 years of living in Inner city Manchester and most of my 32 yrs in Manchester I'm in the notorius ward of Hulme M15, it has been clasified by Government as No 1 area of complete depravation in the UK. As a European Union area for Objective 2 funding, and central government assistance it has recived £100s of millions of Inward investment. The effect has been to compleately decimated Hulme as an area with Thriving communities and micro euntrenprenuers, it just also happens that the City Owned up to 90% of all properties and all the land, the area was almost completely demolished and the people moved/ shoved and thrown out. Now there is,nt that much of anything here anymore just people with memories of friends and relatives, faces and places. Although it had and still does have a statatory duty to the general public -the council through Elected Council Members, ( current voting rates indicated a 10% turn out in the last elections and a continued display of fondness with Labour (grass roots) tends to continue a strong political persuation ) no attempt to social radicalism or community empowerment have yet been devised or presented forward to help the Councils present £14 million debt, £1 billion needed for Housing maintainance, Government screaming for Best Value and everyone for it all to get sorted out.
It seems the Council and financial investors are continuing to indulge in Master Plans and "Flag Ship" redevelopments intended to Reduce crime and encourage employment, these little babies comand vast sums of External funding, its amusing to see the "Usual Suspects" and Statatory badies presenting themselves programs and projects that only need their own support and management. (Jobs for the boys) As one of the bigest employers in Manchester the Council is the Designated Accountable Company for the alocation of Funding and Support, this is happening all over the City.
Community projects tend generally to require permission from these agencies before any grants/ loans or support can and are made available, but thats only the general rule - isn't it.
Have fun - dont work too hard -
Cae Gests
01 Apr 1999
John-Great website! I am offering a course on Egyptian folklore via the internet this summer and I definitely will be adding a link to your site on markets. I also really enjoyed your article on tourism and terrorism. I have had similar experiences. I went to Minya in May 1994 several months before any terrorist incidents occurred in the governorate and security was tight, although not as bad. I went to Beni Hasan and annoyed by the hassle it brought about I ditched my plans to go to Amarna the next day and managed to ditch the police entirely and went across the river to Zawiyet al-Mayitin and had a great time. And then there's that silly law about putting the foreigners all on one train to "protect" them. I just led a tour in Egypt a month ago and the escort issue got to be ridiculous a couple times. We went to Tanis one day and what should have been a two hour trip to get there took over three hours and the ride back for some reason took us north for a long time before turning back to Cairo and it took us four hours to get back to Cairo, where once we were ten minutes from the hotel on the corniche within the city, we were forced to wait twenty minutes to switch police escorts. Being a woman though I have the advantage of being able to dress in such a way that I can cover up the fact I am a foreigner and have been able to get around the restrictions on numerous occasions. I see you are also a Cal grad. I graduated in 1993 myself.
Nicole
29 Mar 1999
Hello professor how are you?
I was looking at your webpage and I want to congratulate you, it's a really nice and educative page. I can say that I learn many new things including how prepare you are to teach the course. it was really impressive all the academic preparation that you have.
Congratulations once again and see you in class next Tuesday
Bye Bye
Jonathan Inoa
27 Feb 1999
hi -- i got to your site after reading the post about the person who got arrested for shouting at Guiliani.
We are experiencing our first wave of "quality of life" legislation here in Philadelphia, which has escalated vendor harrassment. If it seems appropriate to have you come for a community forum type rally, would you be interested?
Julie Davids
ACT UP Philadelphia
19 Feb 1999
I am a student in high school and need to use one of your pictures on www.openair.org/cross/souk.html. I would appreciate it if you could respond as soon as possible with permission to print one of the pictures and show it to a class.
21 Feb 1999
Thank you. I used the top picture of a souk to show my class how you often buy food in Egypt.
7 Feb 1999
Hello Prof. Cross
I am one of your student at CCNY. I take Mass Comm. I just wanted to say that the pictures, and what you had to say about them was interesting. I been to Cancun a couple of times and I have seen some markets and street vendors myself and it just brought back some memories of when I was there.
Cindi
7 Feb 1999
sir: your wife has a distinctly mexican appearance. is she from this area of the world?
