PHILIPSBURG - La Bamba Beach Bar was shut down by Government on Sunday morning when Public Works officials demolished the structures that were erected illegally by the La Bamba management after it was evicted from a parcel of land belonging to Tesi N.V. on Saturday.

 

Contractors showed up Saturday morning with an eviction notice from Tesi N.V. sanctioned by the Court of First Instance for La Bamba to vacate the property. Management complied, moved the beach bar’s equipment to the Government-owned side of the beach that same day and decided to operate on Government’s land.

 

Police shut down the business at 10:00pm Saturday for not having a permit to operate. Public Works officials arrived Sunday morning and started to demolish the structures and clear the Government side of the beach, as no permission or licence had been given allowing La Bamba management to operate on Government land.

 

Vincenzo Popeo told this newspaper in an invited comment on Sunday that he did not know the reason for Government shutting down his business all of a sudden and questioned the motives behind the closure.

 

“I do not know why they would do this and just destroy all of our hard work. Buncamper came and told us to move from government property and we did and they demolished everything,” said Popeo. After having operated at the location for more than 26 years, 14 employees were terminated as a result of the closure.

 

Public Works head Claudius Buncamper responded by saying: “The owner of La Bamba received a business licence based on him being on the property of Tesi N.V. When the lease expired last year, so did his business licence.

 

“On numerous occasions Government gave Popeo extensions to vacate the property, but he was served an eviction notice on Saturday, and Government had nothing to do with that. We heard that he moved all his stuff on Government side and we took issue with that. Government has never given him permission to use Government side for his business. The beach is destined to be a parking lot.

 

“On December 18 he had to vacate the premises and he stayed on the Government property until February 6. Right now, he does not have a licence to operate on Government land.”

 

Popeo is not certain about La Bamba’s future, as he would have to look for a new location to operate the beach bar.

 

The Daily Herald