Parking and traffic chaos

Ray Bezzina (February 28) completely misses the point of my letter (February 11). When I said that the parking problem in Sliema is due to high density development and not because of shoppers or visitors I was not referring to Qui-Si-Sana at all but that part of Sliema outside the residents' parking zone (RPZ).

It seems Mr Bezzina, like his master, is totally oblivious of the parking problem here as it is so much more difficult to interest speculators in this area. Either that or he has serious difficulties with words and pictures.

My argument was that the introduction of the RPZ as planned is going to shift the parking problem from Tigné to the Dingli Street/St Mary Street area as no employee is going to pay Lm40 per week to park in Qui-Si-Sana but will walk for 10 minutes to save the money. This is blissfully ignored by George Pullicino in his crusade to force as much traffic into Tigné Point as possible.

What he also avoids is the fact that substantial alterations were made to the brief to suit the developer but no changes will be made in order to allay residents' fears. This naturally raises certain questions. Is it any wonder the residents of Tigné and Qui-Si-Sana are worried about the future as planned for them by the likes of Messrs Pullicino and Bezzina?

As for the local council being against charging residents to park in the RPZ, we have heard this sort of thing before. Taxes come and go at the whim of the government, regardless of pre-election promises.

The Transport Topic Paper (2003) comes out very strongly against developments which, by provision of parking far in excess to requirements, are likely to encourage greater car use and therefore worsen traffic congestion. Traffic on the Tigné/Qui-Si-Sana ring road is projected to be in excess of 3,000 cars an hour, far heavier than that now passing through Floriana or Pietà. The traffic statement for Qui-Si-Sana predicts long delays and huge backups because of traffic entering and leaving the car park on to such a heavily used road. It also expresses concern that the car park will prevent the introduction of such environmental improvements such as local public transport to the area.

Yet Mr Pullicino insists that this type of 1980s-style development is essential. In his typical arrogant fashion, he gets employees like Mr Bezzina to write patronising letters, instead of listening to the people who voted him in.