Agustín works as a supervisor for the Secretary of Development and Commerce of Mexico City. The federal government via SEDECO and the local boroughs or delegaciones regularly checks the street market. A SEDECO supervisor is a person working as the eye of the government as well as one who is entitled to give certain commands and sanctions to vendors. His work, as Agustín described it to me, is to monitor ‘stalls, customers service, swearing, verification of prices’. The supervisor pays attention to the maintenance of the stall (if it is painted or worn out); the possession of a registration number card; the presence of a rubbish bin; the attire of vendors, particularly the use of an apron; and to the cleanliness of the stalls, all considerations that, as the supervisor summarises it, are ‘things that give a presence to the market, that gives a good image, a favourable view’.