Anything precious in this world comes at a substantial cost. Gold, diamonds, uranium, lovable wives, and so on and so forth. And they are precious because they are scarce. The same rule applies to parking.
Parking has become such a scarce commodity these days that we cannot expect to have free parking on public roads as a sacred right to selected residents.
Furthermore, with most households today having between two and five cars registered on the same address, it would always be impossible for any local council to accommodate all cars.
So when it comes to resident parking schemes, I will tread very carefully. Look at the furore surrounding the scheme introduced by the Sliema council, culminating into industrial action by the teachers who work in Sliema.
Of course, I understand the frustrations of the residents there, but I fail to understand how no consideration was given to the hundreds of visitors and workers who are non-residents, who now cannot find where to park, or who have to move their car out of a parking bay every two hours.
It was really frustrating recently trying to look for a parking space in Sliema while numerous empty parking bays reserved for residents along Dingli Street stood empty for long stretches of time.
Parking schemes should not be decided on solely by local councils. In fact, I welcomed Parliamentary Secretary for Culture José Herrera’s demand on Sliema local council to revisit the parking scheme which reserves half of the locality’s parking bays for residents.
If anyone wants any right to park, it has to come at a cost, depending on demand, location and size. Furthermore, from the income derived, local councils should invest in public car parks run by the councils themselves at subsidised fees, open to non-residents.
Sliema deputy mayor Chris Busietta was quoted as saying that “residents in Sliema have as much right to find parking places as residents in other localities”.
Did he ever come to Swieqi over the weekend. What right do the residents have there? I recently had to carry out structural alterations to the front of my house to alleviate my problem.
I am not saying we must not consider parking schemes, but these cannot be introduced at the discretion of local councils. There has to be a national scheme with the involvement of Transport Malta and Mepa, which residents and non-residents will have the right to. There should not be discrimination between one locality and another.
motoring@timesofmalta.com