28 Jan 1999
Dear Mr. Cross,
Nicola Armacost, the Knowledge and Communications Coordinator for Women's World Banking and I are working on a street vendors initative for the International Alliance of Street Vendors. We have read your papers on the situation regarding street vendors in Mexico ("Breaking Down Clientelism: The Formalization of Street Vending in Mexico City," "Formalizing the Informal Economy: The Case of Street Vendors in Mexico City," "Taking Street Vendors off the Street" Historical Parallels in Mexico City," "Co-optation, Competition, and Resistance: State and Street Vendors in Mexico City," and "The Great Rip-Off: 'Commercial Plazas', Street Vendors and the 'System' in Mexico City's Historical Center")and your article on street vendors in Egypt ("Suppressed Potential; Women in the Informal Economy must Cross a Minefield of Cultural Impediments to Growing Their Businesses").
Please let me know if you have any additional papers regarding street vendors that are available and if you would like any information regarding the International Alliance of Street Vendors.
With best regards,
Jena Layton
Wed, 26 Aug 1998
Dear Mr. Cross,
This is Dedra's friend who needed the two pictures but I only ended up using one of them. I used the one of the Khan EL-Khalil market, the actual inside, where you can see the displays. This was very helpful for my visuals, thank you very much. My project was on Egypt and places of interest, for my Arabic language class. I noticed that the pictures were taken by you and your wife, have you traveled much throughout Egypt? Your pictures were great!! Thanks again, and if you need to contact me further my e-mail address is:
Leanne C. Updyke
Sun, 10 May 1998
Dear sir,
I took with you the sociology 201 class spring 1995( I think), i was navigating through the net, and I found your homepage, and I think its great. Its very interesting, and hard work is done in it.
Thank you and good luck!
Fatma Al Sager
Sun, 10 May 1998
Hi Dr. Cross!
Thanks a lot for your comments about my web page, I will consider them for future revision of my site. Regarding the markets built by the government I just can say that it is sad most of them are abandoned. I just finished my thesis about this topic and I intend to keep researching about this theme when back in Mexico, then I hopefully will have more time to research about those things that you mentioned, which are essential when implementing any action toward the street vending phenomenon.
Mauricio
Fri, 10 Apr 1998
Hi Dr. Cross!
I am a Urban Design student at Washington University and I am currently working in my thesis about street vendors in Downtown Mexico City. First of all I want a say "muchas gracias" for your papers in Open Air Market, they have been a real help when trying to understand this topic.
As a part my research I have been developing a web site dedicated to the street vending phenomenon in the Downtown Mexico City. Since you are an expert in this field I will be very glad if you could take a look on it and give me an opinion.
http://poly1.wustl.edu/~egomez/mauricio/homepage.html
Thanks again
Mauricio Ibarra
Wed, 8 Apr 1998
Dear John
I've really enjoyed your website. I found it while looking for anything I could find on overseas tourism marketing in what I think the UN calls a conflictive zone. I work on a cross-border tourism project in Northern Ireland / Republic of Ireland. Statistically NI is an extremely safe place for tourists (and indeed for the rest of us, given its low crime rate). In almost 30 years of conflict, two tourists were shot by mistake. Yet NI cannot attract tourists, but Israel -which seems to suffer far worse violence - can. It seems to be connected to attraction and repulsion. What I mean is that Israel has attractions (as the Holy Land) strong enough to overcome the repulsions of violence, but NI doesn't.
But what I really wanted to ask you about was the future for ambulantes. I worked with ambulates and market women in El Salvador a couple of years ago (I worked on a tourism project there too - I'm specialising in selling the unsellable). Supermarkets there were expensive, used by gringos and the middle classes and the fresh food was poor quality. At the moment, they are a status symbol. But surely over time they will be able to reduce costs by buying in bulk, will introduce the sort of stack'em high and sell'em cheap warehouses we have in the North and will gradually drive the informal sellers out. For example, I thought that 'cheap' clothing was relatively expensive there and I am sure that many of the large US chains could undercut the streetsellers. I hesitate to mention the dreaded word globalisation, as it was so overused in Salvador, but isn't it inevitable.
