Residents-only parking at the Ferries (3)

Joseph Meli

Jul 19th 2009, 18:46

L.Galea: Please read my note well, I am not in favour and neither against such a scheme....but you have to be in the act to comment. If you live in a place where you'll find parking space when ever you want, that's good luck for you. But you have to imagine those car owners that come to Sliema to do some shopping, or have a meal or a drink, but cannot find a parking space. Then the same to those who live in Sliema, do you expect them to park in Gzira. The same applies to those living in Ta' Xbiex which is frequented by hundreds of persons during saturday and sundays to go to the five very popular restaurants by the sea front.

Well, it is good for some and bad for others, while it is bad for some and good for others. So one cannot make everyone happy!!!

D Vella

Jul 15th 2009, 07:41

@ Ms Spiteri.

The Prime Minister doesn't need my advice or ideas on this one Ms Spiteri. He spends half the year abroad anyway and know's all there is to know on this one,I'm sure

Galea. L

Jul 14th 2009, 23:25

Roberta Cassar
Yes Roberta, counselors and the mayors implementing such schemes are IDIOTS because in their craving for votes they do not realize that if every town and village did this no one could go anywhere.
Reserving parking spaces for residents is DISCRIMINATORY and cannot be done by anyone, let alone by a local government and a public authority. They are there to solve problems not create them and discriminate in the process. The Valletta scheme is double discriminatory in that apart from residents parking non-residents have to pay while residents do not. I am NOT saying that they should, but that the system is doubly discriminatory.
I pay my license as much as YOU and the other Sliema residents do Roberta, and I should not have to pay to park because I pay my road license the same as you.

Joseph Meli
Neither YOU nor anyone else owns a parking space. You only own your property with your boundary walls.

Joanna Borg We pay more than enough taxes as it is so stop suggesting more taxes. As for prices you choose to live in a high-price area so if you sell your property you get more.

Adrian Borg

Jul 14th 2009, 19:34

@ Joanna Borg

Of course if you park on the pavement you get a ticket ... and it's only right! As for the parking meters and garages, yes they can be put up but don't expect that all those not living in Sliema will make use of them and leave the free parking spaces for the residents.

I for one (a non-Sliema resident) will make at least 15 minutes going round and round searching for a free parking space before opting to use such services. And thousands would do like me ... and it's only fair as the only part in Sliema you own is situated within your 4 walls and not outisde!

Rita Spiteri

Jul 14th 2009, 18:19

@D Vella
Don't give Gonzi any more ideas, PLEASE...

D Vella

Jul 14th 2009, 16:52

For those who are arguing that the law is being discriminatory in allowing residents only parking bays. Very simple,you know what will happen..parking meters for all including you in your home town!. Now that's not discriminatory is it?

David Micallef

Jul 14th 2009, 15:48

@ Joanna Borg

Thanks for agreeing that sliema needs parking meters and car-parks.

At the moment there ain't NO parking meters and the parking lots are not sufficient !
If it hasn't dawned on you yet the system coming into effect does not mention any of these two alternatives...so I'd suggest you'll save your martyr aura for some other time.

You don't own public spaces. IF they're owned they not PUBLIC anymore but they are changed to private. Living in a city or a village does not give you ownership to the space infront of your house as wrongly believed on this tiny dot in the Mediterranean - even if it seems that being territorial is almost genetic in island-people like us ! Reserved parking is granted on application and on different criteria other than being merely a resident of that place. If you want it, buy it, hire it ...in the meantime since I'm a tax-payer on equal par (I hope) with you, you'd have to share FAIRLY...CVA was one of them - it caters fairly for residents and non residents...the system introduced by your mayor is NOT fair !

Roberta Cassar

Jul 14th 2009, 15:30

L Galea: Calling councillors "idiots" does not make you any better!!!

1.The proposed scheme is not a residents only scheme - there will be a number of reserved parking for residents - just like Valletta.

2. Reorganizing a parking scheme does not necessarily mean loss of business if it is done cleverly - I suggest that business owners put forward any useful ideas rather than writing selfish nonsense.

3. Sliema is not only a commercial town - it is home to thousands of people who have a right to have a Mayor act in their interest also.

4. Car parks are there for a reason!!

Corinne Vella

Jul 14th 2009, 15:06

Joanna Borg: You can walk to the shops and beach because they are in walking distance.

Joseph Meli

Jul 14th 2009, 14:53

Past 10/20 years, Manuel Dimech been..always..impossible to..park..before..10 pm, parked by..sales-persons working..in..establishments. Quite fair to give..certain..parking..time...to none-residence, and if lucky enough one might find a parking-space to do shopping-needs. The best...to plan more parking..premises..taking 80 -150..vehicles.

Imagine living in Ta' Xbiex..Coast..Road, Ta' Xbiex or near-by..streets, when you decide to go to Church and later travel for a pizza or to BBQ meal, don't you expect to find a residence parking..space?

On returning you'll find road had been fully parked by none residents that came to Ta' Xbiex for a meal or by the sea or rocks doing a BBQ (leaving lots of dirt + charcoal remain etc.) taking up your residence parking area fully occupied for more than three or four hours, leaving maybe not before 12.30 am in the morning – Is that fair?.

