Reserved parking zones

I am astonished at people writing and expecting their local councils to declare their street as a reserved parking zone.

Residents in every town or village will find reasons why there should be reserved parking zones in their area and they would not care in the least about the general good.

So, the gentle Swieqi residents expect that they are a cut above the rest and want the whole of Swieqi declared as a reserved parking zone, because, as it is obvious, they are facing hardship during weekends.

Nobody ever says anything about the state of affairs around St Luke's Hospital, in Guardamangia. Dear Swieqi residents, people living in this locality have headaches trying to park their cars in areas reasonably close to their residences from 6 a.m. to at least 8.30 p.m., every single day.

The problem at Guardamangia is that all kinds of people come to park in our locality and not just those young and not so young who choose Paceville as their venue for entertainment.

I, too, make use of Swieqi as my place for parking my car. And I also cannot fail to notice the way many cars are parked there. I bet you anything that most cars parked on the roads belong to residents who have their own garage as well as a drive-in. To crown it all, each car parked takes up more space than required and, therefore, in an area, where, say, 10 cars easily fit, only six are parked - the residents'. Is this right?

Residents of Guardamangia simply have to time themselves when to leave or get to their homes, according to what they think are the best times when they find reasonably good parking. Is this the right way of living, I ask?

My point is that, in fairness and justice, one cannot have reserved parking areas in just one or two localities. Either make it a point to have reserved parking areas everywhere, or nowhere at all. And this is where the central government comes in. The local councils simply cannot be allowed to have a free hand in this matter.