Will we end up with cutesy markets selling bric a brac and arty crap to the middle classes? Will the market women end up working as check out girls in some US owned supermarket?
Niamh Goggin
10 Apr 1998
Dear John
This is a good day in Northern Ireland - there's light at the end of the tunnel at last.
I was interested in your comments. If there is a sort of new informal economy, consisting deregulated suppliers to multinationals, women will probably lose out. You could not but be impressed by the strength and abilities of market trading women, often single mothers bringing up families on their business earnings. In very unfavourable circumstances, they had staked out an area of control within the informal economy. In Salvador, the market women all wore wonderful frilly aprons, laundered every day. They kept their money in their aprons. I loved to watch them haggling, handing out change, taking earnings, giving money to the kids for school. The miraculous aprons seemed to generate elastic money. I would hate to see them driven out.
Niamh
Thu, 23 Apr 1998
Dear John
Thanks for your message. I'm afraid the only thing I know about postmodernism is that when you see or read something really naff, you murmur to your neighbour "My goodness, how postmodern". Seriously, I would be very interested to read your paper.
Moore St in Dublin is a great fruit and veg market, where the trading sites are handed down from generation to generation on the female line. There were and still are difficulties over licences and it is not uncommon to see an agile trader racing up the street pushing her pram/stall in front of her, pursued by a heavy-footed Garda Siochana (policeman). Sadly most of the markets in Belfast were demolished in the name of urban road planning.
Niamh
Tue, 17 Mar 1998
Dear Doctor Cross,
I am a Final year student at Napier University in Edinburgh studying for an Honours degree in Hospitality(Tourism Management). As part of my final year's work I have to carry out a study on an issue within my subject. I have to decided upon carrying out "An analysis of the Terrorism Threat upon the tourism Industry within Scotland over the last 15 years". Whilst browsing through the Altavista search engine I found your article about your new book and realised that this was going to be helpful to my studies. I was wondering if you could help me in anyway regarding this study. I realise that the course of study I have chosen is quite limiting but even if you could give me general information that would be much appreciated.
Thank you very much for your time about this matter
Stefan Crawford
Edinburgh
Scotland
Mon, 9 Mar 1998
Dear John,
Greetings from College Station, TX. My name is Edwin Aguilar, and I am an assitant prof here in the dept of political science ( texas A&M univ). I have been doing research on the informal economy for several years now, and stumbled upon your web page today. Very exciting to see a new volume accpeted for print onthe informal sector.
I recently was awarded and NSF grant to do some research in costa rica, nicaragua dna san jose, onthe informal sector. My focus appears to be a bit different than yours... mine being much more specifically politically oriented, but in terms of political behaviors and political attitudes. HOWEVER, I am very interested in reading any of your material I can get my hands on. i note that some is inprint,a nd I will get hold of it.. I am quite interested in your forthcoming larr piece. any chance on getting a look at it ahead of time?
There is also a gradute student here at A&M that is workingon this same topic. he received an nsf dissertation grant to do some work in Mexico and COsta rica. he has conducted a survey in mexico city already, and will be heading to san jose to do the same in about 6 weeks. If you wouldnt mind sharing your work, I would love to see some. And, if I can be of any help whatsoever, please let me know.
Congratulations again on the book.
edwin aguilar
31 Jan 1998
Dear Dr. John
Thanx for your immediate reply, and fo your accptance to use your papers as references .
The papers i am going to use are :
1) The state and informal economic actors
2) The informal sector
3) Egypt's traditional small business sector
thanks again and best regards
Ahmed
20 Dec 1997
Hello Sir:
You propably do not remember me but i was one of your students in AUC.
We miss here in AUC, and we hope that you're leading a happy and successful life back home. Everything here still the same except that we have a new presitend.Well, what made me write to u now is that I was looking for some information about the informal sector on the internet and I came across your papers. I read almost all of them, they are of a great value, they were really beneficial as they gave me a general theme about the reality of the informal sector in general and in Egypt in particular; so I wanted to thank you and also to wish u a merry Christmass and a very happy New year.
Bye Sir and good luck with your new publishings.
Rasha Abbas Mahmoud.