CONGESTION at Barangay Happy Hollow and Country Club has been called out by inconvenienced residents.
Joselito Dizon of the Happy Hallow council of elders is asking for a dialog with the management of the Baguio Country Club and help from city hall to set into place a plan for this year’s activity to ease congestion and make life easier for residents of the two areas.
Dizon said a community petition sent to the Mayor’s Office December 4 last year by residents of Barangays Country Club and Happy Hollow but did not get a response and hopes problems could be addressed to have a more relaxed holiday season this year.
Dizon added Happy Hollow residents had to resort to walking home from town for waiting at least three hours at the jeepney terminal to get a ride home.
Taxi cabs also refuse to ferry residents as traffic is heavy in the area while passenger jeeps have likewise opted not to operate at times saying gas expenses shot up due to being stuck for hours because of the traffic the annual Christmas village generates.
“The heavy traffic congestion being suffered yearly by residents of our communities especially during the nighttime which was being caused by the influx of customers and vehicles of the Country Club Corporation on their yearly business activity of the Christmas village,” the petition read.
Signed by close to 300 residents of both barangays, Mayor Benjamin Magalong has yet to respond to the plea last year saying “in view of the foregoing, may we request the Honorable mayor to address the current situation and for the information of your good office, the Country Club Corporation has a very wide parking area most particularly at the ballroom cite which can be utilized as the staging area and drop off point for their customers to avoid clogging the main road.”
“The management of Country Club is utilizing the national road as a parking area for their customer and being manned by security guards, despite the presence of “No Parking” signs the guards were able to manage the illegal parking activities. The illegal parking on the national road especially during night time causes several disputes already with commuters which might possibly ignite confrontations if not addresses early. This illegal parking also causes delay on the delivery of public services to community and likewise obstruct possible emergency reposnses due to the fact that often time’s only one lane is being utilized by passers – by, further, heavy trucks and long vehicles are also traversing the national road which extremely increases the traffic problem causes by the illegal parking activity,” the petition said.
In a statement sent to SunStar Baguio, Baguio Country Club said they are open to dialog with the barangay and the council of elders.