We’ve all had our encounters with street hawkers selling tissue paper in this city and this STOMP reader was so irritated by their presence that he is urging the authorities to clampdown on them.

By seeing street hawkers as environmental problems, something that seems to happen quite often here either with our authorities or a section of the public, we forget that these people do it because they need to earn a living. Street hawking offers an independent livelihood for one to get by, especially in these tough times.

And if the comments on the STOMP post it self are anything to go by, it is encouraging to know that just as many Singaporeans disagree with the particular reader and see street hawkers as a reflection of much larger social issues here as well.