So when they decide to leave the Ta' Xbiex area and when you'll return home, yet you had to to be contented in parking your vehicle about two..or..three..blocks..away..from..your residence!!! Well is that fair, if one might have near his residence a security CCTV facilities to protect his car, what is your opinion from your side of the picture?

N.Cortis

Jul 14th 2009, 14:40

I suggest to the authorities to bring into effect by a legal notice an increase of say 100 ewros added to the road licences fee to all those residents (wherever there are the residential parking schemes) who wants to be privileged and find a parking place in front of their homes!!
Since everyone pays the road licence fee,all roads and parking spaces must be free to everyone!! He who made the legal notice about the residential parking zones is purly discriminating-----no more----no less!!! The authorities are pushing people tooooo much!!!!!

Joanna Borg

Jul 14th 2009, 14:31

@Adrian & David

You are mistaken - I live in Slieam anduse the car parks 99% of the time to shop as I live 15 minutes away on foot. And yes I do use the care if I out for a big xirja as they say !

Have you ever had a dire need to use a toilet and not being able to find one ??? Or feel unwell or tire and dying to get home ?? Well imagine that right outside your own house because you cannot park anywhere reasonably as close as a 5 min walk and being so desperate that parking on the pavement is the only solution ?One hour down the line there goes a ticket ,,,,,,,,,,, that is the parking meter of Sliema residents ......... I am not saying that we should be isolated, nor do I think that parking for residents should be exclusive but I firmly believe that there should be parking meters or car parks in these areas. You will surely agree that Sliema is a popular venue with most Maltese, not to mention tourists !! As for the garages, check the prices and the availability out before you pen another word!

Adrian Borg

Jul 14th 2009, 13:53

@ Joanna Borg & Suzanne Bonello

I believe that as soon as you exit your door, you are on public property which belongs to all Maltese citizens. If you need parking space available at will, buy a garage!

R. Caruana

Jul 14th 2009, 13:31

300 streets turned into resident parking zones... why not go the whole hog and make all streets reserved parking for residents! Then no one will need to use one's car any more!

This joke must stop, otherwise residents who do not enjoy such a luxury should be given a refund on their road licence, because it is turning the Island into the land of two-class car owners.

And what happens when residents park outside their reserved zone? Do they get booked for taking free parking??

David Micallef

Jul 14th 2009, 13:26

@ Suzanne & Joanna

Seems that you tried Sliema carparks only a few times to know what you're babbling about. Simple maths should help you understand that the spaces taken from public streets should be catered for in private parking spaces. Visit these private spaces to realise that they are PACKED at any given time. So, clearly there is no space for these extra vechiles !! Don't compare it to Valletta. In Valletta there is a scheme, whereby in a somewhat fair way, non-residents are allowed to come in and there's multi-storey carpark (tower carpark - compares nicely to a Matchbox carpark!!) plus big parking areas .

Wake up and realise that cities around the globe attract cars! If you want a quaint dead silent city - we already have one. Big cities have schemes like Parking Meters/CVA+alternatives. As it stands Sliema DOES NOT HAVE any.

Consequences: either citizens will rebel (a highly unlikely maltese characteristic) or they'll boycott Sliema. Might as well call up Fontanella and check whether they'd be interested to franchise in the area to keep the tradition, once we have sliema claimed as the 2nd (yet not the original) Silent City !

Galea. L

Jul 14th 2009, 13:04

Jennifer Cosaitis
You are right. We all pay the same license for all Malta and Gozo and the local council idiots cannot discriminate against us.

Do like I do and DEFY them and whenever I get I ticket I file a registered petition with the Board for Petitions at POBox 41Valletta. All have been repealed because they DISCRIMINATE between the citizens and discrimination is ILLEGAL.

Even if the Board does not accept your petition and even if the local tribunal fines you appeal to the Court and hold the counselors personally responsible for all expenses since they wanted reserved parking and they discriminated.
Include a copy of a report from Malta Today of Sunday 6 July 2008 titled More than 16,000 fines issued illegally for ‘reserved parking’ from http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/07/06/n3.html

This referred to an application by Attard residents who requested a residents only parking for just two hours between 12.00 and 14.00. Within a few days, the ADT replied to inform the complainants that: “Residents Only Parking and Access for Residents Only are not approved by the Traffic Management Unit since these are discriminatory.”

This is what the people get when they elect stupid idiots as counselors.

Sylvana Debono

Jul 14th 2009, 12:35

As a non-sliema resident, I can say that yes, actually we do use exclusivly the car parks and certianly more are needed. That is unless Sliema intends setting up a republic of its own and excluding all those perceived lesser mortals who come to this hallowed land to shop etc.

Seriously, the balance here is not at all easy to find and both residents and commuters need to be open to adaptation.

Jennifer Cosaitis

Jul 14th 2009, 12:29

To the two previous contributors - We should not be forced to go into the expense of paying for carparks because you should not have any better right to park in Sliema streets than people from other areas do - that is discrimination at its best.

suzanne bonello

Jul 14th 2009, 11:17

agreed- why don't people who work/shop/dine in Sliema make use of the carparks? Isn't that what they are for??

Joanna Borg

Jul 14th 2009, 10:54

There are a number of carparks to accomodate the Sliema business community needs. I for one as a Sliema resident use these facilities or walk to the shops or beach !!!