Sunday, October 22, 2006 Citom to study Colon closure
A CEBU City councilor has found another way to address the nagging problem of sidewalk vending in the downtown area.
Councilor Hilario Davide III wants the City Traffic Operations Management and the City Planning and Development Office to study the possibility of converting portions of Colon St. and its connecting streets into an exclusive tourist zone and closing these areas permanently to vehicular traffic.
This way, sidewalks in the area need not be cleared of obstructions, as vendors won’t be displaced anymore and deprived of their livelihood because they can already sell their wares openly in the streets without causing inconvenience to pedestrians using the sidewalks, he said.
The City Council approved last Wednesday Davide’s resolution.
“In fact, it is believed that even vendors from different areas in the city will be attracted to the exclusive zone. If this happens, then the City will have rid itself of these vendors who have for the longest time been dominating our sidewalks and causing inconvenience the public,” his resolution read.
Davide said an exclusive zone such as this will certainly attract local and foreign tourists and even local residents.
Closing a portion of the street to traffic will encourage people to walk and lessen, if not eliminate, traffic accidents in the area, he added.
Davide said converting a historic area like Colon into an exclusive tourist zone or promenade is not uncommon in foreign cities.
Out of the box
Cleaning, decorating and lighting the streets and clearing them of squatters and ambulant vendors are among the main concerns of the Cebu City Government, as it gets ready for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in December.
Last week, an officer of a group of travel agencies asked City Hall to deal with the beggars near the Magellan’s Cross “in a positive way.”
Robert Lim Joseph, president of the National Association of Independent Travel Agencies, urged local officials to deal with this problem by “thinking out of the box.”
He suggested letting the beggars wear original Cebuano costumes and putting up a caruaje or horse-drawn carriage in the area.
Tourists who want to take photos will be asked to put some coins in a basket. “Even alms-giving can be given dignity,” Joseph has said. (GAC)
